The leader credited with the turnaround of the wildly successful footwear brand was recently in India, and spoke exclusively to Forbes India through his visit
Andrew Rees, CEO, Crocs
Image: Courtesy Crocs
Andrew Rees, CEO of Crocs, is known to have powered the massive resurgence of Crocs, the ubiquitous foam clog brand, which was struggling when he first took over. This involved him having to shut off from certain markets, but India was not one of them.
“India continues to be a Tier-I market for us,” he says. In fact, the brand is setting up two state-of-the-art manufacturing units within the country, hoping to diversify manufacturing out of China and Vietnam. The Tamil Nadu units should be operational by January 2024.
On his recent visit to India, Rees spoke exclusively to Forbes India. Edited excerpts:
Q. When you took over as CEO, the brand was struggling. You’ve managed to turn it around, and quite quickly, harnessing the power of social media and focusing on a core product. What was your strategy then, and has it changed now?