One British mother says loom band kits should carry a health and safety warning after one of her sons accidentally flicked a rubber band into the eye of his younger brother causing a blood clot. However it hasn’t all been plain sailing. Two American girls who go under the YouTube handle “Ashley Steph” have attracted more than 23 million viewers to their video on how to make an Advanced Level Star Burst bracelet and three of their other loom-band videos have attracted another 24 million views between them. Rainbow Loom’s official instruction videos have attracted millions of views but some fan versions have been equally successful. Part of this sales boom can be attributed to the success of YouTube video guides to making bracelets of various levels of complexity. He now rents a warehouse near his home where the product is stored before being distributed to the hundreds of retailers around the world who now sell Rainbow Loom kits. By the autumn of 2012 Ng was in a position to leave his job at Nissan and devote himself to the business full-time. It became clear that once customers could see the addictive nature of weaving the bracelets they were hooked and soon other Learning Express stores were clamouring for kits. As a toy and craft shop it was in a position to hold demonstrations on site and the first batch sold out so quickly that it called to re-order after only two days. Ng’s first break came in the summer of 2012 when the owner of a Learning Express Toys store, one of a chain of 130 franchises across the US, ordered 24 looms. Online sales were disappointing at first and major toy stores were unwilling to stock something that required so much skill to make it work. However Rainbow Loom was not an overnight success. While she worked the day shift Ng made his contribution in the evenings after work. The first shipment of 140 stone of rubber bands was delivered to the family home in Michigan in the summer of 2011 and Ng and his wife set to work assembling the kits. With $10,000 (£5,850) of start-up capital, Ng – a Malaysian who moved to the US in 1991 – could not afford a US manufacturer and was forced to look to China for a supplier. Who can blame him? Persuading retailers to stock his product in the fi rst place was a long and arduous process that has only really paid off in the past two years.Īfter converting his daughters to the use of his original loom and egged on by his brother, Ng used his engineering expertise to come up with a loom that could be manufactured commercially with plans to sell it online. He is now suing FunLoom, which sells its products through Toys ‘R’ Us and Cra-Z-Loom. Not surprisingly Rainbow Loom has inspired imitators keen to cash in on the trend and Ng has been forced to take legal action to defend his patented product. She and her friend Helen Smith had expected to scrape a £50 profit from the venture after putting the dress on online auction site eBay this week but ended up attracting 137 would-be buyers and a top bid of no less than £170,000. Kathryn Burnand, 50, invested £45 in 40 bags of 600 bands and took three-and-a-half weeks to weave the tiny bands together to make the size-four outfit.
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