UNDEE BANDZ Brothers get ahead with trendy underwear-headband fad

Girls are snapping up the colorful headbands as soon as they get to the stores.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
MIAMI -- Two 20-something brothers were selling hair accessories and trendy costume jewelry to boutiques across the country when they hit on a novel idea -- turning underwear waistbands into headbands.
After a few test products created a rage in New York, the brothers, Corey Glassberg, 28, and Jamie Glassberg, 25, plunked all their savings into mass-producing overseas what has become known as Undee Bandz. The elastic headband has become the hair accessory must-have for a lot of girls.
"We've sold hundreds of them," said Susie Lewis, owner of The Training Camp in Weston, Fla. "The minute they come in, the girls come running in for them. It's the No. 1 seller in our store."
Specialty shops around the country find themselves flooded by preteens and teens snapping up the headbands that come in everything from tie-dye to camouflage. This holiday season retailers are battling it out for the soul of the preteen girl, according to Chris Bryne, an independent analyst in New York.
Irenka Jakubiak, editor in chief of Accessories magazine in Manhattan, said hair goods have not been selling as well as other categories of accessories.
'Phenomenal' sales
"Undee Bandz have been selling so phenomenal that it's given new life to that category," she said. "That item has found the right formula. They're inexpensive, fun, a little bit sexy and you can choose a band that's your personality. That's why those guys are having a good result."
Jamie Glassberg says the headbands caught on in summer camps and have become particularly hot this holiday season, especially those with initials and sequins. Glassberg says he's swamped with reorders for the holidays. Glassberg says the bra-strap headband, popular a few years ago, inspired this idea.
"It holds your hair well and it's funky," said Jamie Glassberg. "When it flew out of the first couple of stores that carried it, I said 'Wow, I think we've got something here."'
Undee Bandz headbands, which feature a label to be worn on the outside, retail for about $5 to $8 each and were featured this year in Seventeen magazine, Teen People and YM. The elastic headband comes in 50 designs including terrycloth, sequins, mesh, velour, bandanna, glitter-threaded, rhinestone-studded and imprinted with sports logos.
"We get girls from age 6 to 16 who buy them," said Tami Aizenstat from Elements of Time in Miami. "Anything trendy is going to sell. We knew they would do well when we first saw them. They're cute and the ages they're aimed at are a big clientele."
Aizenstat says she too has sold more than a hundred Undee Bandz. Her test market was her 13-year-old daughter, Alyssa, who wears one almost every day. Kaela Fudali, 10, says she likes them because they keep her hair back and they're comfy. She has two already. "I asked my mom to get me more for Hanukkah."
Company's growth
In the two years since the Glassberg brothers founded their Long Island, N.Y., company, Top Trenz, it has gone from about a half-dozen customers to about 1,500 regulars. Its clients include not only specialty shops but department stores such as Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom. Top Trenz also sells its products to Walt Disney World.
Though the company sells other items, including trendy rubber bracelets with slide-on charms, Jamie Glassberg says the Undee Bandz make up most of his orders. Glassberg says the young company has managed to turn a profit for more than two years and forecasts sales this year of more than $3 million. The brothers work with sales representatives around the country who help move the product into specialty stores.
"Our sales have been going up every month," said Glassberg, who's riding on success and making his Undee Bandz trendy for spring by emblazoning them with zodiac symbols. "We think we can increase our sales even more next year."