Slap Bracelets of the Future!

[blueerica]

Was doing a little intrawebs searching and found this. (http://gizmodo.com/348266/e+paper-slap-bracelets-like-the-80sexcept-different)

[Ghoulish Delight]

Want!

[BarTopDancer]

Want. NOW!

[Alex]

Hmmm...I guess I am just slightly too old for this. Until this post I had never heard of a slap bracelet and don't think I've ever been aware of seeing one.

Can't access gawker sites from work so I'll have to wait until later if I want one now. But if it is epaper as the URL suggest, I wonder if it could be made to look like a watch of my perfect design (somewhere around here is a thread where I lay out in excruciating detail what I want in a watch).

[JWBear]

Ummm... What's a slap bracelet?

[Ghoulish Delight]

I imagine it could, though the example image shown has a simple digital clock display. Oh, and it doesn't actually exist, it's a concept from a design agency, not yet a product.

And you're not that much older than me, I'm surprised you missed slap bracelets.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Ummm... What's a slap bracelet?
http://www.partypalooza.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/TieDyedSlapBracelets.jpg

Essentially, it's a short length of the stuff they use for tape measure s wrapped in fabric (as a matter of fact, it wasn't uncommon to tear the fabric and discover that your slap bracelet was indeed made with an old tape measure). You know how a tape measure will stay straight until you put a bit of pressure on it, and it'll curl up? That's the theory behind the snap bracelet. Hold it straight, "slap" it onto your wrist, it wraps right around.

[BarTopDancer]

I still have an old slap bracelet.

[Alex]

The wikipedia page says they were early 1990s. I was in college by 1992 and certainly nobody in my college crowd were wearing them.

This old Boston Globe article (http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=BG&p_theme=bg&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EADDF114C58B918&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM) suggests they were a crazy by 1990 but they're quoting a 9-year-old so maybe it was a bit too young for us in high school (but I don't remember my younger sisters having them either). Another site says it caught on with the rave scene which I wasn't a part of at all.

[Ghoulish Delight]

The wikipedia page says they were early 1990s. I was in college by 1992 and certainly nobody in my college crowd were wearing them.

This old Boston Globe article (http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=BG&p_theme=bg&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EADDF114C58B918&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM) suggests they were a crazy by 1990 but they're quoting a 9-year-old so maybe it was a bit too young for us in high school (but I don't remember my younger sisters having them either). Another site says it caught on with the rave scene which I wasn't a part of at all.Early 90s? Hardly. Mid 80s, maybe late 80s. I remember them from elementary school, which would put you in Jr. High, early high school at the oldest.

But perhaps SoCal lead the way on that one.

[Alex]

Quite possible. Or I've just completely blanked them out. Though I did go to a very poor elementary school where the current trends in young fashion were not quickly seen (I had second hand moon boots and white jeans years after they were at all trendy).

[Moonliner]

Am I the only one that thinks cheap flexible E-Paper is going to be one of the worst frigging inventions of all times?

[SacTown Chronic]

Am I the only one who used to take these things and slap them around my....eh, never mind.

[Ponine]

Quite possible. Or I've just completely blanked them out. Though I did go to a very poor elementary school where the current trends in young fashion were not quickly seen (I had second hand moon boots and white jeans years after they were at all trendy).

They are also currently commonly found as swag as conventions.
Comic con 2007 sported at least four exhibitors giving out slap bracelets to kids.

And come to think of it, I got one from Hot Dog on a Stick recently.

[JWBear]

I graduated HS in 1980. I've never heard of them before.

[Prudence]

I graduated HS in 1980. I've never heard of them before.

Well, maybe if you turned up the volume on your hearing aid, gramps....
:evil:

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Am I the only one that thinks cheap flexible E-Paper is going to be one of the worst frigging inventions of all times?Yes.

I'd peg the trend as hitting it's hottest in 1988/89, when I was in Jr.High, and in the white-hot center of it. I loved these things, and will never understand the backlash against fun trends once loved.

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

I have only this to say about slap bracelets:

They actually *hurt* me.

[JWBear]

Well, maybe if you turned up the volume on your hearing aid, gramps....
:evil:

There's a word for you.... But I'm too much of a gentleman to utter it...





Oh hell... No I'm not... Bitch!! ;) :evil:

[Alex]

Yes.

I'd peg the trend as hitting it's hottest in 1988/89, when I was in Jr.High, and in the white-hot center of it. I loved these things, and will never understand the backlash against fun trends once loved.

He was questioning e-paper, not slap bracelets (though maybe he doesn't like them either).

I don't have a problem with e-paper so much as with the ubuiquitous portable/disposable power supplies they'll require. Power production has a habit of being very toxic the more portable it is.

[Kevy Baby]

I have only this to say about slap bracelets:

They actually *hurt* me.Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

[Ghoulish Delight]

I have only this to say about slap bracelets:

They actually *hurt* me.
Oh yes, they were terribly uncomfortable. But a small price to pay for ridiculous trendy fashion.

[Not Afraid]

Clueless.

[BarTopDancer]

Clueless.

Raise your hand if you're surprised by this statement?

Oh where oh where are my 80s prom/party ideathinkerupper partners in crime?

[Kevy Baby]

Clueless.

Raise your hand if you're surprised by this statement?Yeah: who knew that NA is a huge fan of the Alicia Silverstone movie (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112697/)?

[blueerica]

But perhaps SoCal lead the way on that one.

I grew up in Michigan and we were all way into slap bracelets. Though, my elementary/Jr High/High School experiences were always riddled with me coming home from summer vacation wearing clothes and doing things that the other kids would soon be doing... not because I was a fashion leader or cool in any sort of way. I just saw it before they did.

[mollywog]

I never had a slap bracelet the first time around, but if these actually came out, I just might have to get one!

[Drince88]

I got a lighted one as a throw from the Muses parade last week. First one I've ever owned!

[lashbear]

They were very popular downunder (No, Sac, not there..) and I had one too.