Cartoon stick figure holding its leg in the air and smelling its shoe — representing a blog post about the Grendene Melissa Bubblegum Shoe scent mark trademark registration.

Trademark: Grendene Melissa Bubblegum Shoes

First Used: 2001

First Registered: 2015

Current Owner: GRENDENE S. A. (MELISSA) [1]

Trademark Type: non-traditional trademark; scent mark

Primarily Associated With: shoes, sandals, flip flops, and accessories, namely, flip flop bags [2]

Brief (and likely incomplete) History [3]:

In 1971, brothers Alexandre and Pedro Grendene founded Grendene, a Brazilian plastics company that initially made protective plastic coverings for wine bottles. Over time, the brothers expanded into other plastic products and eventually moved into GRENDENE® [4] footwear components like soles and heels. In 1979, Grendene launched MELISSA® [5], a footwear brand best known for colorful molded plastic shoes and sandals. Melissa’s first major hit was the Aranha, a strappy plastic sandal inspired by the woven sandals worn by fishermen on the French Riviera.

From the start, the Melissa shoes were bright, playful, glossy, and intentionally a little nostalgic. While the exact rollout date is hard to pin down from public sources (at least as early as 2001 in the US), Grendene decided to up the coolness factor one more by infusing the shoes with a sweet, distinct bubblegum scent. The Grendene Melissa Bubblegum Shoe scent mark is described by the company as a mix of bubblegum and tutti-frutti with a strong dose of nostalgia. That helps explain why the Grendene Melissa Bubblegum Shoe scent mark became such a memorable part of the brand. Melissa was already selling colorful molded plastic shoes that felt playful and a little retro, and the candy-like smell pushed that identity even further.

Today, the Grendene Melissa Bubblegum Shoe scent mark is one of just eight active scent marks currently registered on the principal register at the US Patent and Trademark Office!