The Market For Elastic Support Products

When do you consider yourself as an old person? In your 30s? 40s? 50s? 60s? Only you can answer that. But many people start to feel that they are old once they feel that their body is starting to weaken, especially physically. They also feel that their body is deteriorating.

As of 2021, my mother is already in her mid-seventies. I also have seen many old people going about their daily lives. I myself is past fifty and I consider myself old already because I have experienced the creeping health deterioration of my body brought about by old age.

One of the first things that started to give way as a result of old age from me and to all the other old people are joint problems. For example, my mother and other very old people I know would complain about ankle and knee pains whenever they have walked a certain distance.

This is where I would concentrate on. Muscle and bone ailments that occur to many or all old people. But these ailments not only happen to old people but to young people as well. So arguably, everyone is your client and not only old people.

One of the first part of the body that gives way as one becomes old, gets obese or just becomes weak are the knees. According to the CISION PR Newswire, the market for knee braces is expected to grow by about $1.9 billion by 2025 at a CAGR of 4.25% during the forecasted period.

This is good news for anyone wishing to enter the knee brace industry. According to the report, knee braces could be made of plastic, metal, straps, foam, and elastic materials. If you want to enter this knee brace industry, you can choose from one or a few of these materials.

For example, my mother suffers sometimes from knee problems. Everytime her knees hurt, she would buy a knee brace made of elastic materials and straps which are the most popular and cheapest ones in the market.

There are many variations of strap or elastic knee braces. All you need to do is to image search the keyword ”elastic strap” in Google and you would find many images already of knee braces made out of straps or elastic materials.

You may be wondering: But I have no materials nor equipment to make these products? How would I even make simple knee braces?

The answer is simple: Alibaba. The Chinese e-commerce giant is a great source for elastic cloths and elastic machines. You should check out this e-commerce if you are still not aware of it.

All you need to do is type the search keywords “elastic cloth” and “elastic machine”. Alibaba would then show you related products that are priced reasonably and even cheaply. I suggest you try it.

Now that we have determined that you could start an elastic material or straps knee brace business, we can then easily conclude that these products and machines from Alibaba could also make similar products besides knee braces.

Although all the industry statistics website I visited did not specifically specify the growth numbers of the elbow support/brace industry (I am not their paying client), they at least specified that the elbow support market is growing.

This may be due to the reason that elbow and even knee support is becoming popular due to their use by athletes. It is no secret that many people idolize athletes and think that the elbow and knee support the athletes wear do really help them get better at playing sports.

My mother also uses elbow support but not as a support for playing sports or moving around, but rather because her elbows hurt. This may be because she is suffering a form of arthritis in her elbows.

This is a sickness that is very painful and many people suffer from it. Many people use elastic cloths and bandages specifically for this sickness. And though it may be a sickness that is good for elastic cloth sellers, it is bad for those who suffer this sickness.

There are for example 54 million American adults that suffer from arthritis. The number of men and women who suffer from arthritis is growing. The number of sufferers is expected to reach 78 million by 2040.

So again, there is good money to be made from producing elastic support products like people who suffer from arthritis. But not only arthritis, other ailments such as muscle tears and muscle pains are good reasons for the use of elastic support products.

There are many reasons why muscles are in pain or are sore, but people normally use ointments to relax the muscle and nothing else. But these ointments are not really helpful for most muscle pains or soreness. At best, their relief is temporary.

That is why there are people especially old people who wear elastic support products as some sort of muscle relaxant. You might think that this is funny, but I have seen elastic products in asian e-commerce sites that look like socks and gloves.

I have actually bought some of these products to try them out. I found out that they are no more than elastic cloth that are sewn to look like gloves and socks. I highly doubt their effectiveness. But based on the number of sellers online, they sell well.

But these products are not new to me, even before these products became available in the market, there are already people who use tight gloves and socks as some sort of pain reliever for their painful or sore muscles.

As you have probably noticed by now, these elastic support products are no more than tight products that are perceived to be useful for relieving muscle pain. Though I highly doubt their effectiveness, they undoubtedly built an image that they are health products that really work.

But it does not matter if they do work or not or how effective they are, the important matter here is that they are products whose sales are growing. If you are interested in making money, they are worth looking into.

Take for example the elastic socks that are being sold online. They are just like normal socks but are being sold at a higher price than normal socks. Yet when my mother used one, she confirmed to me that they are nothing but tight socks.

You might be led to believe that she has lost her belief on the product, but on the contrary she saw their use. She said that she “feels” the socks help her a little to relieve the muscle pain in her leg. She says that although they are not particularly helpful, they are more useful than ordinary socks.

In essence, these products are selling the feeling of “tightness” in the muscle. This feeling is equated to being slightly healed. Whether it works or not is entirely up to the thought of the user.

According to doctors, knee supports provide only little relief from muscle pain and should not be used for long periods of time. One of the reasons for this is obvious, the part of the skin which these elastic products cover becomes irritated from being tightly covered for so long.

And the discomfort from using these products so long can be very irritating. Not only does these products irritate the skin, but they can leave shallow marks on the part of the skin they cover.

Another bad part of using them for so long is that the part of the skin which they cover also tends to sweat even only after a short while. This not only dirties the elastic product but may also cause the growth of harmful bacterias in the elastic product.

In short, the elastic product can’t be used for a very long time and would require regular cleaning and disinfecting before being used again. This is the reason why many people buy extra pairs of the elastic products as if they were buying extra pairs of clothes.

In fact, many sellers of these elastic products sell them in pairs or in bulk like half dozens. So if you are selling elastic products, it would be helpful if you sell them in pairs or in bulk because this is how many customers tend to buy them.

There are elastic products not only for the knees and elbow. There are elastic products for the hands, arms, stomach, sole, ankle, thigh and many others. There are elaborate elastic back supports as well. The list goes on and on.

The designs are many as well. From simple wraparound types to those which include magnets and other supposed healing materials. Just image searching in google the search keyword “elastic support” would already show a lot of products that are available to many parts of the body.

One interesting product would be elastic finger support. This product might induce you to smile because by seeing one you would already think that there is no part of the human body where an elastic support cannot be used.

As you can see, unlike selling eyeglasses which are complex that you need qualifications and money before you can start a business. A simple elastic support business can be an easier business.

As long as you can sew and have access to elastic cloth, you can start a business already. The product is so light, simple and can be compacted that delivering them to customers is not a big problem.

Also, since they are basically just tight clothes, you can create an endless variety of styles and designs for them. They are ideal as home businesses for people who not only know of a lot of clients who have muscle pains, but also people who are sports enthusiasts.

I have found some videos in YouTube which proves that you could create your own business selling elastic support products. Not only were the videos instructional, they also show that creating elastic support products are not that difficult.

DIY Elbow Support

YouTube Video: DIY Compression Wear

This short YouTube video shows us that elastic support are just tight cloths like socks. The handsome and muscled presenter shows us that you could make a beautiful elastic elbow support within minutes using only unused socks.

Using socks as elbow support opens up plenty of opportunities for styling and designing elbow support made from socks. You could add graphic designs and different color styling as well as other elastic and cloth materials to make your sock elbow support more functional and beautiful as well.

So if you have plenty of unused socks lying around or have plenty of sources for unused or second hand socks, this could be a simple and profitable business for you, especially if the socks you use are the high quality kind.

YouTube Video: Luis Yanez knee brace

This also short YouTube video shows how to make a high quality knee brace. But even though the knee brace is high quality and functional, it does not need expensive and elaborate machines to do it.

Only the sewing machine is the most complicated machine needed. The rest of the equipment and tools needed can be found at home and they are the simple type as well. Even the video shows that making the knee brace can be done at home.

One very enlightening thing we can derive from the video is that it is very possible for you to create and sell custom made knee braces right from your own home. This means you do not have to compete with mass market sellers knee braces or other elastic support products.

You can create and sell to customers who are willing to pay extra so they can get custom fitting elastic support products that are more comfortable for them. My mother for example has difficulty finding elastic knee support products that fit her because of her size.

Just imagine that there are many obese people with knee problems that are unable to buy elastic knee supports because most elastic knee products in the market are too small for them. They could be a good market for you.

The elastic support market is growing. Online articles from industry analysis websites show that for example, the knee and elbow support braces will grow about 4% CAGR in the coming years.

Basically, elastic support products are just very tight cloths that are perceived to be very effective medical products. As such, the more you can sell you design as being effective, the more is the likelihood that it would sell.

One thing good about these products is that they are simple to create. You only need elastic cloth and a few cheap materials to make one. You don’t even need expensive tools and equipment. You can even set up your manufacturing operations at home.

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