Along with Zippers, Kleenex and Speedo Fall Prey to Genericide

The June 30th Newsweek had an article about Speedo's LZR suit. If you have not heard about it yet, it is the suit that is helping swimmers break a multitude of records. The article notes that Speedo is the number 1 swim brand in the world and reinforces this statistic by quoting analyst Marshal Cohen, "Speedo is the Kleenex of swimwear." I really got a kick out of seeing this quote as it fit right in with my previous post about brand name genericide (genericide being the process by which a trademarked or brand name becomes a generic name for the product category). While Kleenex was not on the list in my original post, a reader commented that it should have been and I fully agree. And certainly Speedo should be added to the list as the generic name for competitive swimwear and tank suits (which I grew up calling banana hammocks, ha ha).