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The Next Big Idea? The Silly Stand for Silly Bandz
Dave Gerolemon and Chad Walters are hoping to cash in on the Silly Bandz craze with a stand that helps kids organize their rubber bracelet collections.
Posted 11/ 15 10 at 12:00 PM | The Next Big Idea?, Sales, Leadership, Starting a Business, Home-based Business, Online Business, Consumer Products & Services, Manufacturing, Retail, Inventions & Innovations, The Next Big Idea?
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As most parents know all too well, Silly Bandz have taken the nation's tweens by storm. The rubber band-like bracelets shaped like animals, musical instruments, dinosaurs and other familiar objects, sell for about $4.99 for a pack of 20. That sounds cheap, until one day you look back and realize you've bought your kids 18 packs -- which are now littering your home. Enter the Original Silly Stand.Dave Gerolemon, 37, and Chad Walters, 36, both parents themselves, designed the Original Silly Stand to help kids and (and their frustrated parents) organize their Silly Bandz collections.
"My son got into the trend, and every night, he was peeling these bands off his arm, laying them out on his nightstand," says Gerolemon, who lives in Raleigh, N.C. "But they'd also be left throughout his room and the house. Our Silly Stand came out of a need to organize these."
Last spring, Gerolemon's son had to make a craft for a YMCA youth group. Together, the two put together a wooden stand to hold and organize all the Silly Bandz they had collected. "The kids seemed to like it, the dads seemed to like it," Gerolemon says. "I thought, 'Maybe we've got something here.' But I had no idea how to go about prototyping it."
Fortunately, his next-door neighbor happens to be a product developer in the aviation and automotive industries, and Gerolemon soon found himself dropping by to pitch the idea. "Here we go again," thought Walters, who says he is approached all the time by friends, family and neighbors, all with invention ideas. But when Gerolemon explained the idea, Walters -- a father of two young boys who also collect Silly Bandz -- immediately saw the value in the concept. They'll find out if other parents agree later this month when their website will begin selling the Silly Stand, just in time for the holiday season.
Between last spring when Gerolemon approached Walters about the idea of creating a prototype of the Silly Stand and actually selling it, the two men have split their roughly $36,000 in startup costs, which included everything from patent fees to building a prototype to hiring a manufacturer in their home state of North Carolina.
Still busy with their day jobs, the two have nonetheless managed to hold focus groups to see what price parents would likely pay for the Silly Stand (it will retail for $14.98). They also managed to find quite a few small chain stores willing to sell the Silly Stand, which can easily hold about 400 Silly Bandz.
Gerolemon and Walters were relatively quick in getting their product on the market, but given how quickly children's fads come and go, are either of them worried that they weren't fast enough? Both say they aren't too concerned. Gerolemon continues to track the fad's progress -- for example, it's clear that Silly Bandz isn't a fresh new thing, but on the other hand, Nintendo DS just came out with a Silly Bandz game.
"The trend has moved, it seems, from the South to the Northeast, and now it's been moving to the West," Gerolemon says. "So we're focusing on selling to the West Coast as well as Canada." And like any good businessman, Gerolemon adds that there are other uses for their product. "Although the idea sprung from the trend of Silly Bandz, we're not just targeting toy stores. We're targeting hair salons that have salon parties for girls, because they're good for organizing hair bands and other hair accessories."
Exactly how many Silly Stands do the enterprising neighbors hope to sell? While they would be content simply breaking even, they certainly wouldn't mind some of the runaway success enjoyed by Silly Bandz themselves. "All I have are dreams right now," Gerolemon says. "If this takes off, the sky's the limit."
Geoff Williams is a frequent contributor to AOL Small Business and the co-author of Living Well with Bad Credit. Silly Bandz can be found strewn about the rooms of the Williams' house... the family car... and the front lawn.
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Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Make it happen, I think you will do great!
PENRODS are a joke. They are inferior, serve no purpose and are very fragile and break easily. Not to mention they cost as much as a real rod and reeel combo. stay away from that novelty crap and buy a real rod and reel.
@Michael: Did you know that it is illegal to advertise a product or service on a commercial website without paying a advertising fee? Did you know that you can prosecuted AND sued for Theft of Services for advertising on a commercial website without paying an advertising fee?
Have a nice day.
Where to Put Your Kids' Silly : In the trash where they belong.
Very cool...good luck guys!!!
Very cool...good luck guys!!!
WAY TO GO ! ! ! ! MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY ! ! !
something else to buy? how silly is this- you get the kid a plastic
shoe type box- with a lid - or better yet use a shoebox you already have
and tell the kid that unless he/she is wearing the bracelets they better
find a home in the box. any that are left lying around are subject
to confiscation and donation to a thrift store, or the trash. After losing one or two or several, they'll learn to clean up after themselves
and not leave stuff all over the house or their rooms. After all, isn't
that what we are supposed to be helping them learn?
What a stupid fad. My children don't have a single Stupid Bandz. Don't let your kids be controlled by a need to conform and be just like the other kids, because at the heart of the matter, that's what following stupid fads is all about: conformity.
Unfortunately for these inventors, the Silly Bandz craze is nearly over. Timing fail...
I think its too big. Something more vertical would have been a better idea. You will see a lot of knock-offs of this same concept coming out. Couldn't one just use a bracelet stand? :]
PENRODS are a joke. They are inferior, serve no purpose and are very fragile and break easily. Not to mention they cost as much as a real rod and reeel combo. stay away from that novelty crap and buy a real rod and reel.
PENRODS are a joke. They are inferior, serve no purpose and are very fragile and break easily. Not to mention they cost as much as a real rod and reeel combo. stay away from that novelty crap and buy a real rod and reel.
This is a GREAT idea! It's also a great place to store "Meshuga Bands!"
Meshuga Bands are a Jewish version of "Silly Bands" which come in the shapes of a Jewish Star, Dreidel, Shofar, Chai, Chamsa, and Torah! They offer great discounts for fundraisers, too- www.meshugabands.com! Maybe the Meshuga Band company can sell your product on their website, too!
These Penrods are known to specialize in catching Suckers. The Suckers hooked are the ones holding the pole.
I am concerned with the safety of silly bands. Could they cut off circulation. Could the baby pick them up while crawling around and swallow them? Or, a cat? Kids are copy cats. Too bad there is not something worthwhile they could easily copy. That might take more thought for a useful invention that would be fun yet worthwhile in some way.
COOL