Hula Hoop
It's from 1958, before you were born.
- Maker
- Wham-O
- Type
- Activity toy
- Debuted
- 1958
- Note
- 25 million sold in four months
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About
As of 2026, it's 68 years old.
The Hula Hoop became an overnight sensation in 1958 when Wham-O mass-produced a bright plastic version of the bamboo exercise hoops kids had used for ages. The fad was instantaneous and enormous — an estimated 25 million sold in the first four months, one of the fastest toy crazes in history.
Then it crashed almost as fast as it rose, becoming the textbook example of a flash-in-the-pan fad before settling into a permanent, lower-key place in backyards and gym classes. Keeping it spinning around your waist remains a deceptively tricky core workout.
Spinning, simple, and historically frenzied, the Hula Hoop is the plastic ring that briefly conquered America and invented the modern toy fad.
