it is amazing how bad Fossil is being managed when there is such strong demand for accessible, 90s brands - i am not talking about layoffs or politics here...i am talking about BRANDING, STYLES AND PRODUCTS. There is no a single sku that is a true hit with consumers , the smartwatches have been a joke and in the meantime we have missed so many trends it is sad. The best example for me is Croc s ... they changed management, refocussed the strategy, went back to the core did a couple of collaborations and are growing like crazy again....how hard is it? We should try do Crocs watches by the way, instead of useless tired fashion brands. Seriously as much as i hate all the politics at Fossil, what really gets me is how mediocre our product and innovation pipeline has been. Any thoughts or pushbacks are appreciated.
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First of all, the main problem from Fossil is the people from leadership! They are already disconnected from real world, or some of them lack of experience to manage a team, most of them just go to the office to heat their chairs with useless meetings pretending they are doing something.
If they really want to make the brand growth, company needs to kick out almost everyone from leadership, and replace them with talented people as many mnc are doing outside.
Branding, styles and product will improve after doing this...
Should have retained the design talent that was there that inspired confidence that fossil was serious about design. Sadly, your design leadership is part of good ol’ boys that has you in this mess.
Crocs is thriving because of the times. Stay at home and comfort over status signaling. They also have great margins being that their revenue driver does not change very much and is easily molded with inexpensive materials: polyurethane, EVA, other thermoformed substitutes. The commodity price is more elastic all they need to do is get the chemistry right once they go to molding. The simple color choices means that complexity and variability are reduced so the supply chain is tuned to deliver what it needs to keep up with demand.
Design management is key to fossil success, but it drove great designers away because of its culture.