What’s behind the Taylor Swift friendship bracelets trend?

The Eras tour is about to hit Australia and Swifties are busy making bracelets to swap with each other at live shows – so what’s fuelling this craze

If there is one thing that has become synonymous with Taylor Swift and her sold out Eras tour, it would be friendship bracelets.

Seen as a nostalgic trend of the past in many ways, friendship bracelets have well and truly made a comeback thanks to Swift. Fans are making dozens – even hundreds – of them to swap with fellow Swifties at live shows.

So how did this trend start and why are fans so obsessed?

What are friendship bracelets?
In case you’ve never been a 12-year-old girl at a sleepover party, here are the basics: the bracelets are made using braided material or beads and shared with a close friend.

among hippies in the 1970s, and in the 90s and early 2000s, it was popular for schoolchildren to use “scoubidou” to create bracelets in a variety of knotted patterns, traded across the playground.

What are Taylor Swift fans making?
Friendship bracelets swapped at the Eras tour are typically made of beads, using a variety of colours and spelling out different words and catchphrases. It might be song lyrics, titles or fandom inside jokes.

The internet is flooded with tutorials on how to make your own friendship bracelets for the tour and fans are sharing their creations all over TikTok, racking up millions of views.

It’s not uncommon for friendship groups to catch up before a show to create bracelets together and there are even Facebook groups dedicated to swapping crafting tips and outfit ideas