Questionable Item of the Week: Friendship Bracelet for Men

There is a recent article about J.Crew's latest jewelry accessory for men: friendship bracelets. (Click here for original "Childhood threads with grown-up flair" article published on August 1, 2008 by Amy Scattergood in its entirety.) What I find interesting are the following two paragraphs of the article:

Jewelry designer Scosha Woolridge weaves natural-colored linen with diamonds and rubies and anchors the ends with 18-karat gold buttons. This fall, J.Crew is featuring striped friendship bracelets — inspired by '30s-era club ties — in its men's collection, each hand-made in London with hand-dyed linen and secured with an elegant metal buckle.

Of course, this is friendship bought and paid for: The J. Crew bracelet will be $150 (at jcrew.com), and Woolridge's pieces start at $270 (scoshanyc.com)....

In the image of this post, the "Jewelry designer Scosha Woolridge's bracelets in brown and blue with pink, and a J. Crew offering in gray and red." In my opinion, those bracelets don't look like they are worth $150+. I personally think those are outrageous prices for items any kid in summer camp can make for less than $2. I am also surprised that J.Crew thought their upscale male customers would consider purchasing this type of bracelet. (This bracelet seems like something that American Eagle or Abercrombie & Fitch stores sell for $30. Not so much what I imagined J.Crew's high-end Men's Collection offering its clients.)

What do you think? Do you think I am being overly critical about these bracelets? Do you think these bracelets are worth the price tag? Aficionados: will you purchase one of these bracelets from J.Crew for yourself? Aficionadas: will you purchase one of these bracelets for the man in your life? :)