Wait – What??? Why are we talking umbrellas now, some of you may think…
Well, it was a dark and stormy night. Yes it actually was, and it was raining here. It was not only raining it was pouring! It have been raining for almost 10 days now and it is really depressing. So I was was sitting here looking out at the rain and listening to the rain quiet drum sound on the windows, and very appropriately my thoughts was turning to umbrellas.
Do you have any idea how big the umbrella business is in USA? I checked Wikipedia and found this: “In the US alone, about 33 million umbrellas, worth $348 million, are sold each year.” WOW!! 33 million umbrellas sold in USA alone! I would just never have expected that. How many umbrellas do you buy each year? I would say that I buy 3 at the most. My last purchase was from Mitech Trading because all their stuff is so cheap. Good quality, but cheap. They also sell wholesale umbrellas at cheap prices, so I went there and ordered 3. One umbrella which is fold-able and easily fit in a purse or backpack or in my cars glove compartment. One umbrella for when I go for a walk in the neighborhood, and finally one large umbrella. I am by nature a very helpful person, so whenever someone comes to my house and it is raining, I welcome them outside with my large umbrella and walk them inside. The large umbrella easily protect 2 or 3 persons from the rain.
Anyway, here are some quick facts about umbrellas I was able to find while I was hanging around, waiting for the sun to pop out again:
- The first functioning “folding umbrella” was invented in 1969 by Bradford Philips.
- The steel ribbed umbrellas were invented in 1852 by Samuel Fox.
- The word umbrella comes from the Latin word “umbros” which is translated to shade or shadow.
- Modern days acceptance of umbrellas started to spread within Europe in during the 18th century. Up until then, umbrellas were viewed as a fashion accessory for women only.
- The umbrellas we know today are very similar in design to the umbrellas that were used in ancient Greece and Rome. (not progress here)
It truly amazes my that umbrellas are sold in these quantities and yet they are basically the same design as they were for hundreds of years ago. There must be big bucks to be made if you can come up with an improvement.