A new social tool for the post-00s generation, one that everyone owns?

"Bracelets" are now popular among the post-00s. Why are "bracelets" so popular? It is because people put their hearts into them, look for similar people, and ask for something. Let's follow the author to analyze this craze!

As night fell, Wu Shan walked into the Jewelry Building of China University of Geosciences.

In the circle of college students in Wuhan, this is considered a small jewelry mall with good quality and low prices. Jewelry design is one of the top majors of China University of Geosciences, and Wu Shan believes in the professional ability and "special channels" of students.

When she walked out of the jewelry store, she had a bracelet made of Hetian jade, southern red agate and turquoise on her wrist, and the three colors complemented each other. The stall owner offered 247 yuan, which is quite expensive for college students, but Wu Shan was satisfied: "I picked these beads one by one, and they have my own characteristics."

Wu Shan and her friends are the representatives of a "bracelet fever" that is quietly emerging among the post-90s and post-00s. Compared with the wooden bracelets played with by the older generation, these colorful beads have lost their deep Zen meaning and "value-preserving" cultural attributes, returning to their original purpose as decorations.

But for young people, bracelets mean more than that. Just like figurines, glue drops, and rubber stamps, bracelets are a hobby, and also an identity mark for Generation Z to sniff each other out and divide territory. As the pearls flow, the value of the bracelet is no longer important. Even if it is made of the cheapest ore and wood, players still put their heart and soul into it.

1. Elsewhere

The preference of Generation Z for bracelets is different from that of middle-aged and elderly people.

As a kind of cultural plaything, the materials of traditional bracelets have a hidden contempt chain. The lowest level is bodhi seeds, ox horns, etc., and the unit price is usually less than 100 yuan; when it comes to sandalwood and yellow rosewood, the price rises to hundreds or even thousands of yuan depending on the wood and pattern; as for the top-level agarwood and raw turquoise bracelets, they can easily sell for more than 10,000 yuan.

The participation of young people has opened a crack in this strict hierarchical value system. They like mid-to-high-end materials such as mammoth ivory and amber, but also have a special liking for cheap monkey head walnuts and artificial crystals. In their view, these materials have a fresh and artistic style and are not too expensive, making them very suitable for novice enthusiasts to "get into the pit".

"The color of the wooden bracelets is not that bright and doesn't look good," Wu Shan said bluntly.

The bracelets Wu Shan photographed at the jewelry market (Photo provided by the interviewee)

Compared with wooden bracelets with a single color, young people have created more ways to play with colorful bracelets. In Cheche's memory, about a year ago, pink-dyed bodhi root bracelets suddenly became popular around her, which opened the door for many people to play with bracelets.

"Most of the gems that young people buy are bodhi, crystal, agate, as well as precious and semi-precious stones." Che Che was born in Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, the origin of Bahrain Stone, one of the four famous stones in China. She has been exposed to gem craftsmanship since she was a child and knows that a "good material" will usually be cut directly into a bracelet, and the remaining scraps will be turned into loose beads and then woven into a bracelet.

Therefore, Cheche does not have a superstitious belief in expensive bracelets. She thinks that bracelets are just a kind of handicraft, just like glue drops and rubber stamps. Whenever she needs to give a gift, Cheche chooses the corresponding "birthstone" according to her friend's birthday, or finds loose beads of corresponding colors according to the other person's favorite two-dimensional character, and weaves them into an "impression bracelet" to give to her friends.

On e-commerce platforms, the price of this type of "impression bracelet" is mostly below 100 yuan, and the IPs covered include novels such as "Grave Robbers' Chronicles" and "Dao Wei Yi Xian", and games such as "Genshin Impact" and "Arknights". The main colors of the two-dimensional characters are extracted and woven into a unique bracelet, which is more like a fan peripheral used to identify the identity of fans than an ornament.

What exactly is a bracelet? First of all, it is not a plaything, which is too boring; nor is it just a decoration, which is endowed with more value. Young people's definition of bracelets lies elsewhere.

2. Business Chain

Miu Miu waited until 10 o'clock in the evening and finally waited for her favorite blogger to "post the link".

She has bought three bracelets on Xiaohongshu, the most expensive of which cost 1,400 yuan. The popularity of bracelets has attracted many "bracelet bloggers" to follow suit, with Xiaohongshu and other content e-commerce platforms leading the way, and brightly colored beads filling the information flow. A search by "Tianxia Online Business" found that the prices of bracelets sold by popular bloggers are mostly in the hundreds of yuan. They are not only well versed in trends such as "national trend" and "dopamine color matching", but also remember to manage their fan groups and post popular knowledge about bracelets from time to time.

As a small accessory, bracelets are consumed both online and offline.

Taobao, as a stable online base, is the first choice for most buyers; Xiaohongshu relies on a prosperous content ecosystem, and a large number of bloggers display bracelets here; some sellers will also record the process of making bracelets and upload it to Bilibili, directing viewers to online stores or private WeChat purchases.

This trend has also spread to offline retail stores and wholesale markets. It goes without saying that it has spread to specialized jewelry markets. Even when Wu Shan was shopping at MINISO and other 10-yuan stores, she found that the store had moved the bracelet display area to the most eye-catching position at the door.

"The water is deep" is Cheche's evaluation of the entire jade market. There are artificial crystals that cost a few yuan each, and "unique design pieces" that cost tens of thousands of yuan. In the Xiaohongshu store where Miu Miu "shopped", the most expensive bracelet was priced at 15,800 yuan, and the single-sale beeswax loose beads also cost 199 yuan each.

Pages of some Xiaohongshu bracelet bloggers

At present, there are no statistics specifically for bracelets on the market. Only in the 2021 China Cultural and Artifacts E-commerce Industry Development Research Report, iMedia Research listed bracelets as a type of "crafts". The report predicts that as more and more young people are interested in cultural and art objects, the number of cultural and art e-commerce users will exceed 100 million in 2023, with a transaction volume of more than 500 billion yuan.

But it is obvious that the bracelets that are popular among Generation Z this time do not highlight the "literary play" attribute. According to Che Che, most consumers only spend a few hundred yuan to find a toy that can be played with in the hand, and the affordable price of the bracelets "is the most important part of this bracelet craze."

Fresh toys are like bait thrown into a school of fish, awakening the periodic craze of young people. Wu Shan said that one of her classmates had nearly 20 bracelets in her dormitory, and could wear different bracelets for a week without repeating them, depending on the combination of the bracelets with clothes and accessories. Miu Miu remembered that her most obsessed friend would wear three or five different bracelets, "and that hand was like a jewelry display."

3. Ask for something

As a collectible, bracelets are attached with the belief of "maintaining value"; the starting point of those young people who tie bracelets around their wrists has gone beyond simple aesthetic decoration, and they have infused it with various "wishes".

On social platforms, it is not uncommon to see posts praying for "good luck" through bracelets. There are corresponding bracelet types for wealth, career, love, and even postgraduate and civil service examinations. One netizen shared that white crystal is suitable for wearing when reciting a lot, black hair crystal helps thinking and solving problems, and amethyst can soothe emotions and calm the mind before the exam.

The 18-bead bracelet that was popular on the Internet before is said to have achieved "all-round" functions. The 18 kinds of beads have their own effects: blood sandalwood calms the mind, sunstone represents vitality, and red agate brings courage, strength and confidence... According to traditional views, this kind of bracelet must be "asked" from a temple to be most effective, and the "asking" business on social media is endless.

Previously, the eighteen-seed bracelet, the same style as that in Lingyin Temple, produced by the jewelry brand IWE, had caused heated discussions among consumers because it violated the invisible industry rule that "sincerity will bring success."

Do young people really believe that bracelets can "change luck"? It seems not entirely true. If the middle-aged and elderly still have some piety in their love for bracelets, the attitude of young people is more casual: if it can change luck, that's the best, but if it can't, that's okay. Cheche thinks that this is just like fortune-telling and tarot cards, "just for psychological comfort."

The eighteen-seed bracelet purchased at Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou (Photo provided by the interviewee)

After tearing off the price tags, shopping returns to the pure purpose of "pleasing oneself". The need for identity identification, the love for low-priced accessories, and the prayer for personal fortune have caused a small craze among young people for the seemingly ancient bracelets.

During the May Day holiday, Xiaoyu, a tourist from Beijing, queued for three hours at the Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou and finally got his wish by buying an 18-seed bracelet. The bracelet was priced at 46 yuan, and he could not hide his excitement: "In the Forbidden City, a similar bracelet costs 390 yuan!"

In the eyes of people who have something to pray for, this is a treasure that can bless them with peace and happiness; but in the eyes of young people who value practicality, the mysterious blessing of the bracelet seems not so solemn. When Xiaoyu was struggling in the long line at Lingyin Temple, Wu Shan just bought a bracelet of the same 18 seeds from a vendor in Yiwu for 30 yuan. The stall owner claimed to be a supplier of many temples.

She held up the bracelet and muttered: "Sincerity is the key to success!"

*Interviewees in this article are pseudonyms

Author: Zhu Zhicong

Source: Tianxiawangshang