Animal Rubber Bands were designed by Haneda & Ohashi of Passkey Design in Tokyo in 2002. They were awarded Best Design for 2003 at the Japanese National Competition; the Toyota Prius had won the previous year. "Ours are the original animal rubber bands and come in three styles: pet, zoo and dino," said Carol Shapanka of Eastern Accent International. " They're made of silicone and produced and packaged in Japan. Japanese products are produced under strict standards. Factory conditions and the welfare of the workers is just as important as the products coming out of the factory.” The boxed set comes with 24 pieces in a sturdy snap box. The cards have one of each of the pet, zoo or dino animals. Launch date for Animal Rubber Bands: 2002. Launch date for Dinos: 2007.
— TDmonthly Magazine first reported on Animal Rubber Bands by Eastern Accent on July 27, 2005; one store manager compared their popularity to that of Ty's Beanie Babies. They had also been featured in a 2002 New York Magazine "Best Bets" article.