By Adrianne Jeffries 6/27/12 1:21pm

Caveat Backer

vere fire 2

Is This Overfunded Sandals Project the Biggest Kickstarter Flop Yet?

Bad news for those among Vere Sandals’ 1,091 backers on Kickstarter who still haven’t received their footwear: The factory caught on fire and your sandals may have gotten burned up. Really.

At least Vere’s creators are offering to negotiate “options” to fulfill its obligations to backers and has refunded some pledges. Because the situation at this point is best described as a quagmire. The creators posted a request for funds in January, 2011, saying they had the equipment and the experience necessary to make a bunch of sweet, eco-friendly flip-flops right here in the U.S.A. (“I LOVE FLIP FLOPS!!” one backer commented at the time.) But the Geneva, New York-based operation has struggled monumentally with actually making and shipping sandals for a year and a half after raising $56,618 of its $12,000 goal. Read More

By Adrianne Jeffries 5/17/11 4:01pm

Kickstart It

ipod watch

iPod Nano Watches–Kickstarter’s Most Successful Project–Coming to Apple Stores This Week

Chicago-based designer Scott Wilson put his design for two iPod Nano watches–one where the iPod is removable and one not–on Kickstarter after reading about it in articles and from a friend. He and his design team hoped to raise $15,000 in 30 days; they ended up raising $941,718.

And this week Apple retail stores in North America will start stocking the watches, Fast Company reports. Read More