#79 - The history of your favorite school supply brands from the 80s and 90s!

Thank you so very much for tuning in to the Pop Culture Retrospective Podcast. This show is dedicated to the memory of my big sister Rebecca, a fan of all things pop-culture, particularly of the people, places, and things that defined the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s.  Welcome aboard this pop culture time machine, I'm Amy Lewis. 

This is episode #79 - The History of popular school supplies from the 80s and 90s.  On today’s show we will be taking a look back at Lisa Frank, Mead, Five Star, Trapper Keeper, Jansport and Crayola Crayons.  By the end of this episode you will be able to answer two very important questions - first out of the five brands that I mentioned, which one was dubbed “the world’s shittiest employer?”  You may be surprised by the answer.  The second question is, what is a leftola?  My sister not only obsessed over school supplies as a child, but she was also a successful teacher for many years so I know this episode would be right up her alley.  So, grab your assignment notebook, a number 2 pencil and your Northface backpack, here we go!  

Lisa Frank

The founder of the colorful company was born on April 21, 1955 in Michigan.  Her family lived in the Bloomfield Hills area, one of the wealthiest parts of the United States.  Her father worked in the automotive industry. Beginning at age 5, Frank took art lessons.  Every time they traveled when she was young, she always had coloring books and art supplies in tow.  She also attended private school and would later go on to study at the University of Arizona.  She started selling her paintings while in college so at a young age, she was honing her entrepreneurship skills.  During this time she was making her own jewelry with Native American People.  She would help these individuals sell their jewelry, taking materials to MI where they became popular.  She would then go on to start her own Jewelry business called “Sticky Fingers” which was plastic jewelry.  It was very successful and would later be sold in department stores like Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdale’s.  

In 1979, the company shifted out of the plastic jewelry business as it was too difficult to keep up with demand.  Instead, it was renamed Lisa Frank, Inc. and they focused on stickers.  The first design Frank made with her venture was the logo, which was a gumball machine.  Apparently her father had gifted her an antique gumball machine at one point so she used this as inspiration. Their first major order came from Spencer Gifts to the tune of a 1 million dollar sticker order.  Following stickers, LF expanded their offerings which would eventually include buttons, stationery, and what they are problem most well known for - school supplies. In 1987 when the company started selling school supplies, sales skyrocketed. During the 1980s and 1990s, LF designs could be found all over school supplies like backpacks, trapper keepers, folders and pencils.  You may remember her designs featuring a lot of animals like dogs, panda bears, dolphins, cheetahs and unicorns.  Each piece of merchandise was incredibly vibrant to say the least.  You may remember some of the infamous LF commercials, several of which featured a young Mila Kunis of “That 70’s show fame.” Mila Kunis in Lisa Frank commercial 1993

Frank has said that Hunter and Forrest are her favorite characters  - one is a tiger cub and the other is a rainbow-printed leopard.  Coincidentally they are named after her two sons.  

During the early days of the business, all of the art work was done using air brushes, markers, and acrylics.    In the late 1980s, they shifted to using computers.

The company was once dubbed the world’s shittiest employer according to a woman who moved to Tuscon and had considered applying there.  She said everyone she spoke with said how terrible it was to work there and that the turnover rate was outrageous.  

It’s kind of crazy to hear that working for LF would be so terrible.  In 1996, the company moved into a huge 320,000 square foot facility.  The offices there apparently have fireproof vaults to protect original art work.  Who wouldn’t want to work in a colorful and seemingly cheerful office?

Perhaps a lot of this had to due to Frank’s husband at the time, James Green.  He was the CEO of the company at one point.  He apparently had a significant substance abuse problem and was unfaithful to Lisa with one of their colleagues. Frank left working at the office for a time to raise her and Green’s two little boys. Hunter was born in 1995 and Forrest was born in 1999.  Apparently, this is when things really went downhill.   

Lisa Frank Incorporated had it’s peak between 1995-2005 and coincidentally 2005 was the year Frank and Green got divorced. At one point Frank won a court case against her ex-husband, he had to sell back all of his stocks to her, at a discount. As I mentioned before, Green was known by insiders as being a real jerk to work with.  There was a newsletter or memo that allegedly circulated around the office called “Frankly speaking” which described how to interact with Green and what would happen if they didn’t follow these guidelines.  During this peak there were many Lisa Frank brick and mortar stores.  

In 2013, just 6 of 500 employees remained with the company.  Some of this may be due to so many things being done on a computer and not by hand and also because the company stopped manufacturing their own creations.  By 2018, the Lisa Frank office building was for sale. Since production is all done outside of the business and because there are so many collaborations with the company and others like Reebok, makeup companies, clothing lines, etc. the need for a huge facility is no longer necessary. 

In 2021 Lisa Frank Inc. struck a deal with Urban Outfitters to sell vintage merchandise.  They also put together a documentary about Frank and her unique business. During the documentary, Frank appeared on camera but you could not see her face.  Apparently she likes to maintain some privacy at this point, but she did appear multiple times on camera in the 80s and 90s.  She mentioned during this interview that her dream has always been to have a Lisa Frank theme park.   Also, during this same year there was a renewed interest in Lisa Frank because her son took over as the Director of Business Development and he really pushed the idea of a LF lifestyle.  He currently runs the company’s instagram page which is pushing a million followers.  

More recently, Lisa Frank, Inc. has collaborated with companies like Pillsbury and Crocs when they’ve made throw back lines.  Lisa Frank Inc. may not operate like we remember, but it seems like she won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.

Up next, we have Trapper Keeper.  The coolest binder to ever be found in a locker.  1993 Mead Trapper Keeper "Two kinds of people" TV Commercial

The trapper keeper brand was started by E. Bryant Crutchfield.  In case you are not familiar with trapper keepers, they are essentially a fancier version of a 3 ring binder, with folders inside with a closure.  He launched this infamous notebook in 1978 with the company Mead and each one had a feedback card inside.  He told kids if they filled it out, they would get a free binder.  Market research was a HUGE part of Cruthfield’s approach.  He had learned a few years earlier through feedback from kids that more and more kids were in school in the 1970s and lockers were getting smaller.  He wanted to incorporate not only a binder but vertical pockets which was a crazy thought at the time, I’m not kidding.  Apparently, folders with vertical pockets were called Pee Chees which was short for Peachy Keen.  They were only sold on the West Coast and MEAD wasn’t sure if vertical folders would take off east of the Rockies. The reason for the interest in vertical folders you ask?  It’s because horizontal pockets are more likely to lose papers.   And another fun backstory from Trapper Keeper is the origin of the name.  During lunch where he and his colleagues were drinking Martini’s, the research and development manager said “Let’s call it the Trapper!” and since papers wouldn’t have much chance to fall out, they officially dubbed it the Trapper Keeper.  

Trapper Keepers have been incredibly popular since they came out.  So much so that even adults used them (and probably still do) for organizing recipes, record keeping, etc.  

During the third year, TK modified their design and shifted from a button closure to a velcro closer.  And from 1988-1995, they sold their “designer series” line with psychedelic and funky designs.  TK has also collaborated with well-known characters like those from the imagination of Lisa Frank and Garfield the Cat.  At one time a lot of teachers were not big fans of Trapper Keepers because they often had a lot of cheat sheets and conversion tables inside.  

As of 2022 - 75 million trapper keepers have sold.  Another brand that doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.  

Now we turn to the world of crayons, specifically, Crayola.  Crayola Crayons - 'Rock 'n Roll'  Did you know that Crayola is over 100 years old?  That’s right, they are!  The crayola specific crayons were first invented by a company called Binney and Smith in 1902 and they sold in 1903.  

Alice Binney was a school teacher and her husband, Edwin Binney created pigments to paint barns and car tires.   Edwin had actually started his company back in 1885 alongside a gentleman named C. Harold Smith.  

Alice and her husband had a goal of creating crayons because they were relatively expensive in the United States and had to be imported from other countries.  The first crayons ever were actually from Europe and were a combination of charcoal and oil.  Alice coined the term crayola by combining a the French words CRAIE meaning chalk and OLA from the word oleaginous meaning oily.  Crayola crayons were made from Parafin wax and color pigment.

Beginning in 1948, Crayola started a workshop training for art teachers.  The trainings focus on all of the creative stuff you can do with Crayola Crayons.  The trainings continue to this day!

In 1958, Crayola introduced the built in crayon sharpener a genius addition if I do say so myself.  How many of us out there wanted to make sure to get a pack with the sharpener?  I know I did.  

In 1977, Crayola acquired the rights to Silly Putty.  1978 marked the year that Crayola Markers debuted.  

Eventually, Crayola expanded their products beyond the standard box of Crayons.  For example, they make arts and crafts supplies like paint and chalk, erasable highlighters, color escapes aka adult coloring books, scribble pets, air brush and the all infamous washable markers. CABINET STORY.  In the 90s, the company released bold and neon colors for their markers, I’ll never forget how excited me and my sister were for these.  I think we got some in our stockings one year for Xmas and let me just say, coloring was never the same again.  Bold Color Crayola Markers are a true case study for 90s color schemes. They also introduced a product in 2002 that allows new crayons to be made out of old ones.  Did you know that leftover or broken Crayola Crayons are called Leftolas?

Crayola manufactures 3 billion crayons a year and there have been more than 200 colors for their infamous crayons since the company’s inception.  Major revisions to their colors have been made in 35, 49, 58 and 90.

Currently, the company is based in Philadelphia.  Crayola was been a division of Hallmark since 1984.  

Brand recognition for Crayola is 99% among US Households.  I guess that explains the results of the poll that I put out on both Twitter and Instagram.  I asked my followers if they are team Crayola or Team Rose Art?  

On Twitter the results were:  75% Crayola, 0% for Rose Art and 25% for I don’t care either way! On instagram it was 100% to Crayola.  I guess what I am trying to say is that this show is listened to by a bunch of Rose Art haters!  Side note - when purchasing our kids school supplies this year we decided to do it on the cheap and go to the dollar store - after all, our kids are just going to lose their school supplies on the first day or use up all of the tape in 5 minutes so no need to overspend.  And guess what kind of crayons they got?  That’s right Rose Art.  That take suckas!  Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

Moving on from Crayola and Rose Art, we will now discuss Five Star - Trapper Keepers wealthier and younger sister brand. 1993 Mead Five-Star Notebooks Commercial   Introduced in 1984, Five Star is known for their higher-quality school supplies.  Five Star is owned by MEAD.  In 1992, they introduced the first-ever zipper binder.  And just a few years later in junior high, everyone had or wanted a five-star zip binder.  Trapper Keepers were OUT and Five Star binders were very much in.  The cool thing at my school was to not only have one of these but to write all over it with whiteout.  For some reason, I liked to add the anarchy symbol to everything at this time, sort of like that infamous S design that everyone wrote and is the genius logo for the Generation S podcast, a good friend of the show.  I love that I added that to everything because I had no idea what that meant when I was 12 years old but apparently I didn’t need to know it meant disorder without authority.  During this time I remember them coming in bold colors like Navy Blue, Deep purple and Green.  In 2003, Five Star introduced a backpack with pockets coming out the whazoo and in 2021 they launched a study app.  

During my research I learned that Mead itself has been around since 1846. It was bought by a company called ACCO brands in 2012.  ACCO also owns At a Glance and Day Timer. Who knew?

We will end today’s show on a brand that I wasn’t initially going to discuss but I learned some information and found it so fascinating that I just had to share.  So, we are going to talk about JanSport! SuperBreak the Pack | JanSport  And yes, that was actually from a JanSport commercial. Seemed a bit odd to mention things smelling like parliaments even though the commercial is not that old.  Anyways.   JanSport dates back to 1967.  It all began with three friends Murray, Jan, and Skip. Murray and Jan were a couple. Murray had an engineering background and he decided he wanted to enter a design contest put on by an aluminum company.  He thought he should design an aluminum frame external backpack for outdoor adventures.  As the story goes, he allegedly told Jan, who was a talented seamstress, if she would sew the backpack prototype he would name the pack after her and other reports said if she sewed it, he would ask her to marry him. He even went so far as to buy her an expensive sewing machine.  Either way, he won the contest and thus JanSport, was born in Seatle, WA of all places.  

The packs were originally designed for outdoor adventures such as hiking and backpacking trips. The three co-creators were all really hoping their backpack business would get off the ground so that they didn’t have to get “real” jobs.  Jan would do a lot of the sewing (at least initially), Murray would work on designs and Skip, Murray’s cousin, did a lot of the sales and marketing.

In the late 1960s, college students started using the packs for carrying school supplies, so the inspiration for the packs morphing into school bags began.  The company created a unique catolog where they utilized historical-looking photos to help sell their backpacks.  Jan Lewis actually modeled the backpack in catalogs.  

In 1984, JanSport introduced the SuperBreak backpacks - the design we’ve come to know and love.  In 1990, they started adding the leather bottom to their packs.  More recently, the company has created packs that use recycled material.  

Murray left the company in the early 1980s, he and Jan sadly didn’t stay married.  Jan actually worked for the company up until 2005 when she retired. Skip sadly passed away in 2015, at the time he was VP of Global Public Relations.  He was a nature lover, an avid camper and apparently helped create the dome tent. 

Did you know that JanSport and the North Face make up 50% of the backpack market sales?  Perhaps part of that has to do with their promise. JanSport backpacks have a lifetime guarantee, they will fix or replace their backpacks if need be - no questions asked.  

I did not know any of this stuff about school supplies until I started researching this show.  I went down the school supply rabbit hole big time and I am so glad that I did!

I hope you have enjoyed this look back on school supplies, especially those that could be found at elementary, middle and high schools all across the country in the 80s and 90s.  My sister loved fall, school supplies, and school (at least when she was in elementary school) so just like every show, this one is certainly inspired by her.