The woman who made a fortune off Crocs

Source: Printed in Times UK 19 July 2008

Sheri Schmeltzer is the woman behind Jibbitz, a Crocs accessory that started as a way of amusing her children

The flowery button thingies on her Crocs are called Jibbitz. They are a presently a global craze created accidentally by an American housewife in her basement, and are worth $20 million (£10m). The American housewife in question lives in Boulder, Colorado, and is an attractive 43-year-old called Sheri Schmelzer. The idea originated three years ago.

For those still blissfully ignorant, they are pieces of coloured rubber-like buttons, selling for around $3 (£1.50) a pop, in 1,100 different patterns.

According to website, Jibbitz “allow Crocs consumers to personalise their footwear to creatively express their individuality”, which is perhaps over-intellectualising it a bit.

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Related Links: http://www1.jibbitz.com/

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Zappos CEO Built a Footwear Empire One Shoebox at a Time

Source: abcnews.com on July 08.2008

HOW ZAPPOS BUILD THE FOOTWEAR ONLINE BUSINESS

Online shopping Web site Zappos is doing for shoes what Amazon did for books: trying to revolutionize not only how business is done but how people work.

The name is an adaptation of the Spanish word for “shoe.” This year, nine years after going into business, Zappos is on track to sell $1 billion worth of shoes.

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Stepping into the shoes of a designer

Source:

3 July 2008

The article presents the future of consumer product-making, combining social networking, open-source design and viral marketing. According to report some academics think consumer-driven design will displace corporate research-and-development centers at many corporations because it ultimately outsources both design and marketing in a way that cultivates and retains customers.

“PORTLAND — In a startup’s office overlooking downtown Portland, three creative business owners — a sneaker-shop owner, an event marketer and a watch designer — gather to judge a wall full of shoe designs.

The sketches — 50 of them — had been submitted online by would-be artists on the promise that Ryz would make and sell dozens of pairs of the most attractive shoe.”

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Nike 6.0 Launches Mashup Campaign

News Brief

Source: MediaPost’s Marketing Daily

Wednesday, Jun 25, 2008 5:00 AM ET

Nike 6.0, the action sports division of Nike, Inc. is the latest advertiser to set up a branded community on Loop’d Network. Members of the Nike 6.0 community can create profiles, share photos of themselves in the midst of skating, biking or surfing, and compete for commercial sponsorships. They can also interact with all of the other communities within San Diego, Calif.-based Loop’d Network, including the Monster Army and the PacSun Team.

As part of the launch, Nike 6.0 has rolled out a mash-up campaign, allowing Loop’d members to mix and match their favorite videos, sports clips, photos and Nike-supplied content. The mash-ups, powered by Mixercast, can be ported to member profiles on other social networks like MySpace and Facebook.

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