How toy manufacturer PlayMonster helped engineer a Hacky Sack revival

Jonathan Berkowitz, a toy-industry veteran and CEO of PlayMonster, expected “a lot of success” after working with Wham-O — a toy company that also owns the Frisbee and the Hola-Hoop — to relaunch Hacky Sack in February. What Berkowitz didn’t expect was how quickly, and just how much, the small, round bags would become the new “it” toy for today’s teens.

This spring, as the school year wound down and the weather heated up, young people began buying the toys, officially called footbags, in droves. Kids and teenagers kicked around the products at recess and at the park. They uploaded viral videos of themselves or classmates doing tricks on social media. They borrowed footbags from their teachers, in a manner similar to library books. Local toy stores sold out of inventory; other shops began limiting daily purchases.

While “Hacky Sack” is trademarked, many people use the lowercase term as a shorthand for the product category. One morning, in late May, Berkowitz logged onto his computer and was shocked by what he saw. “I remember looking at Google Trends and seeing ‘hacky sacks’ just take off,” Berkowitz told Modern Retail in an interview. “It just started to explode.” Even today, from April 15 to July 15, Google searches for “hacky sack” in the U.S. are up 1,700% year over year.

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