Get sippy with it

Move over security blankets. Reusable water bottles are the emotional support companion that we can carry into adulthood.

BY CHARLIE RECCHIA

Water bottles — we typically think of them as soccer game necessities, a musthave for a hike or simply a way for us to cart beverages on the go. In recent years, more people carry them everywhere and have developed deep attachments to them.

Jennah Klein, an Alpine Shop employee, says that with sustainability trends on social media, water bottles have taken on an entirely different identity. This is especially true when it comes to reusable brands such as Hydro Flask and YETI. She adds that Generation Z is starting to buy these water bottles more as accessories and statement pieces rather than function.

That’s when the emotional support water bottle entered the chat.

The hashtag #emotionalsupportwaterbottle reached 196.9 million views on TikTok as of April. The videos flooding this hashtag include people showcasing their reusable water bottle collections and recommending which ones are worth the money.

You will stumble across popular audio clips of users saying phrases like, “Gorgeous, gorgeous girls have emotional support water bottles,” and “My non-negotiables are a straw, insulation and that it looks hot.”

MU student Ally Waltemyer is so devoted to this phenomenon that they have three emotional support water bottles. “I started carrying around an emotional support water bottle when I was a freshman (in high school) because of sustainability, and I had severe anxiety,” Waltemyer says.

Their favorite one to carry around is a bright-blue Simple Modern water bottle. Waltemyer not only uses their water bottles for school settings, but also in social situations so they can reliably keep themselves hydrated. It keeps them busy and stops them from bouncing their leg.

This reusable water bottle trend speaks to the sustainability goals of younger generations who want to stay hydrated while avoiding waste. But even though they are often touted as the most sustainable option, a reusable water bottle needs to be used about ev ery working day of a month to bring its environmental impact below a dis posable plastic bottle, according to the

Rettig says. “I can put it with ice in the morning, and it will still be there by the end of the day.”

Reusable water bottles also allow for creativity and individuality. Klein says she decorates her water bottle with stickers to show the “cool places that (she’s) been” and to look back on good memories.

Jen McIntyre, a kindergarten teacher at Cedar Ridge Elementary, has seen firsthand how the water bottle trend is spreading beyond Gen Zers. At Cedar Ridge, she has noticed that groups of fifth grade students are also carrying around Hydro Flasks decorated with stickers.

McIntyre is an avid TikTok user and hopped on the 2022 trend for Stanley Cups along with the rest of the internet. The features of the 40-ounce Adventure Quencher appealed to her, and now she uses it on a daily basis.

“I never have time to get drinks or do anything like that, so when I fill it up, it’s really cold, and then I also feel like I have quite a bit of water to last me throughout the day,” McIntyre says.

Although the company does not make water bottles, the founders of Colum bia-based Burnout Mugs also understand the importance of connecting creativity and utility in the temperature-controlled beverage container market.

“For my company (and) for (my) product, my goal is to try to make people enjoy life,” Burnout Mugs CEO Bill Ma says. Ma is also the chair of MU’s mechani cal and aerospace engineering department.

Burnout Mugs began with a coffee cup designed to cool down hot beverages to drinkable temperatures quickly. The company is comprised of engineers who utilize common rocket science heat-ab sorbing materials in a consumer item.

“You know, you drink coffee, or you drink Diet Coke, or you drink beer, and you should drink the right temperature,” Ma says.

Even as water bottles continue to evolve (we see you, Owala), many of us are still taking our day one emotional support bottle on a ride, denting them up along the way.