::The Magazine

Those Trendy Yellow Bracelets Sported by Everyone From Average Joe to Avril Lavigne Were Just a Fad, Right? Tens of Millions of Dollars and Bracelets Later, This Band Craze Shows No Signs of Subsiding.

      Lance Armstrong crossed the finish line of the Tour de France in first place for a record sixth consecutive time in 2004, raised his arms in victory, blinked at girlfriend Sheryl Crow, and took a moment to acknowledge the meaning of the half-inch wide, yellow rubber bracelet embracing his wrist. The piece of plastic jewelry was a subtle reminder that before he was able to compete in the Tour de France, Armstrong had another battle to win.

      In 1996, Armstrong was ranked No. 1 in the sport of bicycling and participated in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta as a member of the U.S. Cycling Team. It seemed that Armstrong had reached the pinnacle of his sport, but in October of that same year, Armstrong was diagnosed with advanced testicular cancer that had spread to his abdomen, lungs, and brain. He now had to go from battling against other cyclists to battling for his life.

      Miraculously, Armstrong overcame the cancer and recovered, but more impressively, he was able to make a comeback to cycling and win his first Tour de France in 1999. A short while later, Armstrong started the Lance Armstrong Foundation, an organization dedicated to the fight against cancer, which is responsible for 548,000 deaths a year, according to the National Health Institute. In an effort to help raise $5,000,000 for his nascent foundation, Armstrong teamed up with sports apparel leader Nike, and the LiveStrong bracelet was born. Aside from having the same yellow hue as his jersey and the “LiveStrong” engraved into the rubber, the bracelet has an underlying meaning of “hope, courage, and perseverance,” according to Armstrong.

      When the bracelet was created, Armstrong’s goal was to sell five million. Priced at $1 a piece and sold domestically in such outlets as Niketown and Footlocker stores, the proceeds from the sales of the bracelets were used to help fund research programs in the fight against cancer. Initially released in May of 2004, the now ubiquitous bracelets were first publicly noticed on Armstrong’s wrist after winning the Tour de France in July of 2004. As of February 11th of this year, Armstrong announced on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” 32 million bracelets had been sold. The bracelet has now gone from a fundraiser to being a part of global fashion landscape. Celebrities that have been spotted wearing the LiveStrong band include the singer Crow, Matt Damon, Jay Leno, Lindsay Lohan, Robin Williams, Ben Stiller and politicians such as President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry.

      Due to the high demand, it has now become very difficult to obtain one of these bracelets, or so it is said. Most of the outlets throughout the U.S. are or have at one time been sold out, and a number of websites that resell the bracelets claim the supply is short. But is it all hype on the part of the vendors? You can find the authentic LiveStrong bands on Armstrong’s website (www.laf.org), where adult- or youth-sized bracelets are available in packs of 10, 100, or 1,200. And with daily sales averaging about 150,000 a day, it’s clear there isn’t really any shortage other than the ones in the resellers’ stores themselves. The website www.yellowrubber.net is an example of this reselling trend, pricing the LiveStrong and a variety of other bracelets at $4.95 each. Auction website eBay is another potential marketplace where the bracelets can be found for one cent to five dollars each, without shipping and handling (which varies from seller to seller and may be anywhere from $3.00 to $5.00). Although yellowrubber.net clearly states that it is out to make a profit and thus not all proceeds go to charity, eBay sellers don’t always clarify the matter, and oftentimes every cent over one dollar is going to someone’s pocket as profit.

      In recent months, a trend has developed in counterfeit bracelets, mostly LiveStrong fakes. A great number of white, pink, and even rainbow colored bracelets with the LiveStrong logo have been spotted online posing as the real thing. In fact, only a few retailers are authorized to sell the actual wristbands, and the scores of others that claim to be are selling fakes.

      With the enormous success of Armstrong’s wristbands, Nike has come out with a slew of official bands for the different sports leagues that it is affiliated with. The Baller ID band is second in popularity only to the original LiveStrong band. Carrying the Nike Swoosh trademark on one side and either “Baller,” “Respect,” “Team,” or “Player” on the other side, the Baller IDs come in a variety of colors, including transparent. Several limited-edition Baller ID bands are also available, such as version promoting National Basketabll Association player LeBron James. The James version comes in black with “King James” engraved on one side and “LJ23” (his initials and jersey number) on the other.

      Also making rounds on the soccer side of things is the company’s anti-racism bracelet, consisting of two intertwined bands (one black, one white) with the words “Stand Up, Speak Up” engraved. This inventive version of the bracelet trend has been seen on the wrists of popular European soccer players Thierry Henry, Roberto Carlos, Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney, and due to enormous demand, the shortage of these adornments is legitimate. Following in the success of Nike, Adidas and Reebok have also released their own line of bracelets. While Adidas has maintained the sports paradigm, Reebok took a different approach to the craze, hooking up with hip-hop mogul Jay-Z to come up with the “Never Change,” “99 Problems,” and “Can’t Knock the Hustle” bands which are turning up on the wrists of hopeful elites everywhere and are all named after Jay-Z hit songs. The prices for these rubber fashion pieces are between $3.99 and $8.99.

      But the train doesn’t end there: the NBA has also planned to release official bands for each of one its teams. The only one released so far is for the Los Angeles Lakers, but other teams are set to release their bands soon. Official NBA bracelets that feature the NBA logo are also available. The NFL (National Football League), MLB (Major League Baseball), NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) and even NASCAR have released their own bands.

      The wristband trend continues to expand into areas that, surely, Armstrong himself never envisioned. It seems like every cause has found a champion in the form of a silicone rubber bracelet, including the cause of corporate profits. But while the big sports companies continue to capitalize on the craze, other arguably more legitimate causes have sprung up in wrist-adorning form as well, including pink bands for the fight against breast cancer, blue Tsunami relief bands, green “Support the Troops” bands and tennis pro Andy Roddick’s “No Compromise” bands (dedicated to improving quality of life for children). And in an extreme example of using a bracelet to promote further awareness, a student at Hoosac (Mass.) Valley High School took the idea of making your own LiveStrong-inspired bracelet and came up with the Tommy Oxton bracelet. The rec band features a cross, the words “Tommy Oxton” and the number 22 (Oxton’s football jersey number). Oxton, a 2004 Hoosac graduate, was recently a victim of gun violence when an argument with his friend’s father went wrong. An order of 500 bracelets, (the minimum make-your-own bracelet order), was initially placed, but due to high demand, more are being made.

      While it’s a somewhat confusing prospect, choosing what cause you want to be recognized as having contributed to, one thing remains clear: the current love of rubber bracelets is living strong and doesn’t show any signs of letting up. Just how far you want to take it is, of course, up to you.

      But considering that all trends die, just how much rubber do you want to be left with when judgment day finally comes?

-Ehsan Sarabi