The Jean Ring: How a Simple Design Became a Long-Lived Classic
Sometimes, simple is best. Take the Jean Ring, for instance: it’s a twist of metal. That’s it. Nonetheless, it has also notched up more than 3 million sales since its debut in 1975. The solid brass twist securely holds your keys on one side and clips onto the belt loop of your jeans or pants on the other. Nothing fancy, but customers constantly rave about the gizmo.
One woman sent the company a photo of her husband’s Jean Ring, which he’s had for 30 years. Its previous owner" Willie Nelson, she says. Her husband inherited the Jean Ring upon buying a car from Nelson when he lived in Texas. Now he needs a replacement, but he certainly won’t be trading in his old one.
Marc Weinstein is the man who can take the credit for the key ring’s success. He came up with the idea while he was designing a metal sculpture for his “Marc Creates” company in St. Louis, Missouri. The Marc Creates website explains, “The first Jean Rings key rings were twisted by hand. Hand-forged on an anvil, these ‘original’ Jean Rings are true collector’s items. The way to identify them is that the logo ‘Marc Creates’ will be stamped on one end.”
These days, the company keeps up with sales by manufacturing Jean Rings in the Midwest on a “fore-slide” machine, but the original design still rules the roost. Part of its appeal is nostalgia ? some customers remember their dad using a Jean Ring and want to ...
Source:
dornob
URL:
http://dornob.com/design/architecture/
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