TBs for the young market?

Trollbead Gallery is reporting some new developments for US retailers. Frankly, I had no idea what the "rollercoaster" thing she was talking about was after reading her entry. Might not have been any more than trying to whip up some enthusiasm with some overblown writing... The simple concepts I got were that TB had tapped the Oprah marketing juggernaut -- which we knew -- and that they were looking to develop a younger consumer base.

Makes sense that they would want a clientele that would extend their buying pattern into the future. I've always felt TBs have a "young" feeling and one that can cross genders too. But, crikeys!, do they think young people (I mean average young people not the Paris Hiltons) can spend $30 for a single bead/charm or $100 for a start up bracelet? If that's the market they're going for they should re-think escalating prices.

What do you think?

^I think that if a few younger celeb types are spotted wearing TBs, the younger crowd will flock to it. And the parents will pay...I can remember when EVERYBODY had to have the Louis Vuitton pochette and there were girls as young as 13 with them!
I was in my 30s (then) and was still saving to get my first LV item!

Also TB is the type of thing we & kids can ask for birthdays, holidays, good grades, etc.

Some kids earn but live at home without having to pay any of the wages to their parents. That gives them a pretty good disposable income.

my youngest lucy loves trollbeads and will happily use her own money to buy special beads xx her biggest buy was the fairy x

That is so lovely.

Oh dear! I guess I'm the "bad" mom who held the line on these things. None of my kids had a cell phone or a car until they went to college. And I would never have given my girls anything so expensive as Louis Vuitton or TB.

Of course, I never encouraged them to work in any demanding/remunerative way and be distracted from school until they had graduated either. So my kids were SOOL for such luxuries.

I have given the girls TB bracelets at this point but then they're 30 and 33 now. (Oh god! Did I just say that I'm that old?) They're getting beads for Christmas too. ... but don't anybody tell them.

So pretty and feminine, Rainbow. She's a lucky girl to have one of the "good" moms! ::said the meanie::

i must add she pays for them or they are xmas birthday gifts!!lol she uses her £10 a month pocket money which she has to earn by hoovering etc x She is 11 x My eldest has one too but does not really bother x

Beadiack-
You are not a mean mom at all! You just had certain boundaries; my parents were the same. It didn't matter how much I screamed, pouted, etc...if I wanted certain things, I saved my allowance.
Sony Walkman (dating myself), Calvin Klein or Guess jeans, cassettes of evil music.

When I see how parents try to be friends instead of parents, I wonder what the future will be like. I think we are seeing some consequences now in society. But that is a whole 'nother topic!

my daughter is obsessed with troll beads. My husband won't let me buy her any.

Rainbow wrote:i must add she pays for them or they are xmas birthday gifts!!lol she uses her £10 a month pocket money which she has to earn by hoovering etc x She is 11 x My eldest has one too but does not really bother x

is hoovering vaccuming?

yes xxx

she hoovers ,polishes,washes up dishes etc xx not all the time but when I ask xxxxx trying to make sure my daughtres grow up knowing how to do things!!lol

my kids are the laziest children on the planet.

I have infected my daughter, daughter-in-law and son's girlfriend with the virus! I buy them beads for birthdays and Xmas. It is lovely when we all wear our bracelets, mind you I have been known to spot some of my beads on my daughter's bracelet. She knows where my stash is hidden!

Astrid can teach ld's about the beads! (Not workerB, but other ld's around) she knows more than them.

Tee wrote:I have infected my daughter, daughter-in-law and son's girlfriend with the virus! I buy them beads for birthdays and Xmas. It is lovely when we all wear our bracelets, mind you I have been known to spot some of my beads on my daughter's bracelet. She knows where my stash is hidden!

Ouch! There's a reason to introduce them slowly and judiciously.

Living in a large city, I also didn't want my kids to be targets because of some stoopid thing that someone else could want enough to lose their sense of appropriate civilized behavior.

I´d say that most kids want whatever is popular and will be recognized by others. That´s why most young girls wear Pandora or Chamilia.
Those brands are also easy to get and when you ask for gifts most people will be able to buy these.
Have you ever tried to ask other people than your family for Trollbeads as a gift ? Most will tell you that they couldn´t find them.

so true snowy!! lots of lucys friends wear the cheaper versions from dorothy perkins etc but there is no where near us that they can buy them x

My daughter is 17 and I've been buying her Trollbeads for special occasions, birthdays and Christmas for around three years. Several of her friends have them too.

My daughter is 8. I started to seriously collect about 5 months ago. Keeping her in mind as the inheritor, I kept pushing the catalog towards her and having her create wish lists. Her number one choice: Gold Wisdom, no less!

My six-y-o son also digs TBs. I was wondering if I should get him into that, but be a little more conservative. I am in the schools, so I keep my eye out on what boys wear. Currently, I am in the middle school (grades 6-. I am seeing gold chains and braided cloth necklaces on some of them. No TBs.

I have seen younger girls wear TB. The one instance was a mom and her 2 daughters. They all had TB bracelets and all had the drop beads (fairy, FMN with bud, etc.) The mom was obviously a rich one, but the bracelets looked amazing on the small wrist. These days, cham and P bracelets are on younger wrists....and sometimes it sickens me:(

My daughter started off with TBs about three years ago. She is now 12. Here is an old picture of her- with her very first TB, the kitten. Now she has two full bracelets and around 35 beads of her own!

Most of you probably know, my little minx has quite a modest collection already.

I would never have considered her owning such pricey jewellery.

When she first showed an interest in my beads, I bought her the naff eBay, 20 for £2 type beads (2 lots), and a £2 bracelet, thinking any breakages or losses would be easy to stomach on a £6 spend, than if I bought her proper troll. But to my surprise, she was so loving and careful with every bead, she had a unused gift box, where she housed the beads, each one in it's own trollbead pouch of mine, and she loved to line them up to make combos.
So when she was gifted a genuine Trollbead of her own last year (she was still just 4 years old), I thought "why not" and lent her my spare lock and chain, and offered her use of some of my beads (but not rares, retired and specials), then if we went shopping, I bought her one of the reduced old style ooaks for her collection, and of course, some wonderful trollfairys have also made her collection swell. She now has one chain, one red leather bracelet, two locks and 60+ beads, and so many more artisans too, all of which she still treats so carefully, she has a leather TB pouch to house some beads, a pretty TB satin wrap where she keeps her two made up bracelets (and some copycats) and then she has some space in my beadbox.
With the convention coming up on Sunday, she has been picking and choosing her beads already .... where as I will only choose last thing on Sunday morning

Oh LL, that is so sweet. Lottie is only 5? Somehow, I thought she was a bit older. She is just so adorable, I would love to meet her IRL. I can't wait to hear about her adventures Sunday...please take loads of pics so we can feel like we were there too!!