Big '05 headlines include StorageTek, resurgence of venture capital investments - Daily Camera
"--No. 8: Crocs, Crocs everywhere: When 2004 started, only a couple of hundred retailers carried Crocs, the funky, foam-like footwear made by the Niwot-based Western Brands LLC.
The Crocs craze got a lot crazier in 2005.
The company started the year off by naming a new chief executive officer and incorporating the business as Crocs Inc.
The year was filled with more kinds of shoes, more colors, more gear, more retailers (5,700 domestically), more countries (about 30 worldwide), more employees, more awards, more face-time on billboards and magazines, and ... more competitors.
Similar-looking shoes have sprouted. Payless ShoeSource carries a line made by Airwalk and other stores carry a brand called Nothinz.
But Crocs' biggest news came in August when it filed paperwork for a future $145 million initial public offering.
The company, which halfway through 2005 made $5.9 million on sales of $36.7 million, has not yet disclosed the share price or the date of its possible offering. "
Read the rest of this article, Big '05 headlines include StorageTek, resurgence of venture capital investments by Greg Avery, Matt Branaugh and Alicia Wallace for the Daily Camera at (http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/jan/1251619.htm).
