Oh, nostalgic revivalism. We have so much to thank you for. The fashion: big glasses, mustaches, high-waisted pants. The trinkets: typewriters, record players ($98 at Urban Outfitters this Christmas!), single-speed bicycles.
The chance to capitalize on a generation that longs for a time they never actually lived in went mainstream years ago. And yet, it’s a gift that just keeps on giving.
(Re-)Introducing: the spinning top.
Two entrepreneurs from Toronto have sold more than 10,000 tops since starting their company ForeverSpin in January. They began with a goal of raising 1,500 Canadian dollars through Kickstarter. That campaign alone raised more than $130,000 (about $115,000 in U.S. currency)
The demand is so high that on Oct. 29, they introduced “ForeverSpin 2.0.” In an hour, they met their goal of $5,000 in Canadian money. In a day, $20,000. On Sunday, they broke $140,000, and there’s still 25 days of the campaign to go.
“Now people are playing with iPads instead of spinning tops, but everyone used to have them,” founder Cristobal Rosales said. “It’s really the oldest toy out there.”
ForeverSpin™ 2.0- Spinning Top, Precise, Durable and Elegant
The spinning top, the initial iteration of the dreidel, Beyblade and Weeble, is a toy so old that Rosales’s version was inspired by a design from 3000 B.C. Traditionally they were made of wood, but most on the market today are plastic. ForeverSpin tops, however, are made of high-quality metal that is precision-cut using a “computer numerical control” machine, better known as CNC. Meeting their first Kickstarter goal by 8,696 percent allowed Rosales to make his spinning top in 10 different metals. The lightest, sterling silver and aluminum, cost less than $40 and spin for about two minutes. For five-minute spins, there’s Tungsten ($195) and 24-karat plated gold ($65).
So who is buying these things? The 25-year-old Rosales’s pitch via phone interview goes like this: “It makes for a perfect gift, for a birthday, an anniversary, an engagement, a wedding, even a funeral!”
A spinning top for a funeral? The demographics he has to offer are a bit more informative. ForeverSpin has shipped to 50 countries, and the tops have been especially popular in Japan, Indonesia and Germany, where he says there is a strong interest in CNC manufacturing.
His other large market is the United States, where he’s selling predominantly to (surprise!) 18- to 35-year-old males. Rosales credits nostalgia, the high-quality materials, and (at least a little) Leonardo DiCaprio’s spinning top in “Inception.”
So get over yourselves, Polaroid cameras and Rubik’s cubes. This year’s hipster stocking stuffer — the ForeverSpin 2.0 will ship out in December — was cool before there even was a Christmas.
Jessica ContreraJessica Contrera is a reporter on The Washington Post's local enterprise team. She writes about people whose lives are being transformed by the major events and issues in the news. Follow
