Casetify

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Casetify
FormerlyCasetagram
Company typePrivate
Founded1 October 2011; 12 years ago (2011-10-01) in Hong Kong
Founder
  • Ronald Yeung
  • Wesley Ng
Area served
Worldwide
ProductsPhone accessories
Revenue~US$300 million (2022)[1]
Number of employees
1,000[2]
Websitecasetify.com

Casetagram Limited, trading as Casetify, is a Hong Kong company that produces phone cases and electronic accessories.[3] Founded in 2011 by Wesley Ng and Ronald Yeung, the company first featured custom phone cases by using Instagram photos. It later expanded to selling accessories with different designs.[4] It has sold more than 25 million phone cases.[5][6][2][7][8]

The company is headquartered in Hong Kong and has offices in Los Angeles.[9][10]

History[edit]

Formerly Casetagram, Casetify's initial products were customized cell phone cases created using the purchaser's Instagram photos. Users could upload images from Instagram to an interface that allowed them create a custom collage or single-image case.[11] Users can now create custom cases using photos from Instagram and Facebook, or by directly uploading photographs and adding custom text.[11] Casetify also produces additional products such as tech accessories.

The company has brick and mortar locations in the United States,[12][13] Hong Kong, including a flagship store in the city's Landmark Mall complex, Japan, South Korea[14] and a pop-up store in Bangkok, Thailand.[15][16]

Partnerships and collaborations[edit]

To create cases, Casetify works with galleries, museums and artists. The Louvre collection features art by Leonardo da Vinci, Eugène Delacroix and ancient works such as the Venus de Milo.[17] The Metropolitan Museum of Art partnered with Casetify to produce licensed products featuring the art of Vincent van Gogh, Degas and Monet. Casetify has also partnered with individual artists such as David Shrigley and Yayoi Kusama to produce collections featuring their work.[18][19]

Casetify has also collaborated with more than 100 companies,[20] including brands such as DHL,[21] Blanc & Eclare,[22] Pokémon,[23] Pixar,[24] Lucasfilm,[25] Vetements,[26] and K-pop groups BTS and Blackpink for product collections. Food companies such as Coca-Cola, Oreo and Vegemite have also collaborated along with sporting companies such as the NBA, MLB and the AFL. Collections commonly feature phone cases, however other items such as watch straps and earbud cases are included in certain collaborations.[27]

Plagiarism allegations and lawsuit[edit]

On November 23, 2023, YouTuber Zack Nelson, known online as JerryRigEverything, uploaded a video where he announced[28][29] that he and case manufacturer dbrand had filed a multi-million dollar federal lawsuit against Casetify for plagiarizing product designs relating to their "Teardown" line of items. The video claimed that Casetify had either copied or modified multiple exclusive designs by dbrand and JerryRigEverything. Nelson shared numerous Easter eggs that were included within the dbrand designs that were present in Casetify products, as well as demonstrating that the designs from Casetify were direct replicas of dbrand, with only some slight changes made. Less than an hour following the release of the YouTube video, the Casetify website experienced downtime,[30] and upon restoration, the products featured in the video were no longer available.[31] Casetify later released a statement that they are investigating on the allegations and mentioned that the cause of the downtime was a DDOS attack.[32][33]

On the following day, Casetify was accused of stealing x-ray images of the iPhone X from iFixit's design and using it on their "X-Ray Case" line of items.[34][35]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "CEO of multimillion-dollar company Casetify shares his No. 1 'super underrated' business tip", www.cnbc.com
  2. ^ a b Asia, Tatler. "Wesley Ng". Tatler Asia. Archived from the original on December 4, 2022. Retrieved January 6, 2023.
  3. ^ Luk, Lorraine (March 13, 2015). "Casetify: Design Your Own Band For Your Apple Watch". WSJ. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
  4. ^ "Lessons from Casetify on physical products and Hong Kong startups". Tech in Asia. Archived from the original on November 25, 2023. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
  5. ^ "How Casetify founder Wesley Ng taps millennial trends". South China Morning Post. November 20, 2017. Archived from the original on May 23, 2019. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
  6. ^ Crawford, Fletcher (June 8, 2022). "7 Reasons Why Casetify Is So Expensive (Full Guide)". VeryInformed. Archived from the original on January 27, 2023. Retrieved October 20, 2022.
  7. ^ Staff, Wonderland (June 10, 2020). "How Wes Ng Turned CASETiFY Into The Buzziest Tech Accessories Brand". Wonderland. Archived from the original on January 6, 2023. Retrieved January 6, 2023.
  8. ^ "THE BRAND MAKING YOUR PHONE CASE STAND OUT". DHL. May 17, 2019. Archived from the original on January 6, 2023. Retrieved January 6, 2023.
  9. ^ Tallon, Monique (April 19, 2016). "Grid110 - How a Group of Diverse Entrepreneurs are Shaping the Tech Ecosystem in Downtown LA". HuffPost. Archived from the original on April 3, 2019. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
  10. ^ Leung, Alex (December 5, 2015). "An Interview with Wes Ng, CEO and co-founder of Casetify". ALEXANDER LEUNG. Archived from the original on May 23, 2019. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
  11. ^ a b Ranj, Brandt. "This startup lets you use your own photos to create a custom iPhone case for a little as $29". Business Insider. Archived from the original on December 13, 2022. Retrieved October 19, 2022.
  12. ^ "Casetify plots expansion plan, opening first US permanent store". Inside Retail. November 14, 2022. Retrieved December 6, 2022.
  13. ^ "Tech accessory brand Casetify opens doors on first retail location in the U.S." The Mercury News. November 18, 2022. Archived from the original on December 8, 2022. Retrieved December 6, 2022.
  14. ^ "Casetify launches its first South Korean store". Inside Retail. January 14, 2022. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  15. ^ Lung, Tiffany. "How Casetify Is Reinventing The Retail Experience Ahead Of The New iPhone 12 Launch". Forbes. Archived from the original on November 1, 2020. Retrieved October 19, 2022.
  16. ^ "CASETiFY launches a pop-up in Thailand and our phones are ready for a makeover". Lifestyle Asia Bangkok. September 27, 2022. Archived from the original on December 13, 2022. Retrieved October 19, 2022.
  17. ^ Marzovilla, Julia (February 23, 2021). "The Louvre x Casetify Collection Is The Epitome Of Museumcore". StyleCaster. Archived from the original on December 13, 2022. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
  18. ^ "CASETiFY Tap British Artist David Shrigley For Tongue-In-Cheek Techwear Collab". Complex. Archived from the original on December 13, 2022. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
  19. ^ "CASETiFY x M+ Yayoi Kusama Special Capsule Collection". StreetArtNews. November 9, 2022. Archived from the original on December 13, 2022. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
  20. ^ Giles, Oliver. ""The World Rewards Creativity"—Casetify Co-founder Wesley Ng on How He Built One of the World's Biggest Tech Accessories Brands". Tatler Asia. Archived from the original on December 13, 2022. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  21. ^ "CASETiFY's new collab with DHL for Limited Edition iPhone Cases and Apple Watch Bands". #legend. Archived from the original on May 23, 2019. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
  22. ^ "Casetify's Taps K-Pop Star Jessica Jung for Its Latest Collaboration". HYPEBAE. Archived from the original on March 21, 2023. Retrieved December 22, 2018.
  23. ^ Alexander, Julia (May 2, 2019). "Casetify reveals adorable pokémon phone cases in time for Detective Pikachu". The Verge. Archived from the original on May 5, 2019. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
  24. ^ "Casetify 'Toy Story' iPhone 13 case review: Your favorite Pixar characters complement your phone". AppleInsider. Archived from the original on December 13, 2022. Retrieved October 19, 2022.
  25. ^ "Casetify Star Wars collection: Transport the original trilogy with your mobile gear". ZDNET. Archived from the original on December 13, 2022. Retrieved October 19, 2022.
  26. ^ "Vetements & CASETiFY Release Sticker-Covered iPhone Cases". HYPEBEAST. Archived from the original on May 23, 2019. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
  27. ^ Tingley, Anna (July 25, 2022). "BTS and Casetify Drop 'Permission to Dance' Collection". Variety. Archived from the original on December 13, 2022. Retrieved October 19, 2022.
  28. ^ JerryRigEverything (November 23, 2023). I'VE BEEN ROBBED.
  29. ^ Roth, Emma (November 23, 2023). "Dbrand is suing Casetify for ripping off its Teardown designs". The Verge. Archived from the original on November 24, 2023.
  30. ^ Nelson, Zack [@ZacksJerryRig] (November 23, 2023). "Have you ever been so embarrassed that you left the planet?" (Tweet). Archived from the original on November 24, 2023. Retrieved November 23, 2023 – via Twitter.
  31. ^ "Inside Out". CASETiFY. Archived from the original on November 23, 2023. Retrieved November 23, 2023.
  32. ^ @Casetify (November 24, 2023). "Castify Official Statement" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  33. ^ Schoon, Ben (November 24, 2023). "Casetify is 'investigating' the 'allegation' of its pretty obvious theft of Dbrand's designs". 9to5Google. Archived from the original on November 24, 2023. Retrieved November 25, 2023.
  34. ^ Flores, Inno (November 24, 2023). "iFixit Joins Dbrand in Accusations of iPhone X-Ray Theft Against Casetify". Tech Times. Archived from the original on November 25, 2023. Retrieved November 25, 2023.
  35. ^ Shakir, Umar (November 24, 2023). "The case of the stolen X-Ray cases is bigger and dumber than we thought". The Verge. Archived from the original on November 25, 2023. Retrieved November 25, 2023.

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