Tattoo flash 3 - What's going on?
Hello and welcome to the Balloon Ace tattoo studio.
Check out this month's tattoo flash for some Balloon Ace inspired ink!
What's going on?
As Marvin Gaye said in 1971 with one of the best albums ever recorded , "What's going on?"
So, what is going on?
Recently we had a short stay in Sarasota, Florida in the big old US of A to attend a friend's wedding. Our stay in Sarasota was shorter than expected as we were evacuated after only one day due to the imminent land fall of Hurricane Milton. We were lucky in that we were relocated to a much safer area, whilst still in Milton's path but far safer than our original location from being outside the tidal surge areas.
We count ourselves lucky in that we escaped with nothing more than a little disruption and a cancelled wedding. We have many friends and customers who live in Florida and from what we have heard luckily they have all stayed safe.
Following the passing of Milton we drove back down I75 to visit some friends in Port Charlotte and the sights around the Bradenton area were heart breaking. Houses with roofs ripped off, large areas of flooding, totalled cars, downed power cables, people living in shelters and police escorts of tanker trucks (petrol tankers as we call them in the U.K.).
It was a surreal experience! We sincerely hope that Florida recovers and that all of our friends, customers and fans have remained safe and not been impacted too badly.
Amongst the disruption, carnage and hiding out in a hotel room for a day and a half it got us thinking about the world and what's going on? As part of this reflection our minds wandered to Balloon Ace and the balloon industry.
In the five years that Balloon Ace has been selling balloons the balloon world has changed considerably.
In 2019 the dominant balloon brands were Qualatex and Tuftex with Cattex being the main supplier of giant balloons. Balloon brands like Belbal, Globos Payaso (Unique) and Sempertex were popular but just not as much as the American behemoths.
The most popular balloon sizes were 14", 16", 17", 24" and 36". Crystal / jewel balloons outsold standard / pastel / metallic balloons several times over.
2019, were the days when food was cheap, fuel was cheap, living was cheap and balloons were plentiful.
Life was good!
Then covid hit!
The global restrictions imposed to stop the spread of Covid affected most businesses and impacted most people's lives. Sadly the balloon industry did not escape unscathed.
Covid is a polarising subject. We are not here to say anything politically loaded about covid or politics. We are just here for the balloons!
Like many industries. Balloon factories across the planet temporarily closed due to worldwide covid lockdowns. Latex supplies were diverted to be used in the manufacture of essential PPE and other medical equipment. The balloon manufacturing world was unable to make balloons in the quantities which they previously had.
The impact to manufacturers, seller and users of balloons was huge,
Yes, restrictions on people's movement had fuelled a rise in online shopping. However, as a balloon retailer this time was not good for us. Wholesale balloons were in short supply. With latex being in short supply many balloons were simply unavailable to us in the quantities which we had previously purchased. Demand to buy balloons was high but getting any stock to sell was very challenging during these times.
Times were not looking good for us and the whole balloon industry!
As we all saw Covid finally did pass and the world opened up to a new 'normal'. In early 2023 balloon supplies were almost back to normal. Globos Payaso (Unique) 16" balloons were finally available to us after being on order for more than two years. Most supply chains were getting back to just like in the good old times with a few exceptions.
We faced a new challenge. The covid lockdowns, the implementation of global quantitive easing and the situation in Ukraine had resulted in a global 'cost of living crisis'. Inflation was rampant due to increased energy costs and earlier global supply chain issues. This challenge presented itself not only for balloons but for any product which needed to be manufactured and purchased.
Just when we thought that getting through Covid meant the end of the 'bad times' affording to live was the new challenge and part of the 'new normal'. Increased food, fuel, energy and living costs were squeezing people's finances. People have to prioritise what to buy. You could also say that corporate greed was cashing in on this phenomenon the suppliers of commodities were experiencing excessive profits which were exponentially higher than previous years.
Here at Balloon Ace we were caught in the middle of it all. As said in previous blogs. Balloon Ace is a hobby business and its existence is reliant upon other factors. Busy or not busy Balloon Ace can survive but our own personal finances was being stretched.
We did not know what the supply chain or our customer base would look like or whether they would still be there for us.
So here we are in the last part of 2024!
Times have indeed been tough!
Demand for 14" balloons has plummeted globally. So much so that Belbal and Tuftex have ceased to manufacture any 14" balloons. We were fortunate enough to be able to buy good stocks of 'factory fresh' Belbal 14" standard / pastel balloons which will last us for a short while. However, at the time of writing this blog we regret to say that we have now sold all of our Belbal 14" crystal balloons. They are all completely gone on the wholesale market. Due to pricing of the Tuftex 14" and their short shelf life these balloons have been gone long ago from Balloon Ace.
Man, it's all doom and gloom! tell me something positive!
It's not all bad news regarding Belbal as they have introduced a new 17" balloon (same shape profile as their 24" and 36" balloons) which is a very high quality balloon. The Belbal 17" balloon is possibly the highest quality 17" balloon currently on the market and what's even better is they are one of the lowest cost 17" at retail prices.
You should seriously check them out if you haven't already!
We are happy to say that whilst Tuftex have discontinued their 14" balloons they have changed their latex formula which now gives their balloons a much better shelf life. Although this is at the expense of stretchiness. Many customers report that the new Tuftex balloons do not inflate as large as the ones manufactured with the old latex formula. I guess you win some you lose some!
Whilst balloon manufacturers were evaluating their product lines during the latex shortages it is unfortunate that they considered crystal / jewel balloons to be a lower priority to manufacture than standard, pastel or metallic balloons.
This is for the following two reasons:
1, The main market for balloons is for parties and weddings. These events tend to prefer
2, Crystal / jewel balloons tend to have a shorter shelf life than
As manufacturers are limiting how many crystal / jewel balloons that they produce unfortunately the stock available to us is very limited. At the moment we are only able to get Belbal (giants), Cattex, Gemar and Globos Payaso in crystal colours. Occasionally we get Qualatex 16" balloons in jewel colours but this will be short lived.
We are hoping that Belbal and Tuftex increase supplies of their crystal balloons but at the moment stock is very limited. If we can get them we will get them so please be patient.
So is that the end of the bad news you may ask?
Unfortunately not!
Earlier this year Qualatex announced that they were filing for Section 21 Bankruptcy. At this moment in time we doubt that Qualatex balloons will be available once all stock in the network has gone. There is some solace in that Qualatex balloons have very long shelf lives and under the correct conditions can last many, many years. As the saying goes "get them before they are gone!".
A few weeks ago we received an email to say that the UK's Globos Payaso distributor was closing and that we were to now use their distributor who is based in mainland Europe. This causes us some slight delays for deliveries to us and will likely change the pricing at some point later this year but at this moment in time we hope that we can still carry a good range of Globos Payaso balloons without too much disruption.
More recently still we have heard reports that some of the balloon wholesalers who we use are also closing down. Luckily we do not use these for many of our balloons but we may need to consolidate our brand portfolio going forwards if we can not find alternative suppliers.
With all this doom and gloom, manufacturers closing, wholesalers closing is this the end of balloons, is this the end of Balloon Ace?
Events over the years have made the balloon market very challenging but we will endure. We have no plans to close our store anytime soon. We will adapt and change our business to suit the world. Based on how Balloon Ace is financed and managed we are more robust than many balloon sellers.
Here today! Here tomorrow! You can always shop at Balloon Ace knowing your purchase will be delivered!
To confirm! Balloon Ace is going nowhere!
We will continue to be the best balloon shop that we can and provide the best quality balloons that are available to us. We will also do all of this whilst keeping our prices as low as absolutely possible.
As balloon manufacturers are streaming their product ranges one thing that we have been considering at Balloon Ace is setting up our own balloon manufacturing capabilities and launching our own in-house manufactured balloons. This is partly why we have set up our low cost bulk balloon website 99 Red. We want to have an established and reliable brand to base any balloon manufacturing upon.
If we are able to manufacture our own balloons they will branded 99 Red and will include the classics such as 14" crystal balloons, jelly bean balloons and Q24 replicas amongst other balloons.
Please send us your feedback if you would want for us to start manufacturing our own balloons in-house. Please also tell us what balloons you would like to see reintroduced.
The more feedback that we get the more we will be driven to start making our own in-house balloons.
The future of balloons is in your hands!
Wowsers! With all this excitement we didn't really plan a balloon factoid for this blog. However, as the font of knowledge, both useful and irrelevant we have a little bit of history on balloons which you may or may not be aware of.
The concept of balloons predates history where humans have filled animal bladders with air for a multitude of purposes.
The first modern rubber balloons on record were made by Michael Faraday in 1824. These were designed primarily for the use in Faraday's experiments when working with gasses, predominantly hydrogen. Balloons were originally designed as a tool and not as a toy.
By 1825 Thomas Hancock, founder of the British rubber industry, was selling balloons balloons to the public although in a different form to what we think of as balloons. Hancock's balloons were sold as two pieces of rubber which the user would stick together to form a vessel which could be inflated with air.
Angelo Rocco in 1899 had taken balloon manufacturing into an artisan process of making one piece balloons in France similar to modern balloons. In the following years balloons became more and more popular for use as novelties, toys and party decorations.
Throughout this time other manufacturers started making balloons! And there you have it!
Until next month
Next month our plans are to include the following:
- More balloon related tattoo flash
- More balloon related factoids
- More musings from the team behind Balloon Ace
As always, we welcome everyone to participate and get involved at Balloon Ace. We exclude nobody!
As a reminder keep sending your photos with Balloon Ace balloons so that we can feature them on our BAT Punks Instagram.
Pump some punk rock into your balloons!
We are Balloon Ace!
Thanks
Nicky & Glen