Sunday, July 27, 2008

My new favorite Hooper

Ummm... how cute is this??


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just saw this earlier today...it is cute!

I noticed the Wham-O credit at the bottom. Is Wham-O catching on to the hooping resurgence? Do you think they'll start trying to make more substantial hoops that all ages and sizes can use? I wonder how hoop dancers would react, and how much it would disrupt the current hoop marketplace.

Rayna said...

Here's the digs on Wham-O:

Wham-O owns the trademark on the word "hula hoop". They occasionally send out a cease and desist to hoopers who advertise on E Bay and the like. But mostly, they have their own market (which is by FAR a more profitable one) in the children's toy category. I think the likeliness of them producing a "better" adult sized hoop is small. The hand-made qualities of the artisan products (like our Limited Editions) are almost impossible to mass-produce. I think that there will always be a market for handmade hoops of all sizes, and therefore Hoopers shouldn't concern themselves too much. The uniqueness of each hoop is one of the charms of modern hoop dance; my hoop is different means I am different than any other hooper in the world.
We have Betty Hoops to thank for destroying the threat of a large corporation becoming inspired to take on the adult hoop dance market: Her stint with Gaiam (you may remember seeing her hideous kit with their racks of pilates and yoga stuff in places like Barnes and Noble), proved to be a financial disaster for the company, and has since been yanked off the shelves. Hoopnotica battles the Betty Hoops legacy on a regular basis; thanks, Betty.
Until sales of hoop dance products grow more substantially, I wouldn't expect a company like Wham-O to take on the risk, despite the obvious connection.
Personally, I would welcome Wham-O to develop a product for adults. I love having variety in my collection, and own a few of their kids hoops, myself.

Anonymous said...

Very interesting, thank you HoopMamma!

I can't speak for the hideousness of the Gaiam hoop, but did you ever see a clip of the workout? ZZZZzzzzzzz.

As for Wham-O...I'm sure anything they try wouldn't have the character of home-grown hoops. But it would be nice to have that much more variety - cheaper but useable ones, for example, to take to the park so onlookers can try hooping without making you stand there hoopless ;)

KTMiller said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Keaton said...

I *heart* Wall-E and his hula-hoop... and i *heart* HoopMamma too!