Enso Rings co-founders Brighton Jones and Aaron Daly want to keep everyone’s fingers attached to their hands with their silicone rings. They wanted to create something stylish and fashionable while preventing ring avulsion. Ring avulsion is the term used when a regular, metal ring catches on something and literally rips your finger clean off. It’s a nasty, yet common injury – over 150,000 people in the US get hurt this way each year.
Essentially, Enso wants people to re-think what a ring should be. Typical wedding bands and engagement rings cost hundreds to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Enso rings cost $25. They promote substituting silicone for more traditional materials as a matter of style and safety. In a video of Enso Rings, they promote their product as an alternative wedding band.
Basically, silicone stretches. You can wear a silicone ring while doing almost any activity and it wont cause you harm if it gets caught. Sure, it might rip, but at $25 it’s a better option than losing a finger and damaging a piece of fine jewelry. There’s one other major competitor in the silicone ring space and they offer the same pricing. Enso got its start on Kickstarter and got funded.
They market to a younger set that leads a more active lifestyle. Whether silicone replaces gold and diamonds as a wedding band remains to be seen. One thing is sure, they want a Shark’s help to spread the word.
My Take on Enso Rings
I think the company has a long way to go in changing the way people look at traditional jewelry. My oldest daughter got married this summer and she wore a gold ring – as did her husband. When I asked her if she’d consider substituting silicone for her ring, she said: “You mean rubber? Ya, NO dad!” And she’s Enso’s target market!
As a guy, I like the idea of a $25 wedding ring. I’ll like to kill the son-of-a-bitch who put it in women’s minds that men should spend “between 3 and 6 month’s salary” on an engagement ring! I’d wear one, but I’ve already been down that road and wear my white gold wedding band. I’m not one for jewelry, so I won’t get another ring to look cool.
The guys have sales, allegedly in the millions of dollars, so they’re on to something. A lot of people would wear them for the novelty, I just don’t think they’ll break that wedding market.
Will the Sharks Ring In a Deal?
This pitch could go either way. Since they have good sales, the Sharks will want a piece of the action. I’m curious as to whether Kevin O’Leary is interested in incorporating silicone rings into the “Something Wonderful” platform – a group of wedding related businesses.
The real proof is whether the lady Sharks buy in. Women have a crap ton more jewelry as a rule than men, so they are the people that need to be sold. Either way, I think they’ll field an offer, just because sales are strong.
Entrepreneur, auteur, raconteur. Rob Merlino is a blogger and writer who enjoys the Shark Tank TV show and Hot Dogs. A father of five who freelances in a variety of publications, Rob has a stable of websites including Shark Tank Blog, Hot Dog Stories, Rob Merlino.com and more.
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