Today,
I am about to share an interesting story that will demonstrate industrial
design as an interesting IPR with potential monetising avenues. A
week ago I came across this piece of news, that the international footwear brand
CROCS is partnering with our very popular Indian life style brand CHUMBAK for
its Indian market to launch their first Indian collection.
Well!
Most of us are aware of the well -known “crocs” Brand. A foot wear brand that
is known for its comfortable foot wear. Especially during the pandemic along
with sanitizers and other cleaning solutions the sales of crocs also spiked
dramatically.
Crocs
Inc, the company is the proud owner of multiple IPR’s such as patents, trademarks,
industrial designs, copyrights, trade secrets, confidential information etc. Crocs
footwear was initially not so design oriented and was predominantly only functional.
It was Christopher Kane the British designer who
unlocked the Croc’s potential in his 2017 spring/summer collection. He gave it a design twist with his tie-dye
patterns and large crystals. It is quite popular among celebrities and was sported
by the likes of Rihanna, Priyanka Chopra, Justin
Beiber etc.
Crocs
partnered with the luxury fashion house Balenciaga in its 2018 spring/summer
collection and explored the more creative side of its footwear with its professional
chef’s favourite shoes happily decorated with logos, flags, and even an avocado.
Crocs
partnered with multiple companies to bring versatility in its shoes. In this process has partnered with Dior, Smile
Company and has even acquired Jibbitz, LLC.
Jibbitz markets and sells small,
button-like accessories and ornaments. Jibbitz are decorative charms that are used
to decorate the crocs. The crocs foot wear has 13 holes and they can be used to
decorate those holes to make it quirky, interesting and to make a statement. Decorating
crocs with charms was a big hit became quite popular among school & college
goers. Even Justin Beiber was sported
with sunshine yellow crocs with cheerful pizza and rainbow Jibbitz. It was originally
sold at $60, but are now fetching even more on eBay.
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JIBBITZ CHARMS
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All
these patterns i.e. the 2d designs on the foot wear and 3d designs such as Jibbitz are subject matter of industrial designs.Now,
this partnership between crocs and Chumbak for the Indian market is a
celebration of designs. Chumbak is a
lifestyle brand with a considerable range of products that includes furniture,
gifts, bags, crockery and cutlery, furnishings etc. Chumbak’s very creative and
exclusive in-house designs are the heart of its business. The designs of
Chumbak on its products are industrial Designs and Chumbak is very successful in
monetising its industrial Designs. This partnership has come up with
interesting and colourful foot wear with designs by Chumbak inspired from Indian
art forms inspired by the intricate patterns of Ikat & Paisleys.
The
Chumbak X crocs footwear features traditional patterns on the footwear along
with Jibbitz charms inspired by Indian motifs like owl, sparrow, elephant, and
sparrow.
This
is one very interesting case in my endeavor to explain and make my readers
understand how intellectual property is to be exploited. A practical way of
explaining how IP works and how one IP leads to another and how to move towards
more monetising options. Crocs strategic partnership with entities that are
sound in their Designs has contributed a great deal towards its success as a
famous brand.
In how to play with designs? Part 2, we shall see why
it is important to register your designs.
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