Photo By Ellison Starnes
If you have a tweenish kid, you may already know about Silly Bandz. They're rubber bands in the shape of animals, insects, symbols and objects that kids wear on their wrists. My Daughter and I picked up some glowing ones today and shot some five second exposures after charging them with light. We had fun and got some cool pics and I got a chance to teach her some photography basics. The picture above is hers!
The UPS truck rumbles down Main Street in Toledo [Ohio] most mornings, past the boarded-up Cloud 9 bar, the abandoned Masonic Temple, the car wash, the tattoo parlor, and the payday loan shop. It stops at the small warehouse of BCP Imports (Brainchild Products), where a dozen young men, recently hired and plenty eager, rush to unload, sort, and repackage hundreds of boxes of Silly Bandz. They are this year's kiddie rage—brightly colored silicone bands shaped like the outlines of animals, letters, princesses, and more. Kids, and a few notable parents such as Sarah Jessica Parker, stretch them out to wear like bracelets. When taken off they revert to their original shapes. Kids also trade them, count them, and fling them, which is why they've been banned in some schools around the country. A pack of 24 costs about $5. Robert J. Croak, the 47-year-old founder of BCP, says he has sold millions.
Via Business Week
