Adult Coloring Is Causing A Global Pencil Shortage

Adult coloring has its pros: stress relief, Lisa Frank coloring books, finally getting to use high-quality colored pencils (you know, because of the adult budget and all). But, it also has its cons: namely, the fact that due to the rise in adult coloring, there’s now a pencil shortage.

Of course, for a colored pencil manufacturing company, this is one of those good kind of problems. High-end companies such as Faber-Castell have noticed a major increase in product demand. Nielsen reports that Americans spent $128.2 million on colored pencils in the last year—that’s a 47 percent increase from the previous year.

“Currently, we are running more shifts than usual in our factory in Stein, Bavaria in order to satisfy the global needs for artists pencils related to the coloring trend for adults,” Sandra Suppa from Faber-Castell told the Independent.

And it isn’t just Faber-Castell that’s noticing this change. Companies from Brazil to New Zealand are struggling to keep up with demand, too, the Independent reports.

So, if you’re into the idea of adult coloring, but don’t have your colored pencils just yet, you better get on that while supplies last. Literally. Because apparently, adult coloring is just too fun to miss out on. Go on and give it a try! The rest of the world certainly is.

[h/t: Mental Floss]