Pretty in Pink: Glossier Attained Trademark Registration for its Millennial Pink Bubble Wrap Pouch

How long does a single shade sustain in the fashion world? Few days, months, or at maximum, a year? Colors tend to come and go on a day to day basis. Preferences switch and so does the design trends. But glossier is surely an exception. Since 2017, the brand has been using its hallmark shade ‘Millennial Pink’ almost in every packaging. The products, whether purchased online or offline, are handed over beautifully wrapped up in a Pink-coloured zip lock pouch. Good news for the brand is, finally, after a year the wishes are answered and the pouch has been granted a trademark registration.  

Glossier, hailing from the city of Delaware, was incorporated in the year 2014. The brand was inspired by the beauty website ‘Into the Gloss’ operated by co-founder Emily Weiss. The brand offers a wide range of best quality skincare, makeup, body care products, and fragrances.

Its signature bubble wrap millennial pink pouch has been the talk of the town for years. The attraction is loved by the customers and those who are influencers, are oftentimes spotted taking that ‘glossy’ fascination with social media handles. It was not wrong of the $1.2 billion dollar company to get its signature packaging style registered. Last year Glossier approached the United States Trademark and Patent Offices with two applications, one for its pink-colored, to be more specific; Pantone’s 705 Hue shaded packaging box and another for the bubble wrap pouch.       

The brand faced rejection at first. One of the reasons being, the pouch lacked “a functional design for packaging” making it ineligible for registration. Fingers were pointed on bubble wrap style and pink-color which was not so “unique” and “distinctive” in the eyes of USPTO. Glossier fought by filing a 252-page response this January, trying to prove here-and-there that the consumers associate the products exclusively with the unique packaging style. The response mentioned, “based on five years’ use of the mark, as well as extensive evidence that when the relevant consumers see the color pink on a bubble-lined, zip-top pouch, they immediately recognize it as Glossier’s Pink Pouch”.

All the evidence including extensive marketing of both the products and the packaging together with social media coverage convinced USPTO that the mark cannot be restrained from getting trademark protection.

On August 25, the mark described as “consists of the claimed color pink as applied to bags featuring lining of translucent circular air bubbles and a zipper closure” bearing number 6133237 was granted registration.