Scrape TV News Scrape TV On the Air

NEWS > BUSINESS >GLOW IN THE DARK TECHNOLOGY FALLS ON DARK TIMES

GLOW IN THE DARK TECHNOLOGY FALLS ON DARK TIMES

May 12 2008

Pasadena, CA – There was a period, however brief, in the 1980’s when it appeared as though the world was going to be alight all the time. Neon and glow in the dark everything had seemingly taken over the public consciousness plastered on everything from T shirts to hats to collectible stickers. Those hey days of glow in the dark pioneers though, have fallen away, leaving our world that much darker.

“There’s no doubt that the demand has not been what it once was,” said Joseph Enwright, owner of Light up the World. “When I started there was nothing, and then everything exploded and we were all living high off the hog. Now, not so much anymore. It’s a shame, there was real potential there.”

Enwright, one of the earliest manufacturers and retailers of glow in the dark products, is being forced to shutter the doors of the family business he began almost thirty years ago due to that decline.
“I suppose we in California had it a little bit easier than the rest of the country. We are all about sun and surf out here. It’s a little bit different in the East where it’s dark and rainy and snowy all the time. People are a little more cheery out here so we were able to hang on but it’s time now.”

Some manufacturers of the technology have adapted their business to the new market; airports commonly use phosphorescent paints to mark runways, and glow sticks have remained a mainstay. The days of T-shirts and hats being decorated though are long gone.

“It’s really a shame,” said Enwright. “There was a feeling for a long time that we were going to change to world. Like Bob Marley said, light up the darkness. It’s really a shame that didn’t happen, and now we have a much darker world.

With those glory days behind him, Enwright is moving on, hoping that someday perhaps his life’s work will come back into the world.
“I’m too old to go on now, but it’s like everything in life. You hope you make an impact, hope that you have an effect on people and maybe someday, somewhere down the road, people will see the light again. We can only hope.”

William Ashford, Business Correspondent

NEWS > BUSINESS >GLOW IN THE DARK TECHNOLOGY FALLS ON DARK TIMES

Scrape TV Home Scrapeipedia The Town of LaRue Scrape Store (coming soon)

Contact Editorial editor (at) scrapetv.com Website admin (at) scrapetv.com Jobs jobs (at) scrapetv.com Advertise advertising (at) thevirtualunion.com

This work by The Virtual Union is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Canada License Based on a work at scrapetv.com

All original content and scenarios Copyright ©2008-2011 The Virtual Union. All Rights Reserved. All images Copyright © original owners. All content herein should be considered rumour or truth based solely on your perspective. Privacy Policy - News Sitemap - Sitemap - Image Sitemap - About us