Businessweek

Crocs, Inc. designs, manufactures, and distributes footwear and accessories for men, women, and children. The company sells products in approximately 90 countries through domestic and international retailers and distributors and directly to end-user consumers. Segments The company has three operating segments: Americas, Asia, and Europe. Americas: The Americas segment consists of operations related primarily to product sales in the North and South America geographic regions. Regional wholesale channel customers consist of a range of sporting goods and department stores, as well as specialty retailers. The regional retail channel sells directly to the consumer through 199 company-operated store locations, as well as through webstores. Asia: The Asia segment consists of operations related primarily to product sales throughout Asia, Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East and South Africa. The Asia wholesale channel consists of sales to a range of retailers similar to the wholesale channel. It also sells products directly to the consumer through 241 company-operated stores, as well as through webstores. Europe: The Europe segment consists of operations related primarily to product sales throughout Europe and Russia. Europe segment wholesale channel customers consist of a range of retailers, similar to the wholesale channel established in the Americas. The company also sells products directly to the consumer through 97 company-operated stores, including kiosks and retail stores, as well as through Webstores. Products The company’s footwear products are divided into four product offerings: Core-Comfort, Active, Casual, and Style. The Core-Comfort product offering primarily includes molded and unisex products targeted toward a range of consumers. The Active product offering comprises footwear intended for healthy living and includes sport inspired products and footwear suited for activities, such as boating, walking, hiking, and recovery after workouts. The Casual product offering includes sporty and relaxed styles appealing to a range of customers. The Style product offering includes stylish products which are intended to broaden the wearing occasion for Crocs lovers. The company has an active licensing program that includes licensing various marks from companies, such as Disney, Marvel and Viacom, for Crocs branded footwear and Jibbitz branded shoe charms. It also licenses certain of its own marks to third parties in connection with a strategy to extend the Crocs brand into new product types. Footwear The company offers a product line of footwear, some of which include boots, sandals, sneakers, mules and flats which are made of materials like leather and textile fabrics, as well as Croslite. As of December 31, 2012, the company has donated approximately 3 million pairs of shoes to individuals in need both domestically and internationally in approximately 40 countries, including Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Iraq, and Malawi. Accessories The company owns the Jibbitz brand, an accessory product-line with snap-on charms specifically suited for Crocs shoes. Crocs licensing agreements also extend to Jibbitz, which allows Jibbitz to create designs bearing logos and emblems of Disney, Nickelodeon and the Crocs collegiate line. As of December 31, 2012, approximately 3,000 Jibbitz charm designs were sold to consumers for personalizing their Crocs footwear. Customers The company’s wholesale customers include national and regional retail chains, department stores, sporting goods stores, independent footwear retailers and family footwear retailers, such as Dick’s Sporting Goods, Famous Footwear, Academy, Kohl’s, Nordstrom, Xebio and Murasaki Sports, as well as on-line retailers such as Zappos and Amazon. Intellectual Property and Trademarks The company’s trademarks include the Crocs logo and the Crocs word mark, both of which are registered or pending registration in the U.S., the European Union, Japan, Taiwan, China and Canada. The company also has registrations or pending trademark applications for the marks Jibbitz, Jibbitz Logo, YOU by Crocs, YOU by Crocs Logo, Ocean Minded, Tail Logo, Bite, Bite Logo, Crocband, Crocs Tone and Crocs Littles, ‘Croslite’ and the Croslite logo, as well as other marks in various countries around the world. Seasonality Due to the seasonal nature of the company’s footwear which is more heavily focused on styles suitable for warm weather, revenues generated during first and fourth quarters are less than revenues generated during its second and third quarters, when the northern hemisphere is experiencing warmer weather. Competition The company competes with Deckers Outdoor Corp., Skechers USA Inc., Steve Madden, Ltd., Wolverine World Wide, Inc. and VF Corporation. Its company-operated retail locations also compete with footwear retailers, such as Genesco, Inc., Macy’s, Dillard’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc., The Finish Line, Inc and Footlocker, Inc. History Crocs, Inc. was founded in 1999.