Robert Croak founded Brainchild Products, which was the company who in 2006 released a bunch of colorful, shaped rubber-bands called Silly Bandz. Anyone who was born from 1997 to 2007 probably remembers the Silly Bandz craze in elementary school and middle school. Silly Bandz success was no accident but a lot of hard work by the hand of the inventor.
When Robert was 23, he took over his grandparents’ restaurant and got into the business ownership world. He opened two more restaurants during the 1990’s as well as started a concert promotion company and a custom apparel company where he first experimented with selling custom rubber band bracelets. Robert thought that this idea of custom silicone bracelets would be a big hit, but he didn’t get as much traction as he had hoped.
Silly Bandz finally took off at a trade show in China in 2006, where Robert saw similar shaped rubber bands created by a Japanese designer. This trip gave Robert the three changes he needed for Silly Bandz to be what they are today; bigger, thicker, and more detailed. During the peak of the craze, in 2008, more than a million packs of Silly Bandz a week were sold. Phones were ringing off the hook and supply was flying off of the shelf.
Silly Bandz was so successful, they ran a Facebook ad offering work on the spot. A line down the sidewalk was the response, and the warehouse was so full of work that tables outside the building were being used to pack orders. The frenzy started to slow during the summer of 2010, at which point the craze in the Unites States was thought to be over. Robert Croak was content and was happy to have hit it big with his idea, but that is not the end.
Walking around campus, I have noticed a very interesting article on primarily sophomores and freshman’s arms. Its Silly Bandz, making a potential comeback. I asked my friends why, and the reasoning that I have gotten is that they remind them of an earlier time in their life, and they are simple and classic. Who knows how this new emergence will affect the company; maybe there will be another $200 million craze, or just another blip on the map. Either way, Silly Bandz has affected millions of people through its fun, crazy colored and shaped silicone bracelets.
Silly Bandz was such a great craze! Just like fidget spinners, sometimes you have to stick with an idea, go through some ups and downs, in order for it to really take off. It would be really interesting to see how the company has been doing in the past five years or so after the craze has died down. Maybe they will make a comeback!
The Silly Bandz craze was unlike anything I have ever seen. I can remember back in elementary school that my school had to ban Silly Bandz because they were too distracting for students. They would be bought, collected, and traded at an insane rate. I didn’t realize how intense the craze was until I look back now and remember how big of a deal it was to get a new pack and how cool you were based on how many Silly Bandz you wore on your arm. It’s interesting how it took so long for Robert to perfect this idea. But the way it paid off in the end was clearly worth it. This should inspire young entrepreneurs to never give up.
This product has always intrigued me. I remember back during the craze seeing my cousin walking around with something like 15-20 around her wrist. Many of my friends were obsessed with collecting them like so many other kids at the time. This product is very unique, though – there isn’t exactly an obvious market for shaped, stretchy, silicone bands, yet this somehow took off. I think at the end of your article you make an interesting point about Silly Bandz coming back. I’ve noticed the same thing recently and it has made me wonder.
One of my favorite parts of your post is how you explain that this was not Croak’s first venture. He tried many different ideas and pivoted from restaurants to Silly Bandz. That’s quite a jump, but he made it work!
This is really cool, I think the perseverance of some of these entrepreneurs is incredible. Its crazy to see what happens when they do not give up.
I love this and I do hope they are on the come back! I remember when they became popular and let me tell you, my friends and I would do anything in elementary school to get the newest and coolest silly bandz. It feels so weird to me that kids younger than me never had the craze of filling up their arms with these colorful bands.
This is such a good story! I remember buying and wearing Silly Bandz in elementary school and how popular they were. I found it super interesting how after Robert went to China and got ideas on how to make his product better. After those changes, that is what his product huge. This is essential for entrepreneurs to do and look at when about to launch a product or service. He really capitalized on his being different from others on the market, and that clearly showed in how much people wore and bought them.
They were certainly a big part of our childhoods! Its cool to finally know more about them!
Even being in a homeschooled family, we still experienced the hype that these bracelets had. I remember them being a rare commodity of high value for us kids. It’s sort of fascinating to me that such a simple idea exploded like it did. I don’t think kids today would be interested because technology/phones do a better job of holding attention. I think this idea was about perfectly timed!