Ugly Sweaters Are Big Business

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The ugly sweater trend has really peaked in the past few years. "National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day" is the second or third Friday in December and started in 2011. As a result, the industry has blown up, according to Businessweek. Retailers both big and small have rolled out their own versions and some have started selling DIY kits to make a regular, not particularly ugly sweater into a complete and utter travesty. Last year, these kits moved 35,000 units. This year? The tally is expected to top 400,000.

In fact, ugly sweaters have gained so much steam recently that one guy licensed all the logos from the NFL and NCAA to start an ugly sweater brand. And then there's Anne Marie Blackman, who back in 2008 saw the sweaters show up on Google Trends and decided right then and there to sell them on eBay to help pay for her children's college tuition. She hit the thrift stores and bedazzled a bunch before shilling 50 of them on eBay that year. Since then, she says she's sold more than 25,000 sweaters and made more than a MILLION FUCKING DOLLARS.

Like any booming market, the ugly sweater business has started to become a bit saturated with more and more entrepreneurs seizing the opportunity to make a quick buck. But the demand is still there, and there's no ugly sweater recession in sight. I mean, at least until we stop the madness.

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