What Is The History Of Silicone Wristbands?

The first silicone wristbands that were introduced to America were in 2004 and were the distinct yellow “Livestrong” rubber wristbands that were a global symbol for defeating cancer and essentially, living strong.

Since that time, silicone bracelets have become a favorite among kids, teens, young adults, and adults worldwide.

Why did silicone wristbands become so popular?

• These bracelets are made from natural silicone rubber. They are elastic, not easily broken, aren’t susceptible to high temperatures, and have an easy wear-ability factor.
• Awareness bracelets are unscented and virtually harmless. Silicone is known for being environmentally friendly, making it an excellent choice for people in today’s environmentally conscious world.
• Silicone wristbands are often associated with promotional activities, organized events, music concerts, and sports. In fact, like a blank canvas, promotional wristbands can convey a number of meanings, pledges, sayings, and mottos.
• Many corporate conglomerates have used silicone wristbands to advertise products. This includes McDonald’s, Puma, and even Nike.
• Since wristbands are fashionable but inexpensive, they’re incredibly cost-efficient to mass-produce. This makes wholesale wristbands an excellent option for non-profit organizations looking for fun fundraising products.

Who Invented Wristbands?

While silicone wristbands have developed into a form of modernized jewelry that’s ideal for advertising, bracelets date back to 5,000 B.C. Egyptians made bracelets from stone, bone, and wood which often symbolized spiritual and religious ideals. The traditional scarab bracelet was the most popular, representing regeneration and rebirth. In fact, Russian archaeologists found several artifacts which were dated around 40,000 B.P.

Eventually, bracelets were made using whatever materials and metals were convenient, including weaving string together, which was a common tradition in Bulgaria and Greece.

In India, the number of bracelet bangles worn often denotes a woman’s marital status and in Latin America, the traditional Azabache Bracelets are worn to offer protection against the evil eye.

Rubber bracelets have been wildly popular since the early 2000's with more and more being engraved and shipped every day.

Wristbands For Fashion and Pop Culture

Rubber Wristbands and jelly bracelets became a staple through the 80s and 90s. Typically, they wore worn for fashion among kids and teens and grew more popular in the music scene.

Concerts, festivals, fairs, and parties were a common place to see people sporting flashy, neon-colored bracelets.

While much of the reason for wearing these brightly-colored bracelets was as a fashion accessory or for music fandom, venues started to use them for ticketing and group identification at events, campouts, youth groups, pools, and tours.

Silicone wristbands had started to catch on as a multi-faceted marketing product.

Rubber Bracelets For Causes and Movements

Although silicone bracelets were mounting in popularity through the 80s and 90s, they reached fever pitch levels of popularity in the early 2000s with the Livestrong movement. A simple yellow wristband became an icon for sharing a powerful message. This caught on like wildfire and soon afterward, silicone wristband producers were scrambling to keep up with booming demand for custom rubber bracelets for all sorts of causes, awareness for cancer, school wristbands, and PR campaigns.

Reminderband was one of the very first silicone bracelet companies to answer that demand when it began in 2004.

Since that time, millions of silicone wristbands have been customized, engraved, and shipped to places all over the world for massive events, family reunions, or just a simple personal reminder.

What are the different types of silicone bracelets?

There are a number of silicone bracelet styles including:

• Custom rubber bracelets
• Charm bracelets
• Bangles
• Slap bracelets
• Link bracelets
• Friendship bracelets
• Medical ID bracelets
• Sports wristbands and baller bands
• Tyvek wristbands and plastic bracelets
• Awareness bracelets

The latter is most often associated with silicone wristbands which can be customized for any event, occasion, gift, and more. Usually, these silicone wristbands have wristband colors with meanings associated with them to best represent a cause or memorial.

However, they're still wildly popular for use as fundraising bracelets and couples bracelets in resale.

Custom rubber bracelets come in a variety of sizes and styles. Each is made with 100% silicone and can be customized for any occasion.

Where can I get custom silicone wristbands?

Reminderband offers a wide variety of colorful customized wristbands, perfect for companies, organizations, school wristbands, non-profits, cancer bracelets, fundraising bracelets, and awareness bracelets.

Try the Classic Custom Wristband for a traditional look, go wild with a color-fill for the engraving, or try our flashy Classic Luxe wristband.