From fundraising to fashion, the lowly silicone wristband lives strong
Fans will likely see KU junior guard Wayne Selden wearing a pink silicone wristband tonight when the team plays Maryland in the Sweet Sixteen.
The wristband was a gift from the family of 9-year-old cancer survivor Karis Selk of Topeka.
“It really just puts things in perspective,” Selden has said about the wristband. “When things aren’t going as well, you can look down at that and just be like, ‘If she fought through all that, why can’t I?’”
Selden also wears a yellow wristband to honor the fight of Topeka high-schooler Mia Miyamoto, another cancer patient.
In 2004 Lance Armstrong slipped a yellow rubber bracelet around his wrist to raise awareness about and money for cancer - and changed the face of charitable fundraising forever.
Still one of the most prominent fundraising tools of the last decade, silicone wristbands have morphed tremendously.
More than 87 million of the $1 Livestrong wristbands were reportedly sold between 2004 and 2013, raising millions for Armstrong’s cancer foundation, which he left after his doping scandal. Today the 2016 version of the yellow bands sell for $5 at Livestrong.org.
These days there’s a silicone wristband for just about any cause you can name, in any color you’d want, printed/engraved/embossed with any motto/business logo/catch phrase you’d like.
They’ve been turned into medical alert bracelets. They now glow for joggers or clubbers wearing them in the dark.
Scientists at Oregon State University developed a wristband that can detect chemicals - toxic and otherwise - the wearer is exposed to through everyday objects like personal care products, furniture, even clothing.
The wristband passively absorbs environmental chemicals in the air, water or consumer products around the wearer. After a week of wearing it users send it to a lab where it is analyzed for the presence of hundreds of chemical compounds.
Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, promoted the wristband as a tool in educating the public to the hidden risks in common household products.
In Australia, you can pay for your meal with a silicone bracelet. A tech company called Opus recently launched a rubber wristband and accompanying app that lets customers pay at checkout.
The bracelets have gotten tiny, too. Shrunk into rings for thumbs and fingers, printed with the words “TXTNG KILLS,” they warn teenagers against texting and driving.
Could the wristbands, as some have suggested, even possess good mojo?
There’s no question, for instance, that Golden State’s Stephen Curry is having an explosive season - averaging 30 points per game, shooting 50 percent from the floor.
Some people think it might, just might, have something to do with the silicone bracelet given to him last month by the family of “Baby Shawn” Kennedy of Niagara Falls.
Five-year-old Shawn has an inoperable brain cancer called diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, or DIPG.
“That’s Shawn’s bracelet!” Shawn’s mom yelled when she saw Curry wearing the “Bravest Baller Baby Shawn” bracelet on TV. The family has seen Curry wearing it in photos, too.
Whether the wristband has anything to do with Curry’s amazing play is debatable.
The fact that he’s living strong this season with it is not.
This story was originally published March 24, 2016 at 5:49 PM with the headline "From fundraising to fashion, the lowly silicone wristband lives strong."