Comments on: What Is A Jibbitz?

By: AV

AV — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 02:33:45 +0000

Aqua…you are a moron for your comment. Take that back….retarded is more appropriate.

By: Aqua

Aqua — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 20:54:56 +0000

Not one website or news article that I’ve read thinks that Crocs or its highly overpriced (in terms of what Crocs paid for the rights) accessory, Jibbitz, is going to make it to the end of the year. Doesn’t anyone think there’s something wrong with creating a product, hyping it up, and pawning it off to a company right before it fails? It’s sad to see people praising the exploitation of a fad, leaving investors in the dust as I can’t imagine Jibbitz has created a significant profit for Crocs. Good work on duping Crocs, its investors, and a large part of the internet community into handing over money for a silly product.

By: matt

matt — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 06:30:41 +0000

This business success story is popular, and with extremely good reason: most people wish they had thought of it!

Not quite in the ‘replicate don’t innovate’ camp, but certainly ‘create an improvement’!

The Crocs (& jibbitz phenomenon) is really something, isn’t it?

Thanks for the reminder of this!

By: Missy

Missy — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 01:33:28 +0000

Hi—-Bryan:

If you pick up a mail order catalog, such as Taylor’s Gifts or a Harriet Carter, etc. you will see tons of products built on already existing markets.

I noticed the Jibbits a few months ago in a catalog and immediately thought to myself another simple yet great money making idea.

It’s is the same with Myspace and Ebay, there have been totally new (side markets) created such as the myspace layouts business and then with ebay it is ebay reselling business.

I forget what the technical term is, but i call them side markets.

By: Albert Grande

Albert Grande — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 09:04:48 +0000

This is a fantastic story. So basically what you do is stand on the shoulders of giants to leverage yourself.
My daughter has crocs and she has five for each shoe. That’s 10 more Jibbitz!
And she wants more!
Thanks for sharing this. We certainly can learn much from this. You don’t have to re-invent the wheel. Just invent a tire for the wheel…
albert grande

By: Sammy

Sammy — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 04:53:19 +0000

Ahh Jibbitz. Another great idea! Great story there. This story was also in last years Business 2.0 issue(November ’06) and she and her husband were guests on The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch.

By: Aruni Gunasegaram

Aruni Gunasegaram — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 22:25:38 +0000

Hi Bryan – It’s so funny that you happened to be writing about Crocs and Jibbitz. I recently did a post that mentioned Jibbitz myself. The post was about venture capital and I ended it with saying I will probably wish I had invented something like Jibbitz instead of trying to do a high tech startup!

http://www.entrepremusings.com/index.php/2007/11/10/fred-wilson-on-venture-capital-fund-performance/

By: PatBiz

PatBiz — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 22:17:50 +0000

I can tell you guys, kids are going nuts for these Jibbitz. My son just love’em. We got him the smiley face, Buzz Lightyear, Flash McQueen (from Cars) and Mickey Mouse. The coolest thing about Jibbitz is that you can personalized your Crocs.

By: Landon

Landon — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 17:45:18 +0000

Just shows you how far a simple idea can go. The founder of Jibbitz started by creating the accessories for her kids, and it spread around her neighborhood.

The story is that Schmelzer’s daughter had met the founder of Crocs, who asked her where she got the accessories for her shoes. She told him her mother had made them, and the Crocs founder gave her his business card to give to her mother. That’s how Jibbitz was sold to Crocs.

Wonder what other accessories can be made for Crocs?

By: Joe

Joe — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 13:06:56 +0000

Good story, on another note, I can’t tell who’s writing what from my rss reader.