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SEC Comment Letter for Crocs, Inc. (CROX) (CIK 0001334036) (CROX) — Sep 9, 2005

Crocs, Inc. (CROX) (CIK 0001334036)
Date: Sept. 9, 2005 · CIK: 0001334036 · Accession: 0000000000-05-046776

AI Filing Summary & Sentiment

File numbers found in text: 333-127526

Date
September 9, 2005
Author
Not clearly detected
Form
UPLOAD
Company
Crocs, Inc. (CROX) (CIK 0001334036)

Letter

Mail Stop 7010 By U.S. Mail and facsimile to (303) 468-4266 Ronald R. Snyder President and Chief Executive Officer Crocs, Inc. 6273 Monarch Park Place Niwot, Colorado 80503

Re: Crocs, Inc. Registration Statement on Form S-1 Filed August 15, 2005 File No. 333-127526

Dear Mr. Snyder:

We have reviewed your filing and have the following comments. Where indicated, we think you should revise your document in response to these comments. If you disagree, we will consider your explanation as to why our comment is inapplicable or a revision is unnecessary. Please be as detailed as necessary in your explanation. In some of our comments, we may ask you to provide us with supplemental information so we may better understand your disclosure. After reviewing this information, we may raise additional comments.

Please understand that the purpose of our review process is to assist you in your compliance with the applicable disclosure requirements and to enhance the overall disclosure in your filing. We look forward to working with you in these respects. We welcome any questions you may have about our comments or any other aspect of our review. Feel free to call us at the telephone numbers listed at the end of this letter.

General

1. We note that you have omitted the price range and number of shares for this offering. To assist you in planning your offering, please be advised that we will need to review the registration statement with this information included prior to effectiveness. We ask that you provide this information and any other non-430A information, including information regarding your capital structure, as soon as practicable to allow for our review. In addition, note that any preliminary prospectus that is circulated must include all non- 430A information, including a bona fide estimated price range.

2. We may have further comment once items that are currently blank, such as portions of summary and selected financial data, and the capitalization and dilution tables, are completed.

Prospectus Summary, page 1

3. Please balance your disclosure concerning your revenues by disclosing your net loss for 2004.

4. Please balance information in the discussions of your business and growth strategies to describe risks that are related to these strategies. For example, you say that you will continue to highlight the "unique" characteristics of Crocs footwear as a part of your business strategy, yet you have a risk factor that states that some of your competitors make products that are substantially similar, in design and materials, to your footwear.

Risk Factors, page 7

5. Please ensure that each risk factor describes a specific material risk. Several risk factors, including those entitled "We are subject to various environmental laws . . .", "We are required to comply with government regulation . . . ," "We may face product liability claims," and "We do not anticipate paying cash dividends . . ." provide a statement of facts but do not clearly explain why these factors are a particular risk to you or investors. Risks that could apply to any company or that are themselves speculative are vague and should be revised or removed.

6. To ensure that each risk factor describes the magnitude of each risk, provide quantitative information where possible. For example, your risks entitled "Future sales of our common stock . . ." and "If you purchase shares of common stock in this offering . . ." could be enhanced by stating the number of shares eligible for resale under Rule 144 and the amount of dilution shareholders will experience, respectively.

Risks Related to Crocs, Inc., page 7 We have a limited operating history . . . ., page 7

7. Please expand your discussion to clarify how your recent rapid growth has made your current operations and expected future operations substantially different from your past operating history, as well as how this constitutes a risk to investors.

If we do not accurately forecast consumer demand . . . ., page 18

8. Please specify your lead times for design and production in order to give investors a better sense of the magnitude of this risk.

Use of Proceeds, page 26

9. We note your statement on page 40 that you intend to use a portion of the proceeds of this offering "to increase[e] our manufacturing capacity of approximately $7 million," while no mention of such use is disclosed in this section. If you have specific plans to use a portion of the offering proceeds in this manner, please revise your discussion to include this use, as contemplated by Item 504 of Regulation S-K and Instruction 2 thereunder.

10. We note that you have registered $145 million of common stock. However, this section only contemplates the specific use of $7 million. As required by Item 504 of Regulation S-K, please specify an approximate amount intended to be used for each purpose that you identify in this section, including developing your international operations and increasing your marketing activities. If you have no specific plans for any significant portion of the proceeds of this offering, please disclose this. Finally, while you may reserve the right to change the use of proceeds, this reservation must be due to contingencies that you specifically discuss. You must also discuss alternatives to such uses if the contingencies take place. See Instruction 7 to Item 504.

Management`s Discussion and Analysis . . . ., page 32 Seasonality, page 36

11. We note your statement that although you cannot assess the effect of seasonality on your operations, seasonal variation in results occurs within your industry and that you expect your business to be similarly affected. Please expand your discussion to disclose how seasonality affects your industry and, given this disclosure, whether investors can expect your results to be similarly affected.

Contractual Obligations and Commercial Commitments, page 42

12. Please revise your table of contractual cash obligations to include estimated interest payments on your debt. Because the table is aimed at increasing transparency of cash flow, we believe these payments should be included in the table. Please also disclose any assumptions you made to derive these amounts. Business, page 47

13. Please provide additional disclosure regarding the extent of your international operations. For instance, we note disclosure on page 47 and elsewhere that your products are offered internationally in more than 20 countries, while on page 37 you state that your revenues from international sales through March 31, 2005 were immaterial.

Product overview, page 49

14. Disclosure in your MD&A cites the "year-round appeal" of your products as the reason for few returns. However, the products that you discuss in the Business section appear to be more suitable for warm weather. For example, most of the shoes have ports on the sides, and two are open-toe. None appears to be insulated against cold temperatures. Please explain how you will market your products during cold weather seasons and what seasonal impact on your operations, if any, you expect to experience.

Sales and Distribution, page 52 Distribution and Logistics, page 54

15. Please elaborate on the services that Expeditors International of Washington, Inc., provides to you. Disclosure in the risk factor entitled "We rely on a single third party for a significant portion of our warehouse, distribution and fulfillment operations . . ." on page 14 suggests that you engaged Expeditors to operate all of these processes. However, your discussion on page 54 sounds as if Expeditors just makes warehouse space available to you. Please clarify the nature of any services that Expeditors provides, and whether you have any formal agreement with them, including for a short or unspecified term.

Raw Materials, page 54

16. Please elaborate on and clarify the availability of alternate sources of elastomer resins. We note that your risk factor entitled "We depend on a limited number of suppliers . . ." on page 13 says that if your supplier of elastomer resins were to cease production of these materials, there is a risk that you would be unable to obtain suitable substitute materials in a timely manner. However, your risk entitled "We face significant competition . . ." on page 15 says that most of the raw materials you require are readily available for purchase.

Manufacturing and Sourcing, page 54

17. Please clarify whether you have any contract with your 51% supplier in China. We note your statement in the risk factors that you have "arrangements" with suppliers in China, Italy, and Florida. Further, if you do not have any contract with the Chinese supplier to continue manufacturing your products, please clarify this in your risk factor entitled "Because we depend on third party manufacturers . . ." on page 12.

18. Since, according to several of your risk factors, you appear to be substantially dependent on a limited number of manufacturers, please discuss the availability of other manufacturing resources that you could rely upon if any of your existing manufacturers had insufficient capacity to increase production to meet demand for your products, terminated their contracts with you, or your product supply was otherwise interrupted.

Marketing, page 55

19. Please clarify whether the advertising firm you recently engaged is Source Solutions, discussed on page 68. If Source Solutions continues to provide sales and marketing services to you, please disclose this here, as well as in the Certain Relationships" section on page 68.

Intellectual Property and Trademarks, page 56

20. We note disclosure that you consider the formulation of the closed-cell resin used to produce your products to be a trade secret and that you believe this formulation is not generally available elsewhere. We also note your statement that you "employ various means to protect this trade secret." Please expand your discussion to state the basis for your belief that this information is not available elsewhere and why you feel that such information is "proprietary." In addition, please disclose the means by which you protect this trade secret, including whether you have sought or will seek patent protection. We may have additional comment upon review of your response.

21. We note disclosure on page 35 that your products were initially designed and manufactured by Foam Creations, which you subsequently acquired in 2004, and that in the acquisition, you acquired the "rights to the proprietary closed-cell resin . . . ." Revise your disclosure in this section to specify the rights regarding the "proprietary closed-cell resin" that you acquired in 2004. Please state whether you are the sole holder of these rights.

Legal Proceedings, page 57

22. Revise your disclosure to state the name of the court in which you filed suit against Holey Soles Holdings Ltd. in January 2005. In addition, please expand your discussion to disclose the factual basis for your trademark and copyright infringement claims. If these claims relate to your closed-cell resin, so state. Principal and Selling Stockholders, page 73

23. Please tell us whether any of the selling shareholders are broker-dealers or affiliates of broker-dealers. Revise the prospectus to name the selling shareholders who are broker-dealers and state that they are underwriters with respect to the shares that they are offering for resale.

24. For the selling shareholders who are affiliates of broker- dealers, disclose the following: * that the selling shareholders purchased in the ordinary course of business; and * that, at the time of purchase of the securities to be resold, the seller had no agreements or understandings, directly or indirectly, with any person to distribute the securities. If these selling shareholders are unable to make these representations, please state that they are underwriters.

25. Disclose when each of the selling security holders acquired the shares of common stock and the nature of the transaction.

Underwriting, page 83

26. Please expand your disclosure regarding short positions to discuss all of the items noted in Section VIII.A.3. of the staff`s Current Issues Outline dated November 2000. The Current Issues Outline is available on our website at www.sec.gov.

27. Please identify any members of the underwriting syndicate that will engage in any electronic offer, sale, or distribution of the shares and describe their procedures to us supplementally, or confirm that the Division`s Office of Chief Counsel has reviewed and approved these procedures. If you become aware of any additional members of the underwriting syndicate that may engage in electronic offers, sales, or distributions after you respond to this comment, promptly supplement your response to identify those members and provide us with a description of their procedures.

28. Tell us whether you or the underwriters have any arrangements with a third-party to host or access your preliminary prospectus on the Internet. If so, identify the party and the website, describe the material terms of your agreement, and provide us with a copy of any written agreement. Please also provide us with copies of all information concerning your company or prospectus that has appeared on their website. Again, if you subsequently enter into any such arrangements, promptly supplement your response.

29. Supplementally confirm regarding your directed share program that: * Except for the underwriting commission, the offers and sales are on the same terms as those offered to the general public; * No offers were made prior to the filing of the registration statement; * Offers were made only with the prospectus; and * No funds have been or will be committed or paid prior to effectiveness of the registration statement. Please provide us with copies of the materials that you sent to the directed share program participants.

30. Please disclose the specified circumstances under which the underwriters will determine whether to extend the lock-up period for up to 35 additional days. Similarly, please disclose whether securities may be released from the lock-up agreement through the consent of the underwriters and, if so, the criteria that they will use in determining whether to consent to releasing the securities subject to the lock-up agreement. Specifically, disclose whether they will consider their own positions in the securities as a factor.

Financial Statements of Crocs, Inc. General

31. Page 4 indicates that a stock split will occur immediately prior to this offering. Please revise your financial statements and your disclosures throughout the filing to give retroactive effect to the expected stock split. Doing this in the next amendment will save us substantial review time in future amendments. If your auditors believe that only a "draft" report can be presented due to a pending future event such as the stock split, they must include in the filing a signed and dated preface to their "draft" report stating the reason for the "draft" report and that they expect to be in a position to issue the report in the form presented prior to effectiveness. The signed, dated, and unrestricted auditor`s report must be included in the filing prior to effectiveness. See Rule 2-02 of Regulation S- X.

32. Please update the financial statements and corresponding financial information included to comply with Rule 3-12 of Regulation S-X.

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm, page F-2

33. Please make arrangements with Deloitte & Touche LLP to have them provide a signed report. We will not be able to perform a review of any amendments until a signed report is provided. Refer to Rule 2- 02(a) of Regulation S-X.

Statements of Operations, page F-4

34. Please provide pro forma tax and EPS financial informati

Show Raw Text
<DOCUMENT>
<TYPE>LETTER
<SEQUENCE>1
<FILENAME>filename1.txt
<TEXT>
September 9, 2005

Mail Stop 7010

By U.S. Mail and facsimile to (303) 468-4266

Ronald R. Snyder
President and Chief Executive Officer
Crocs, Inc.
6273 Monarch Park Place
Niwot, Colorado 80503

Re: 	Crocs, Inc.
	Registration Statement on Form S-1
Filed August 15, 2005
	File No. 333-127526

Dear Mr. Snyder:

      We have reviewed your filing and have the following
comments.
Where indicated, we think you should revise your document in
response
to these comments.  If you disagree, we will consider your
explanation as to why our comment is inapplicable or a revision is
unnecessary.  Please be as detailed as necessary in your
explanation.
In some of our comments, we may ask you to provide us with
supplemental information so we may better understand your
disclosure.
After reviewing this information, we may raise additional
comments.

      Please understand that the purpose of our review process is
to
assist you in your compliance with the applicable disclosure
requirements and to enhance the overall disclosure in your filing.
We look forward to working with you in these respects.  We welcome
any questions you may have about our comments or any other aspect
of
our review.  Feel free to call us at the telephone numbers listed
at
the end of this letter.

General

1. We note that you have omitted the price range and number of
shares
for this offering.  To assist you in planning your offering,
please
be advised that we will need to review the registration statement
with this information included prior to effectiveness.  We ask
that
you provide this information and any other non-430A information,
including information regarding your capital structure, as soon as
practicable to allow for our review.  In addition, note that any
preliminary prospectus that is circulated must include all non-
430A
information, including a bona fide estimated price range.

2. We may have further comment once items that are currently
blank,
such as portions of summary and selected financial data, and the
capitalization and dilution tables, are completed.

Prospectus Summary, page 1

3. Please balance your disclosure concerning your revenues by
disclosing your net loss for 2004.

4. Please balance information in the discussions of your business
and
growth strategies to describe risks that are related to these
strategies.  For example, you say that you will continue to
highlight
the "unique" characteristics of Crocs footwear as a part of your
business strategy, yet you have a risk factor that states that
some
of your competitors make products that are substantially similar,
in
design and materials, to your footwear.

Risk Factors, page 7

5. Please ensure that each risk factor describes a specific
material
risk.  Several risk factors, including those entitled "We are
subject
to various environmental laws . . .", "We are required to comply
with
government regulation . . . ," "We may face product liability
claims," and "We do not anticipate paying cash dividends . . ."
provide a statement of facts but do not clearly explain why these
factors are a particular risk to you or investors.  Risks that
could
apply to any company or that are themselves speculative are vague
and
should be revised or removed.

6. To ensure that each risk factor describes the magnitude of each
risk, provide quantitative information where possible.  For
example,
your risks entitled "Future sales of our common stock . . ." and
"If
you purchase shares of common stock in this offering . . ." could
be
enhanced by stating the number of shares eligible for resale under
Rule 144 and the amount of dilution shareholders will experience,
respectively.

Risks Related to Crocs, Inc., page 7
We have a limited operating history . . . ., page 7

7. Please expand your discussion to clarify how your recent rapid
growth has made your current operations and expected future
operations substantially different from your past operating
history,
as well as how this constitutes a risk to investors.

If we do not accurately forecast consumer demand . . . ., page 18

8. Please specify your lead times for design and production in
order
to give investors a better sense of the magnitude of this risk.

Use of Proceeds, page 26

9. We note your statement on page 40 that you intend to use a
portion
of the proceeds of this offering "to increase[e] our manufacturing
capacity of approximately $7 million," while no mention of such
use
is disclosed in this section.  If you have specific plans to use a
portion of the offering proceeds in this manner, please revise
your
discussion to include this use, as contemplated by Item 504 of
Regulation S-K and Instruction 2 thereunder.

10. We note that you have registered $145 million of common stock.
However, this section only contemplates the specific use of $7
million.  As required by Item 504 of Regulation S-K, please
specify
an approximate amount intended to be used for each purpose that
you
identify in this section, including developing your international
operations and increasing your marketing activities.  If you have
no
specific plans for any significant portion of the proceeds of this
offering, please disclose this.  Finally, while you may reserve
the
right to change the use of proceeds, this reservation must be due
to
contingencies that you specifically discuss.  You must also
discuss
alternatives to such uses if the contingencies take place.  See
Instruction 7 to Item 504.

Management`s Discussion and Analysis . . . ., page 32
Seasonality, page 36

11. We note your statement that although you cannot assess the
effect
of seasonality on your operations, seasonal variation in results
occurs within your industry and that you expect your business to
be
similarly affected.  Please expand your discussion to disclose how
seasonality affects your industry and, given this disclosure,
whether
investors can expect your results to be similarly affected.

Contractual Obligations and Commercial Commitments, page 42

12. Please revise your table of contractual cash obligations to
include estimated interest payments on your debt. Because the
table
is aimed at increasing transparency of cash flow, we believe these
payments should be included in the table.  Please also disclose
any
assumptions you made to derive these amounts.
Business, page 47

13. Please provide additional disclosure regarding the extent of
your
international operations.  For instance, we note disclosure on
page
47 and elsewhere that your products are offered internationally in
more than 20 countries, while on page 37 you state that your
revenues
from international sales through March 31, 2005 were immaterial.

Product overview, page 49

14. Disclosure in your MD&A cites the "year-round appeal" of your
products as the reason for few returns.  However, the products
that
you discuss in the Business section appear to be more suitable for
warm weather.  For example, most of the shoes have ports on the
sides, and two are open-toe.  None appears to be insulated against
cold temperatures.  Please explain how you will market your
products
during cold weather seasons and what seasonal impact on your
operations, if any, you expect to experience.

Sales and Distribution, page 52
Distribution and Logistics, page 54

15. Please elaborate on the services that Expeditors International
of
Washington, Inc., provides to you.  Disclosure in the risk factor
entitled "We rely on a single third party for a significant
portion
of our warehouse, distribution and fulfillment operations . . ."
on
page 14 suggests that you engaged Expeditors to operate all of
these
processes.  However, your discussion on page 54 sounds as if
Expeditors just makes warehouse space available to you.  Please
clarify the nature of any services that Expeditors provides, and
whether you have any formal agreement with them, including for a
short or unspecified term.

Raw Materials, page 54

16. Please elaborate on and clarify the availability of alternate
sources of elastomer resins.  We note that your risk factor
entitled
"We depend on a limited number of suppliers . . ." on page 13 says
that if your supplier of elastomer resins were to cease production
of
these materials, there is a risk that you would be unable to
obtain
suitable substitute materials in a timely manner.  However, your
risk
entitled "We face significant competition . . ." on page 15 says
that
most of the raw materials you require are readily available for
purchase.

Manufacturing and Sourcing, page 54

17. Please clarify whether you have any contract with your 51%
supplier in China.  We note your statement in the risk factors
that
you have "arrangements" with suppliers in China, Italy, and
Florida.
Further, if you do not have any contract with the Chinese supplier
to
continue manufacturing your products, please clarify this in your
risk factor entitled "Because we depend on third party
manufacturers
. . ." on page 12.

18. Since, according to several of your risk factors, you appear
to
be substantially dependent on a limited number of manufacturers,
please discuss the availability of other manufacturing resources
that
you could rely upon if any of your existing manufacturers had
insufficient capacity to increase production to meet demand for
your
products, terminated their contracts with you, or your product
supply
was otherwise interrupted.

Marketing, page 55

19. Please clarify whether the advertising firm you recently
engaged
is Source Solutions, discussed on page 68.  If Source Solutions
continues to provide sales and marketing services to you, please
disclose this here, as well as in the
Certain Relationships" section on page 68.

Intellectual Property and Trademarks, page 56

20. We note disclosure that you consider the formulation of the
closed-cell resin used to produce your products to be a trade
secret
and that you believe this formulation is not generally available
elsewhere.  We also note your statement that you "employ various
means to protect this trade secret."  Please expand your
discussion
to state the basis for your belief that this information is not
available elsewhere and why you feel that such information is
"proprietary."  In addition, please disclose the means by which
you
protect this trade secret, including whether you have sought or
will
seek patent protection.  We may have additional comment upon
review
of your response.

21. We note disclosure on page 35 that your products were
initially
designed and manufactured by Foam Creations, which you
subsequently
acquired in 2004, and that in the acquisition, you acquired the
"rights to the proprietary closed-cell resin . . . ."  Revise your
disclosure in this section to specify the rights regarding the
"proprietary closed-cell resin" that you acquired in 2004.  Please
state whether you are the sole holder of these rights.

Legal Proceedings, page 57

22. Revise your disclosure to state the name of the court in which
you filed suit against Holey Soles Holdings Ltd. in January 2005.
In
addition, please expand your discussion to disclose the factual
basis
for your trademark and copyright infringement claims.  If these
claims relate to your closed-cell resin, so state.
Principal and Selling Stockholders, page 73

23. Please tell us whether any of the selling shareholders are
broker-dealers or affiliates of broker-dealers.  Revise the
prospectus to name the selling shareholders who are broker-dealers
and state that they are underwriters with respect to the shares
that
they are offering for resale.

24. For the selling shareholders who are affiliates of broker-
dealers, disclose the following:
* that the selling shareholders purchased in the ordinary course
of
business; and
* that, at the time of purchase of the securities to be resold,
the
seller had no agreements or understandings, directly or
indirectly,
with any person to distribute the securities.
If these selling shareholders are unable to make these
representations, please state that they are underwriters.

25. Disclose when each of the selling security holders acquired
the
shares of common stock and the nature of the transaction.

Underwriting, page 83

26. Please expand your disclosure regarding short positions to
discuss all of the items noted in Section VIII.A.3. of the staff`s
Current Issues Outline dated November 2000.  The Current Issues
Outline is available on our website at www.sec.gov.

27. Please identify any members of the underwriting syndicate that
will engage in any electronic offer, sale, or distribution of the
shares and describe their procedures to us supplementally, or
confirm
that the Division`s Office of Chief Counsel has reviewed and
approved
these procedures.  If you become aware of any additional members
of
the underwriting syndicate that may engage in electronic offers,
sales, or distributions after you respond to this comment,
promptly
supplement your response to identify those members and provide us
with a description of their procedures.

28. Tell us whether you or the underwriters have any arrangements
with a third-party to host or access your preliminary prospectus
on
the Internet.  If so, identify the party and the website, describe
the material terms of your agreement, and provide us with a copy
of
any written agreement.  Please also provide us with copies of all
information concerning your company or prospectus that has
appeared
on their website.  Again, if you subsequently enter into any such
arrangements, promptly supplement your response.

29. Supplementally confirm regarding your directed share program
that:
* Except for the underwriting commission, the offers and sales are
on
the same terms as those offered to the general public;
* No offers were made prior to the filing of the registration
statement;
* Offers were made only with the prospectus; and
* No funds have been or will be committed or paid prior to
effectiveness of the registration statement.
Please provide us with copies of the materials that you sent to
the
directed share program participants.

30. Please disclose the specified circumstances under which the
underwriters will determine whether to extend the lock-up period
for
up to 35 additional days.  Similarly, please disclose whether
securities may be released from the lock-up agreement through the
consent of the underwriters and, if so, the criteria that they
will
use in determining whether to consent to releasing the securities
subject to the lock-up agreement.  Specifically, disclose whether
they will consider their own positions in the securities as a
factor.

Financial Statements of Crocs, Inc.
General

31. Page 4 indicates that a stock split will occur immediately
prior
to this offering.  Please revise your financial statements and
your
disclosures throughout the filing to give retroactive effect to
the
expected stock split.  Doing this in the next amendment will save
us
substantial review time in future amendments.  If your auditors
believe that only a "draft" report can be presented due to a
pending
future event such as the stock split, they must include in the
filing
a signed and dated preface to their "draft" report stating the
reason
for the "draft" report and that they expect to be in a position to
issue the report in the form presented prior to effectiveness.
The
signed, dated, and unrestricted auditor`s report must be included
in
the filing prior to effectiveness.  See Rule 2-02 of Regulation S-
X.

32. Please update the financial statements and corresponding
financial information included to comply with Rule 3-12 of
Regulation
S-X.

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm, page F-2

33. Please make arrangements with Deloitte & Touche LLP to have
them
provide a signed report.  We will not be able to perform a review
of
any amendments until a signed report is provided.  Refer to Rule
2-
02(a) of Regulation S-X.

Statements of Operations, page F-4

34. Please provide pro forma tax and EPS financial informati