2019 - the year of the walking stick?
The secret of business success is being able to spot the next big thing. To that end, I reckon walking sticks will be making a long overdue comeback.
They have suffered a serious image problem in the last few decades.
For some reason, walking sticks are currently associated with instability and mobility issues.
But there was a time when the walking stick was a sign of the complete opposite.
It was prop for the greatest dancers on earth. Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire tripped the light fantastic with their walking sticks always at the ready in the 40s and 50s.
In those days, of course, they were called canes and looked particularly snazzy.
They were usually jet black wands with silver tops, wielded only by the most graceful of movers.
That’s the power of marketing. Those weren’t walking aids, they were dancing aids! And each one was sold with a top hat. Another great marketing coup. It’s all about image. Sell Zimmer frames with diving goggles and you target a more energetic demographic. A re-brand is in order. Ditch the walking stick moniker. Too staid.
What about sprinting sticks? Now we’re talking.
Personally, I’d go down the high tech route. The EazeeGait 2000. And rather than being fashioned out of knotted oak, I’d use tungsten or a lightweight polymer.
You could drag the walking stick kicking and screaming into the 21st Century by having the EazeeGait 2000 drone-delivered to your door or 3D printed to the nearest stockist. Racing green would be an agreeable colour across the age spectrum, though for the teens I’d opt for Day-Glo yellow. The 20-somethings would prefer a matt black finish. It oozes menace.
Certainly something needs to be done. When was the last time you saw a walking stick sale in town or read about the latest walking stick to hit the high-street?
Even the pensioners are shunning walking sticks. They seem to be going straight from shuffling gait to mobility scooter with no walking stick in between.
Unless an enterprising mind steps into the fold, the days of the walking stick are numbered. Personally, I see drones as the biggest stumbling block to a walking stick revival for OAPs. More powerful drones will aid pensioner movement in the future.
Attach a pensioner harness to a powerful drone and OAPs could be transported with ease around the city. I don’t mean flying, more floating. The drones can take the majority of the pensioner’s weight, allowing the OAP to propel themselves through the air like weightless astronauts walking on the moon.
What a beautiful sight that would be. Best viewed from a distance, as the noise of whirring pensioner drones becomes irritating after a while.
Scrap that, the next big thing is going to be OAP drone muffling ear-defenders. One size fits all.
Just remember, you read it here first.