London - At first glance, Steve Gilston, 70, seems every inch the sensible businessman. He wears expensive suits and keeps his grey hair neatly clipped.
But his elegant image is undermined by a surprising accessory: nestled on either side of Steve’s R125 000 leather and gold designer watch are two brightly coloured bracelets. They are made entirely of pink, yellow, red and brown elastic bands and cost no more than R5 each.
Coming soon are pastel colours, and the official website (http://www.rainbowloom.com/) offers tips, warns of rip-offs, and shows off some fans creations.
These bracelets and other creations may seem somewhat incongruous with Gilston’s professional persona, but they are wholly in keeping with the craze that is sweeping the Western world.
Six months ago you’d have been forgiven for not knowing what on earth a loom band was. But these coloured elastic bands have fast become one of the top-10 best-selling toys of all time, thanks to their popularity with adults and children (both boys and girls) alike.
They can be crocheted together, either by hand or on a small plastic loom, in myriad different ways to form all manner of shapes, from the ubiquitous bracelet to more complicated Santa hats.
Loom band-related goods occupy 41 out of the top 50 positions on Amazon’s toy chart; Britain saw £1-million (R17.8m) worth of sales in the first week of July alone, and a YouTube video showing how to make a complicated “starburst” pattern bracelet has been watched 24 million times.
Manufacturers are bringing out all manner of spin-offs, including charms and sparkly, glow-in-the-dark and even scented bands, while enterprising fans compete to make the most unusual creations, such as hats, scarves, dog collars, super-heroes and an entire nativity scene.
A latest addition in a local Cape Town toyshop: camouflage bands.
The official instruction videos posted online have been joined by thousands made by fans explaining how to make bracelets and other designs of varying complexity.
The bands started off in the playground but have become an unusual past-time – and unlikely fashion accessory – for adults, too.
“They make me feel like less of an old fogey”’ explains Gilston, who runs a confectionery business.
“They arouse interest and remind me that, despite having a stressful job, I still know how to have fun.
“Some people say they look stupid. But I think they show my creative and modern side and reveal my sense of humour.”
He’s not the only one to think that. In recent weeks, the likes of David Beckham and Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, have eschewed Bond Street’s finest jewellers in favour of their own scruffy-looking bracelets.
Loom bands have assumed a universal appeal far beyond the wildest dreams of the craze’s creator, Malaysia-born Cheong Choon Ng, 45.
Now living in the US, three years ago he saw his daughters Teresa, now 16, and Michelle, 13, making bracelets out of rubber bands and tried to join in.
But his own fingers weren’t dextrous enough so he made a small loom with pins stuck in a piece of wood so he could play along, too.
Inspired by his ad-hoc creation, Ng, an engineer, developed a plastic version and patented it, spending £5 800 of the family’s savings to get it made cheaply in China.
By 2011 he was selling kits for £10 (under R200) under the name of Rainbow Loom. Each comprised a small plastic loom – measuring 5cm by 20cm – a crochet hook and 600 multi-coloured mini-rubber bands.
But many toy shops were unwilling to stock them. Ng didn’t find his first customer until the following year, when an American franchise called Learning Express Toys ordered 24 looms.
They sold out within two days and his business took off.
Four million kits have been sold worldwide and Ng’s company is now worth £80m.
When the Duchess of Cambridge was pictured in April wearing a red and pink bracelet given to her by a young girl during the royal tour of Australia, sales soared by 300 percent. Shortly afterwards, her parents, Carole and Michael Middleton, started selling glittery bands for £2.99 on their Party Pieces website.
Last month Prince William accessorised his smart navy suit with a turquoise and black version, while One Direction singer Harry Styles also wears one.
Pupils at two schools in Somerset, UK, are trying to break the world record for the longest loom band chain – which stands at 8 851m, higher than Everest. To date they’ve used 60 000 bands.
Last month Welsh housewife Kathryn Burnand, 50, made a child’s dress out of 24 000 of the bands, spending £47 on 40 bags. When she put the dress on eBay, it sparked a seven-day bidding war.
Burnand is now considering rival bids of more than £150 000.
Despite this, part of the appeal of loom bands is their affordability – a packet of 1 800 costs just £1.39 in some shops, and even cheaper copycats have infiltrated the market. (Indeed, Ng is suing one such product, FunLoom, which is on sale at Toys R Us.)
They are undoubtedly an attractive option for financially stretched parents looking for ways to occupy their children.
They also hark back to an age of simplicity, before toys like marbles and yo-yos were replaced by electronic games and gadgets at the end of the 20th century.
“There is something old-fashioned about children sitting round in a circle doing something creative together,” says Kathryn Algar, whose son Cameron, eight, and daughters Sienna, seven, and Lucia, three, are loom band fanatics.
“It gets them away from the television and iPad,” she added.
“I like the fact it’s a unisex trend,” says Algar. “Cameron likes green and blue bands, or red and black for the colours of Manchester United, his favourite football team.
“The children make me bracelets all the time. Part of the joy is creating a present for someone else. They’re harmless, good fun.”
But that might not be so. Environmentally unsound, they pose a threat to household pets and they can hurt children if flicked or worn too tight. – Daily Mail, IOL