, but their bully boy tactics are a bit disappointing, turning down offers and not being open to discussion
Bully boy? They sent a cease and desist for IP theft, if they were so inclined they could have taken them to the cleaners. They have been nothing but reasonable.
Maybe if Slik had approached them in the first place BEFORE profiting from their IP they may have arranged something. But as they never why should they?
There is some irony to a chunk of the Fox sponsored athletes in the past and present whom have all used Slik to have bespoke work done.
I love slik graphics, have them on every bike. One thing no one seems to mention though is what other damage could happen to fox. You buy a cheap fork from china/fox copy off wish, stick very genuine looking fox stickers from slik on it. Sell on ebay and rip some poor sod off and when they break photos of what look like snapped fox forks appear all over insta. Bad day for fox! Bad day for whoever buys them. Slik being such good quality helps this to happen.
You buy a cheap fork from china/fox copy off wish, stick very genuine looking fox stickers from slik on it.
You can buy actual genuine stickers from Fox. They can’t stop you sticking them on non Fox products.
'Faux'?
I got a couple of nice, cheap pairs of 34s a couple of years ago - so cheap I didn't have a choice of colour of sticker. So for the last couple of years, I've had a pair of black forks with orange stickers on my black and primer-red Kona Process. The orange and red really, really jar, but not enough that I felt compelled to actually do anything about it for a couple of years. But last week, I finally decided I should probably do something about it and ordered some replacement stickers from Slik to replace the now rather scuffed and scratched orange ones. I assumed - wrongly, it seems - that Slik was licensing from Fox and others.
If they turn up, I'll take the orange stickers off and replace them. If they don't I'll take the orange stickers off and not replace them, leaving a nice plain black fork.
I know this is a kit-heavy sport and all that, but have you noticed how everything has a fricking logo on it? It'd be quite nice not to be a mobile ad hoarding every now and again.
If Slik made some other type of fork sticker that didn't have the Fox logo I'd probably consider putting that on instead, to be honest. Maybe some nice flowers, or purple and green jersey cows shooting laser beams from their eyes and death rays from their nether parts? I reckon there's a market for that sort of thing, you know.
OK, I've skimmed the thread and can't see this has been asked. Who TF are they planning on delivering that petition to? Fox themselves? The government for a parliamentary debate?
Signing that is about as pointless as me asking this question here. 🤔😁
Fox I’d assume. The same way those 1000 people that couldn’t stand Yeti using the word ‘Tribe’ in its marketing.
There’s already a few sensitive souls on Pinkbike saying they’ll never ever ever buy a Fox product again over this. (They will of course, but that’s for another time)
There’s already a few sensitive souls on Pinkbike saying they’ll never ever ever buy a Fox product again over this.
Maybe they'd like to buy some of the Pinkbike T-shirts my mate's getting made? PB don't offer them in the colours some of us wanted so he's getting some done. Tenner each. PB should be cool with it.
As a punter, one of the big advantages Fox and Rockshox have is that they're big enough to have an aftermarket. Cosmetics aren't as value-adding as say an aftermarket coil or damper upgrade but they're still valuable to me- so frinstance my Boxxers have Slik stickers on which suit the frame colours better than anything Rockshox do. Also, the thicker Slik graphics protect the forks better.
(by pure luck, my 36s were available with stickers that look great on the bike. If Fox didn't make stickers that looked good to me, and if nobody else was able to offer alternatives, would it stop me buying the fork? Quite possibly. Performance is more important of course but all top end forks are good these days and I tend to go to the aftermarket to make forks work exactly how i want anyway)
I don't dispute that Fox have the right to do this, but I think they might find it's counterproductive. I certainly don't see it driving an avalanche of sales to their own sticker sets.
You rip off a companies trademark they're going to come after you.
I work for a big brand (not bike related) and they fiercely guard the brand markings as that is where a lot of the companies value is. You simply can't go off copying peoples IP.
Fox products will sell regardless of a few butt hurt bike owners who can't colour match their decals!
Maybe they’d like to buy some of the Pinkbike T-shirts my mate’s getting made? PB don’t offer them in the colours some of us wanted so he’s getting some done. Tenner each. PB should be cool with it.
If I see sticker packs for sale in Evans that feature purple and green cows shooting laser beams and death rays from their orifices, Jameso, you will be hearing from my lawyers. 😀
Clearly there's a market for replacement graphics, and frankly I'm surprised Fox hasn't already cornered it based on the fact they can probably out-produce, out-distribute and outprice competitors like Slik if they really wanted to. I do think there's a market for something more creative than simply redoing a brand in a nice colour. Maybe not, but yeah, ripping off IP - not great.
I'm just glad Fox haven't shut down the lad 3d printing volume spacers on EBAY, mine arrived today.
Is it just Slik Graphics that Fox are trying to sop doing this? If so, wonder why?
Silk should do a custom fork decal web-site where you choose the wording. Maybe Fox. Maybe Fux. They just print and post results. Same way Facebook isn’t a ‘publisher’...
Ride decals don't seem to have been threatened yet, get your orders in quick 😀
Is it just Slik Graphics that Fox are trying to sop doing this? If so, wonder why?
Slik are the only ones making a, very public, fuss about it.
Invisiframe aren’t listing Fox now, though I can’t remember if they ever did.
I’m surprised Fox hasn’t already cornered it based on the fact they can probably out-produce, out-distribute and outprice competitors like Slik if they really wanted to
Fox's OE custom color stickers are vastly out producing all of the aftermarket options.
Would presumably be a fairly easy to put these pantone/ral matched version out as a retail option through their supply chain. But, producing a known quantity run of decals for each brand as advanced order is simpler than case by case production.
The team at Fox were incredibly sympathetic and expressed that their plan all along has been to partner with select aftermarket decal manufacturers and that Slik was always at the top of their list, however, an internal miscommunication on their part led to the unfortunate situation that occurred.
Had nothing at all to do with people getting all upset they couldn't colour co-ordinate their pants and fork stickers.
I find the whole thing odd - I take most of the stickers off my bikes 😀
A petition to make stickers on change.org.... now we’re talking.
They just need to put their stuff on ebay like all the other fake sellers.
change.org I ask ya.
If Slik made some other type of fork sticker that didn’t have the Fox logo I’d probably consider putting that on instead, to be honest. Maybe some nice flowers, or purple and green jersey cows shooting laser beams from their eyes and death rays from their nether parts? I reckon there’s a market for that sort of thing, you know.
Me too, But you go on Slik's website and it's just colour variations on the standard Logos. I'm not so bothered about the appearance of my bike to really worry about colour matched stickers...
Perhaps they need to start exploring alternatives to copying others work and changing the colours and actually, you know, develop their own IP?
TBH it's a fair cop from Slik's Point of view, they've made money from several other companies branding/IP for a while and apparently not paid for and/or had an agreement in place to do so.
Would Fox have had the option to go further than simply issuing a cease and desist?
The petition is a bit childish, I'm not sure what purpose it serves other than to try and help stir some shit with the PB kiddies. Are fox really going to Cave to a handful of angry "colourway whores"? I doubt it...
The petition is a bit childish, I’m not sure what purpose it serves other than to try and help stir some shit with the PB kiddies. Are fox really going to Cave to a handful of angry “colourway whores”? I doubt it…
They have...
MTBR have closed a thread, basically saying Slik did nothing wrong as Fox don’t do custom stickers.
(All but a couple of posters disagreed, but that’s their view)
I’m not so bothered about the appearance of my bike to really worry about colour matched stickers…
OTOH, like me, you could have colour matched graphics from new and want to swap them for something else as they look terrible
Me too, But you go on Slik’s website and it’s just colour variations on the standard Logos. I’m not so bothered about the appearance of my bike to really worry about colour matched stickers…
So that's two of us that want purple and green cows with death rays. Time for a Kickstarter!
Will Slik do me some EXT stickers for my Fox forks?