A stupid import from the US.
// Cheong Choon Ng, a Malaysian immigrant to the US with a degree in mechanical engineering, wanted to impress his daughters. After watching them making bracelets with small rubber bands he realised his fingers were too fat to copy them so he created a wooden board with push pins to make more complex versions. After a few iterations, his daughters traded their fingers for their dad’s board.
The bracelets they created become so popular amongst their friends that one of his daughters encouraged him to try to manufacture and sell the loom to others. Ng invested his entire savings of $10,000 to manufacture the looms in China (after finding his budget was too small for US manufacturers). After a year of making YouTube videos showing what you could make with the Loom, buying Google ads and trying to sell the product online, he finally sold 24 looms to Learning Express, a US toy store chain.
In business jargon, Learning Express franchise owner Cindy O’Hara became the Rainbow Loom Evangelist. O’Hara’s enthusiasm for the product went from providing in-store demonstrations to customers to classes in her stores. And so it began.
Millions of kits have been sold in the past two years. //
Read more:
http://www.theweek.co.uk/technology/58818/rainbow-loom-the-craze-that-makes-the-internet-look-good#ixzz373YMLvS2