Featured Image Credit: Facebook/Jamie Lehner Tompkins / Etsy/PigtailsandPixiDust
Topics: Money, Taylor Swift, Fashion, Music
Emily Brown
Topics: Money, Taylor Swift, Fashion, Music
While some Taylor Swift fans might have found themselves spending hundreds to see the singer on tour, one woman from Oklahoma used the gigs as an opportunity to make thousands.
Mom Jamie Tompkins, 46, opened her Etsy shop PigtailsandPixiDust in early 2022 as a simple hobby and side-hustle to her full-time job working as an events manager in Oklahoma City.
She initially focused on selling hair bows and headbands, but the shop didn't really take off until after she took her daughter to see the Eras Tour in Arlington, Texas, in April.
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As the singer has toured across the US, Swifties have been making a habit of showing off bracelets they've acquired for the gigs, with many fans decked out in dozens of the colourful, stretchy bands.
The trend has been inspired by the track 'You're On Your Own Kid', which features a lyric saying: "Make the friendship bracelets, take the moment and taste it, you've got no reason to be afraid."
Fans have shared tips on how to trade bracelets, with many leaving the gigs with a lot more than they came with, so prior to the Arlington show Tompkins and her daughter decided to make some homemade bracelets to take and trade with other Swifties.
They made 100 bracelets between them, and came home with about 50 leftover.
Speaking to Insider, Tompkins explained: "My daughter suggested that I put them on my Etsy shop and see if I could sell them. They sold out in two days, and I have been making more every day since."
The bracelets feature iconic lyrics from some of Swift's most popular songs, including words like 'Shake It Off', 'I'm The Problem' and 'Fearless'.
Thanks to the trend surrounding Swift's gigs, Tompkins has found success in selling packs of five bracelets for $15 (£11), and says she's so far managed to make about $16,000 (£12,500) through the venture.
She has some competition, with a quick search on Etsy revealing dozens of results for Taylor Swift friendship bracelets, but Tompkins is keen to keep going.
"You have to put in a lot of work to make it successful," she said. "It's not an easy side hustle, it requires a lot of hard work and dedication, but if you're making something you love it is all worth it."
After seeing the money roll in, Tompkins has become hopeful that she might be able to save up enough to quit her full-time job and focus solely on her Etsy store.