The team at Oprah really did an outstanding job with the show. Although we cannot show the video from the Jibbitz website below are some "screen grabs" and a link with where to watch it at the Oprah Winfrey website. The link to watch the segment on "You Tube" is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NSJHB8greY The link to the Oprah site to watch the show is http://www2.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/200702/tows_past_20070202.jhtml
Sheri Schmelzer, Founder/Creator of Jibbitz will appear on "The Oprah
Winfrey Show" this Friday Feb 2, 2007 (check local listings). On the show
Sheri will discuss the Jibbitz story and how she took the Jibbitz idea from
the basement to $20M in a year. She will be appearing with several other
"Million Dollar Moms". This show is a great inspiration to anyone that has
an idea that they want to get off the ground.
Although Sheri feels that timing, luck and good fortune were the main
ingredients for this success story, she also believes that hard work and
her dedication to family were a big part of Jibbitz success. Sheri says
that it was an absolute thrill for her and her 3 children to meet Oprah
Winfrey. We are all very proud of her and extremely excited that she will
share her amazing story with you.
Be sure to set your Tivo's!
Below are the "screen grabs" from the Oprah Site as well as a link to the Oprah Winfrey website to read more about the show.
http://www2.oprah.com/index.jhtml
An avid fan, snapped this shot of Cindy and Skip Clarke, owners of Specialities in Fort Collins, CO. Fort Collins was recently ranked as the Best Place To Live by Money Magazine. Fort Collins is about an hour north of the Jibbitz tree-house in Boulder, CO.
Jibbitz is extremely excited to announce that we have signed a deal to be acquired by Crocs.
We assume that there are many questions. Here is our attempt to answer what we think your “Knee-Jerk†questions are:
Q: How much are you selling Jibbitz for?
A: We have signed an agreement to sell Jibbitz later this year for $10M in Cash and up to $10M more through an earn-out ($20M Total).
Q: What is the “Endorsement Agreement†that is referred to in the press release?
A: The “Endorsement Agreement†allows Jibbitz to sell to stores that carry Crocs. Specifically Crocs will introduce us to their largest customers, distributors, and their vast network of business relationships. Amongst other things, the agreement also allows Jibbitz to sell a Crocs branded Jibbit and for Crocs reps to promote the line and refer orders into Jibbitz.
Q: Why did you sell to Crocs?
A: There are many reasons for this:
1. The Jibbitz founders built the business with the hope of one day selling to Crocs. So this is perfect closure to a wild and wonderful ride.
2. Jibbitz is at the point where we need help from a large Company like Crocs to open doors that would not normally be available to a small company like ours. Through this union, Jibbitz extends its brand to a wider range of consumers and businesses.
3. Crocs is a really cool company. They have amazing ideas and a wonderful product that Jibbitz really wanted to be a part of.
4. Crocs recognizes the spirit and enthusiasm Jibbitz has created. They wants us to continue to run the business exactly the way we have been. This is a “Win-Win†for both Companies and ultimately the Crocs consumers will benefit.
Q: What will happen to the Jibbitz brand after the acquisition closes?
A: Crocs has made it clear that they want Jibbitz to operate the business with the same spirit and enthusiasm that it currently does today. After closing, we do not anticipate any negative changes.
Q: What will happen to the 4,000 stores that carry Jibbitz?
A: We only hope that this union will improve upon the relationships that we have already cultivated with each of these stores.
Q: Will the founders and employees stay with Jibbitz?
A: Yes, we plan on staying. The Founders Sheri and Rich Schmelzer will stay with Jibbitz as Chief Design Officer and President respectively. We have no plans to eliminate staff as a direct result of this transaction. However, in our ordinary course of business we may from time to time add/remove employee’s if/when needed.
Q: How will I place my Jibbitz wholesale orders in the future?
A: As always, wholesale accounts can fax their orders into 303.484.6380, call our customer service line at 303.449.0442, or they can continue to place their orders through our existing network of outside sales reps, and now (as a result of the “Endorsement Agreementâ€) through your local Crocs Reps who can forward those orders on to us.
There are so many people to thank:
The employees, the reps, and the vendors that helped us navigate this massive effort and our friends and family who supported us through the late nights, weekends, and vacations deserve our applause. We would especially like to thank Zan O’Leary who managed to keep us all together through this endeavor and Glynde Mangum who, as head of inside sales and customer service, helped us grow from a few thousand a month to several million over the last 9 months. We would also like to thank Robbie Katz and Al Clark. There are of course many others to thank. We have an amazing team, but far to many for this Blog. So thanks to you all and rest assured that we will buy you a beer or two very soon.
Thanks for everything and Have Fun - The Schmelzer Family
Today we received an awesome testimonial from one of our new stores in Canada - Hobie's Sports.
"Jibbitz are Jumping off the Shelves"Your product is so much fun, and all of us here at Hobie's Sports are having a great time selling Jibbitz Charms!
Our opening order arrived one week ago today and without any advertising we are pretty well out of stock.
The advertising we had in place started Monday so we are really looking forward to receiving our next orders. We have placed 2 new orders and today's will make the 3rd in one week. We are a little worried that you might think we really are just "Crazy Canuks" but we just want to touch base to make sure you know that we want all 3 orders!!
We don't think your crazy at all. In fact we see this type of buying all of the time. We are always torn when stores place their initial orders and they are smaller then what we think it should be. On the 1 hand we know they will phone back soon to order more but on the other if they ordered more upfront they wouldn't have to rush an order in and worry if they are going to sell out of Jibbitz before they receive their new stock.
A basic rule of thumb for a Jibbitz opening order is as follows - Buy at least 5 to 7 Jibbitz for every pair of Crocs you estimate that you will sell in a month. For example, if your store sell 100 Pair Crocs per month you should buy 500 to 700 Jibbitz for these customers. We have heard from many customers that this is a good rule of thumb.
Someone sent us an article today about how Crocs/Jibbitz are spreading throughout Canada. Below is the paragraph that mentions Jibbitz. The entire article can be viewed at the link provided below. If you ever see an article about Jibbitz or Crocs please send it along. Thanks!
"And then there are the accessories. Crocs have already spurred a line of paraphernalia for people who might be bored with a purist approach.
Jibbitz are decorative bits of plastic, "kind of like cufflinks" Milder says, that pop into the holes on top of Crocs to customize the look. Butterflies, clovers, rhinestones and support ribbons are just some of the collection, which retail for about three bucks a piece.
"Even I had trouble believing these would work," Milder says. But he ordered 300 units to try and sold 250 in a week and a half. "No one buys just one."
Milder and Cheverie are both seeing repeat buyers — customers who can't get enough from one pair and stock up on multiple colours. Milder says that one customer even told him about running six kilometres in the clog, something he's still trying to wrap his head around.
Online there's an entire blog, www.crocfans.com, dedicated to spreading the gospel of the shoe's greatness. Jibbitz also keeps an online blog for fans of decorated Crocs. And the company itself posts pages of glowing testimonials, including one from a Dartmouth woman who sent a picture of her family of four outfitted in the clogs.
"Mom and I both have two pairs each!" says the letter signed by Kelly Kaizer. "Now we have the whole family addicted.""
Ashleigh McKenna is a journalism graduate of Ryerson University in Toronto and a summer intern at The Chronicle Herald. (amckenna@herald.ca)
This is really funny. Recently I aksed one of our reps why we were selling so many Jibbitz in the Mid-West (particularly at Brown Shoe). He mentioned that the local Brown Shoe Fit Company had launched a radio campaign to promote the arrival of Jibbitz and Crocs. The calls to the store were so overwhelming that they launched a Public Service Announcement to encourage people to stop calling and asking "What's a Jibbit?". Below is a link to the ads. Priceless!
Apparantly if any Jibbitz store want to tag the ad with their own information they can contact the producer directly to arrange for a custom spot (for a fee of course). Contact glynde@jibbitz.com for more info on how to reach the producer of the Ads.
Below are the 2 ads!
As stores contact us with theior individual success stories we will feature them here.
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