Last month in Honolulu near the beach there were several children selling lemonade, cooked goods and painted seashells to passers-by at sunset. Among the children was a youthful 12-year-old Hawaiian native girl who in addition to hawking drinks and cupcakes was displaying a stand overflowing with vibrantly colored bracelets. Her and a good friend had actually made the jewelry from little elastic bands, using a crafts set called Rainbow Loom. I had never heard of this before, but I quickly spoke the young lady who had quickly determined their supply which they valued at $1 to $2 each. She remarked that sales were remarkable that night and she stated "they made like $74 already".
This girl is among at least hundreds of youngsters, and now parents, in the United States that are utilizing Rainbow Loom. The set consists of 2 plastic layout boards, a hook, 24 plastic clips and 600 various colored mini elastic bands. From it, 24 bracelets could be woven into unique designs similar to those those traditionally used in lanyards and friendship bracelets, but these were much more complicated and vibrant and some had very unique names.
I found out that Rainbow Loom is the development of Cheong Choon Ng, a Malaysian immigrant of Chinese origin with a grad degree in mechanical design. He created the concept in 2010 and began selling the set while employed as a crash-test designer for Nissan. In the past year, Rainbow Loom's appeal has actually shot up substantially, spurring hundreds of YouTube fan videos and hordes of so-called kidpreneurs like this youthful female.
Here is a terrific video on how to make an impressive Rainbow Loom called the Honolulu Bracelet. I need to get some more of these. They are a great accessory and spurring on the kidpreneurs economy.
