Only a short year ago I posted a blog about the latest fad that had my kids’ heads spinning – the infamous silly band. And only two days ago did my son enter the house, after going grocery shopping with his mom, with six packs of silly bands from the large box of FREE silly bands being given away at the exit doors. I dare say the box of free bands along with my son’s lackluster announcement to his siblings about the score, marks the end of the fad. Gone are the days of overpriced rubber bands.
As the nature of fads go – that free box of silly bands was merely making room for today’s latest fad, whatever it may be. My daughter keeps eyeballing these rings, rings the size of Kansas. I don’t know what you call ’em but just based on looks, weight and the fact that unless you wear equal amounts on each hand, one arm will be longer than the other – they are certainly a fad.
My oldest son says he wants a pair of toe shoes, “shoes” with each toe molded right into them. Unless the majority can handle something jammed between each toe better than myself, I just don’t see the shoe paradigm shifting. I just believe we are experiencing another fad in the form of something which will soon be used to fabricate another Bigfoot sighting.
As for me, I’m just no good at choosing fads – everything I think looks good or I gain interest in ahead of the popularity curve just ends up being normal, even cool. All the “fads” I get involved with end up with everybody actually wanting one or wanting to be with somebody that has one (whatever it may be) – what can I say I just have good taste. For instance – The Monkeytail beard. Before I know it every self-respecting man is gonna have a monkeytail and its fad status will simply fade away as everyone adopts it as normal. It will be as normal as hot dogs and apple pie, just the same has happened with my mullet and parachute pants.
But thank goodness for my youngest son. He’s not one to jump on all the bandwagons, when asked what he wants to do or what he wants to have, he simply replies with one simple word – baseball. No fad, no hype – just tradition and history and reliability. You could argue we have seen fads within baseball, fads like the baseball cap ice cream bowl (remember those), “pitching shirts” (colored 3/4 sleeves with white team logo torso) or bobble heads. Historically though, things remain fundamentally the same, baseball is tried and true.
EXAIR, as a company, behaves much more like baseball than any ephemeral fad. With a tradition of producing the most efficient compressed air products in our field, a history of award winning products and the reliability of the best customer service, EXAIR is more like baseball than a fad like miniature golf. So if you want to stay ahead of the curve and set the trend of improving the compressed air efficiency and productivity in your company – let us know how you would like to get that done and we will lend a hand.
Kirk Edwards
Application Engineer
kirkedwards@exair.com