During the US leg of her “Eras” tour, Taylor Swift fans made a name for themselves by donning and trading customized friendship bracelets, usually engraved with the titles of her songs and albums. Thus, Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs claimed that he made a play for Swift at her July concert at Arrowhead Stadium by attempting to offer her a friendship bracelet bearing his phone number.
On their podcast, “New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce,” he admitted to being upset that she doesn’t converse before or after performances because she needs to save her voice for the 44 songs she sings.
When the Chiefs and Chicago Bears played one other on Sunday, Swift was spotted sitting next to Kelce’s mother, Donna, in his family suite, supporting him. She was sporting a red and white team jacket.
Swift’s gesture of support comes after weeks of rumors that she and Kelce are dating, which were spread by numerous NFL commentators and the great majority of Swifties. Even though they haven’t publicly denied their relationship, Kelce claimed last week in an interview with ESPN that he finds the attention on Swift and him to be “hilarious.”
The lyrics of her song “You’re on Your Own, Kid” from her most recent album “Midnights” are what inspired the custom of exchanging friendship bracelets during her concerts. Swift sings about making friendship bracelets as a method to connect with others over a common experience: “Cause there were pages changed with the bridges burned / Anything you lose is a step you’re taking / So make the friendship bracelets, take your time and taste it / You’ve got no reason to be afraid.”
For instance, Jamie Tompkins, an events manager who works full-time in Oklahoma City, claimed she remained up until past midnight to create friendship bracelets for Taylor Swift concert attendees. The 46-year-old mother claimed that during the summer, she made roughly $16,000 in sales by selling over 5,000 friendship bracelets with Taylor Swift themes on Etsy. According to Tompkins, “There were weeks when selling bracelets paid more than my full-time job.”
To sell them on her website, Pigtails, and Pixidust, Tompkins said she got the idea after being left with dozens of bracelets she wasn’t able to give away during the Taylor Swift performance in Arlington, Texas, earlier this year. She hopes to produce more for Swift’s foreign concert dates. The idea was put forth by her daughter to list them on her Etsy store, which usually deals in hairbands and bows for infants and young children.
The Eras tour, according to Tompkins, who charges $15 for a 5-pack, “has made my business.” Before Taylor Swift friendship bracelets were popular, my sales were really low.
She is currently saving her money in order to resign from her work and devote all of her time to running her Etsy shop. As long as people demand them, I will keep producing them.
However, Aimee Papson sells Taylor Swift friendship bracelets partly out of necessity. SunshineyBracelets, Papson’s new Etsy store, will help her repay a $5,500 loan she took out to cover the cost of four tickets to Swift’s Nashville concert. She listed her extra friendship bracelets online, just like the other Etsy store owners, and has made roughly $1,800 so far. Additionally, Papson intends to raise her budget for her performances abroad.
“We still have some ways to go to make our money back,” said Papson, adding that visiting Nashville was a dream come true for her and her kids. I can manufacture bracelets nonstop for over eight hours if I put on a headlamp at night and play Taylor Swift music. There are no immediate plans for me to stop.