News What are the Uses of Sports Wristbands?

March 08th, 2017

It has been over 80 years since the legendary tennis player Fred Perry invented the sweatband as way to absorb the sweat from his face and arms whilst playing on the court. This was revolutionary at the time, and the common sweatband is still used by sports players around the world to this date! Furthermore, in 2017 there are many other types of wristbands during sports events – but what are the uses of the wristbands?

Sweat

As mentioned, to this date there are still numerous athletes – namely runners, tennis and basketball players – who still use sweatbands when they are playing. These are usually made out of a towel-like material and serve the conventional purpose of wiping sweat from the face. With tennis and basketball players also finding them useful in stopping sweat from travelling down their arms onto their hands, which allows them to have a better grip.

Charity

Over time, wristbands have also started to serve the purpose of being used as a fundraising tool. In particular, silicone wristbands have become synonymous with fundraising efforts of major causes. One of the most popular courses was bicyclist Lance Armstrong, who ran the first major charity campaign using wristbands with the yellow Livestrong wristbands in aid of cancer. The success of these was huge, and it raised a huge amount of money around the globe. The other popular charity wristbands in sports were the ‘Stand Up – Speak Up’ black and white wristbands from Nike which were used for an anti-racism campaign and were worn by football players all around the world.

Advertisement

Advertising has become one of the biggest money making methods for the sports industry, and with wristbands being a cost-effective advertisement tool, it is no surprise they have become very popular within sports. In the modern world of sports, each event can have a reach of hundreds of millions of people around the globe. This has encouraged a lot of businesses to try and get their business associated with the event in any way possible. Whether they pay a player to wear a wristband or give them out to fans outside the event, it means that their business will gain a high reach and will give their business some great exposure.