BAD NEWS FOR THE BOLO BRACELET
A WORD OF WARNING IF YOU'RE BUYING A BOLO BRACELET
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It’s the Bracelet…
Bolo bracelets are a huge trend right now. Every jeweler across the country carries them.
They’re HOT!
Sizzling hot.
And if you don’t know what a bolo style bracelet is, it’s like a tie-bow that texas rangers wear…
Only these Bolos are for your Wrist.
It’s a cute bracelet with an adjustable pulley clasp that allows you to pull them open, and pull them closed.
See examples of bolo bracelets here:
The Problem is the Pulley
It’s faulty and flimsy, and doesn’t always work.
For just yesterday I had a customer come back into the store with a bolo bracelet she just bought 4 weeks earlier.
The Rubber Stopper was Pulling through the Clasp
The clasp has two holes in it, one for each adjustable dangle, and each hole contains a rubber disc, or stopper, that holds the chain in position.
Well this rubber stopper was coming through the hole and rendering the bracelet useless…
Like so…
(That’s not the real bracelet, that’s a photoshopped image, but that’s exactly what it was doing. Coming out.)
And here’s the Sad Fact:
It can’t be repaired!
You can’t just push that rubber stopper back into the hole (using tweezers) and except it to work. It probably won’t. That’s because the stopper is now stretched, possibly torn, and certainly misaligned. The odds that you could somehow push it back in and make it work are slim.
So the only things we could do at this point are:
- Exchange it for another Bolo Bracelet
- Return it
- Send it back to the Factory for Fixing
- Sell her a Different Style of Bracelet
Because bolo’s (it seems), are not meant to last. And that’s sad, because I like the look of these bracelets.
Sure she might have been pulling the dangles wrong (You’re supposed to hold the clasp with one hand: a thumb and finger, and then gently pull the bracelet chain with the other hand to adjust the size). This sounds easy, but not when it’s on your arm. You only have one hand! So you either need someone else to put the bracelet on you, or you just kind of pull the ends and try to adjust it yourself (like she did).
Either option, NOT GOOD!
It makes me very leery about selling them anymore. I see big problems ahead. I have a feeling these bracelets will come and go QUICKLY… For as more and more of them break, and jewelers have to eat them, or have unhappy customers, they’ll stop carrying them.
So if you like this look as well, purchase a similar style of bracelet that will give you a similar look. Something with a real clasp, like the lobster clasp.
Cute Bracelets like these shown below…
These style of bracelets have real links, a real clasp, and are built to LAST!
You won’t have an issue with them.
Because in my book, bolos are the hottest fad right now…
But BOLO gets the BIG BOO-HOO!
Cheers! :)
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Hello
Thank you for the article. As a customer, I have a loose bolo bracelet that I have been looking how to fix, as it was a gift. I am sad to find out probably can’t be possible, without changing most of it.
Thank you anyway, the info was useful ;)
I regret buying a bolo! I was skeptical so I only spent around $100.
Cute but I do not want to constantly be tightening it back up.
Thank you publishing this, it was the only thing I could find looking for a fix to the problem.
No problem Wendy. I agree, I love the look, but they don’t and won’t last. :( -Richard
My husband bought me a gorgeous Levian Opal Bolo Braclet for Christmas, he paid over 1,000$ for it and I’ve worn it once. I don’t want to hurt his feelings and he asks all of the time why I don’t wear it, but truth be told I hate Bolo bracelets. I also have an Ever Us bolo braclet and I also rarely wear it. I had it on once and was wearing a long sleeved blouse, the bracelet got caught in the sleeve and if not for a friend finding it I would be out of another very costly piece of jewelry. Once I had it on and the chain part that hangs off got caught in the handle of a shopping cart. Im at a loss of what to do about both of these gorgeous pieces of jewelry. Its not fair to my husband who bought them for me to wear and they just sit in my jewelry box. Is there any kind of lock or safety chain I can buy so I can wear them
Hi Denise. Go see a local independent jeweler. More than likely they can put a safety chain on the bracelet, or even better, they may be able to remove the bolo end and just put on a regular lobster claw clasp instead. Then you can wear it and not have to worry about it. :) -Richard
What is a safety chain?
A small chain (see them at Amazon here) that connects to both ends of the bracelet (or necklace), that keeps it from falling off your wrist incase the clasp breaks.
I just repaired my bolo bracelet by Threading a piece of rubber band through the sliding mechanism. Made the sliding bead a Little harder to move. This will let me wear my bracelet for awhile. When that rubber band fails then I will take my bracelet to the jeweler and have them change it to a regular lobster clasp.