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People are going nuts for this inflatable pool swan - and its creators are making a killing
Brittany FowlerJul 16, 2015, 02:49 IST
Thanks to the Hamptons society set and pop singer Taylor Swift, a pool raft company that creates floating swans is experiencing its highest sales ever.
The trend started in the Hamptons a couple of summers ago. First everyone and their society-party-throwing mother had to have an inflatable swan, and now it's all about the pizza, donut, and watermelon rafts.
Beyond the Hamptons, whimsical inflatables didn't really start to "blow up" until this June, when Taylor Swift and boyfriend Calvin Harris posted this picture on Instagram.
The singer received over one million favorites on the photo within a single day.Other stars like Emmy Rossum and Kaley Cuoco have also gotten Insta-friendly with the floating swans. To boot, posting a photo with an inflatable swan or flamingo or slice of pizza has become a must-check item on the summer bucketlists of college kids and pool partiers from Montauk to Orange County. Kieran Glackin, the national sales manager at Swimline - the Edgewood, New York-based creator of the swan inflatables first popularized in the Hamptons - told the New York Daily News that "sales are the highest they've ever been."Glackin said the company has sold 40,000 swans - which are available at retailers like Urban Outfitters for $55 - this year alone. Los Angeles-based FUNBOY, a company specializing in "luxury inflatable pool floats," saw the opportunity and launched its collection of $89 floats, including a black swan, white swan (currently sold-out), pegasus, flamingo, and (wait for it...) a $125 limited-edition golden swan.
Food novelties and various animal rafts are this summer's new additions. There's even a hashtag, #LuxInflatables, being used by Guest of a Guest Hamptons and its ilk. Search #pool on Instagram (because you can do that now) and you'll find oversize inflatables scattered about prominently.
From California...
...to Florida...
...these floats are everywhere. Even dogs are the living the #LuxInflatables life. Please enable Javascript to watch this video