Rollerblades: The Wild $355M 80s Skate Craze
Rollerblades were invented in 1979 when Minneapolis hockey player Scott Olson modified an old single-line skate into a street-ready boot, and by 1988 his company’s Lightning TRS had captured roughly 75% of the entire inline skate market. Sales rocketed from $22 million in 1989 to $355 million by 1997 — then the fad collapsed almost…