Got your friendship bracelets? The Swiftie helping the Eras prep

It was one line in a Taylor Swift song that started it all.

But like a lot of things in Swiftie culture, that's all that it took - and as a result 2023 was the year that Taylor Swift made friendship bracelets cool again.

Inspired by the line in You're on Your Own, Kid - "So make the friendship bracelets, take the moment and taste it" - Swifites everywhere have been making Taylor Swift friendship bracelets to swap at different stops during The Eras Tour. Each, usually, is colour-coded by era, and spelling out albums, songs, lyrics or even Swiftie phrases.

And seeing an opportunity ahead of the Australian leg of Swift's tour, Canberra's Hannah Murrells saw an opportunity.

As a long-time Swiftie and a member of the ANU Taylor Swift Society, it was always a given that Murrells and her sister would make friendship bracelets when heading to The Eras Tour in Melbourne next month.

So much so, that the same day they purchased their tickets, they went to Spotlight to get all of their friendship bracelet-making supplies. Which, in hindsight, was a great plan. Many Spotlight stores across the country were reporting they had sold out of bracelet-making supplies because of this very reason.

But what Murrells and her sister found was that the standard alphabet letter bead kits didn't supply enough letters to spell out Swift phrases. A lack of letters such as "R" and "S" meant spelling words such as album titles including Reputation, Fearless and Speak Now hard.

"So I was like, 'What if I buy these beads in bulk and split them up into just the letters that you need, and sell them that way'," she says.

"That way you're not getting all the 'Q's and 'Z's and 'X's that you don't use. You're only getting the letters that you actually need for bracelets."

And so Taylor Bracelets was born - the Etsy store that not only has plenty of DIY friendship bracelets ready to go, but even prices them according to "Swiftie lore". Rather than an album bracelet being simply $2 it's $2.13 - to feature the singer's favourite number, 13. And a pack of 10 bracelets is $19.89 - as a nod to Taylor Swift's 1989 album.

Murrells has also expanded to DIY heart-shaped glasses - each in the theme of different Taylor Swift eras - which have also become popular along The Eras Tour trail.

"It's so exciting - the lead-up to the concert," Murrells says.

"You make the bracelets with your friends and your family. Get them, trade them - it's a big community, the Taylor Swift community. And I think it's a great way to connect with Swfities and meet people you wouldn't otherwise run into.

"We're planning on taking maybe 100 of them to trade. There will be ones with album titles, song titles, I'll do the names of the city - so Melbourne night one, the show we're going to.

"And all the money I've made from bracelets has gone right back into costumes for the concert. I'm doing a Reputation-themed look because obviously there are rumours that Reputation (Taylor's Version) will be announced in February."

Like many people, the last time Murrells made friendship bracelets was in primary school. It's a phase that many kids go through.

But the past 12 months have seen friendship bracelets become so popular that people have even started incorporating them into home decor and recently, Christmas decorations.

Even celebrities who attend the concert, including Selena Gomez, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Garner, Nicole Kidman, Keith Urban, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Flavor Flav, have gotten into the spirit.

And, now famously, NFL player Travis Kelce made one with his phone number on it, with the intention of giving it the Swift. While the bracelet didn't make it to the singer on the night, the two are now dating.