Today, in 1957, Wham-O, still a fledgling company, took the idea of Australian bamboo "exercise hoops", manufactured them in Marlex, and called their new product the Hula Hoop. (The name had been used since the 18th century, but till then had not been registered as a trademark.) The Hula-Hoop became the biggest toy fad in modern history.Twenty-five million were sold in four months, and in two years sales reached more than 100 million."Hula Hoop mania" continued through the end of 1959, and netted Wham-O US$45 million (US$346M adjusted for inflation to 2012). From Wiki.
