While the original student backpack came about organically in response to practical student needs, novelty backpacks that are made mostly with aesthetics in mind have become popular in more recent decades.
Now, in an age where schools are relying more and more on digital tools, designers are rethinking backpacks, creating smaller, sleeker bags with compartments for laptops and smartphones built in.
Contact us at letters time. Backpacks photographed at the Boston University Bookstore in By Elizabeth King. Related Stories. Already a print subscriber? JanSport has spent 31 years making backpacks for the mountain-climbing set, but its primary consumers today are the high-school and college students who use its packs to haul around books, lap-top computers and other gear.
Day packs are as hip as ever with teenagers, a trend that has allowed JanSport to flourish while attracting new competitors at the same time. Indeed, JanSport remains the largest backpack manufacturer in the world. But to stay one step ahead of competitors such as Eastpak Inc.
Bean Inc. And JanSport has been forced to make some tough choices, including its recent decision to shut down factories in the United States and shift most of its production overseas, where labor costs are lower.
Last fall, the firm shut down a factory in Burlington, Wash. JanSport still employs about people at its Greenville headquarters, where it produces T-shirts, sweatshirts and other apparel, which accounts for a small percentage of its sales.
The firm employs people at a distribution and warranty service center in Everett. Shutting down factories and firing longtime employees was one of the hardest decisions Delorey has made in the 10 years he's been president of JanSport, he said.
The move was unavoidable, he said. Today, JanSport, which is owned by Greensboro, N. Most of its competitors do, too. Johnson Worldwide Associates Inc. While competition has forced JanSport to cut costs, it has also motivated the company to innovate.
The firm conducts extensive market research to keep up with the changing tastes of to year-olds, its core market. Many teenagers carry their lives on their backs these days, Delorey said.
They want a pack that can hold books, a laptop and even in-line skates. In the catalog, for example, we find Jan and Skip having fun in an imaginary historical setting with reindeer herders of the Far North! Images of the models in the "Cross Country" and the Main catalog in particular seem to me to be portrait-quality, and can still be enjoyed as artful representations of the young people and culture of the Time. The image of Jan Lewis near page top was taken from the "Cross Country" catalog.
She was not named and was just advertising one of the company's packs. The same was true even for famous mountain-climber Lou Whittaker, for example in the Fall-Winter catalog, pg. It was designed by Murray and marketed by the company in the early 70s. It became very popular, some say even an Industry Standard. It came to market after K2 bought the company, so K2 needed to "sign on" to adding it to the JanSport product line. A gear rep was very helpful in this respect.
Roush had many connections and some design skills of his own. This all led to him helping with the tent, especially the flexible poles design and sourcing of them. Roush says he was present when the very first Mtn.
The dome design took off fast, users loved its ability to hold up to heavy snow loads, and soon it was outselling the classic A-frame mountains tents of the big makers However, says Roush, The North Face didn't like this and worked with Buckminister Fuller to bring to market three years later a true Geodesic dome tent, the Oval Intention. This revolutionized things in the tent world click to see first geodesic tents Packs: Jansport's initial entry into business was as a result of Murray winning an important design contest with a flexible frame pack design, and this innovation continued in the arena of framed packs, where JanSport gained a big foothold by being first to make frame packs sized for women and children, according to Murray.
In regard to technical packs, Roush again lent a hand, and a JanSport model named the Alpine Phantom became one of the pinnacles of flexible frame packs ever made picture will be posted soon.. On a more prosaic, but very profitable level, Jansport very early in its course recognized the need for better packs for students "book packs" , and has basically owned this niche ever since, right up to the present.
Students all over the World are proud to be seen wearing their Jansport book packs! Even in Europe where Eastpack dominates the bookpacks, JanSport is still popular. Sleeping Bag Design: Jansport may not have been among the true pioneers in sleeping bag design, but they definitely challenged the early Marmot bags in the category of unrestrained use of multi-colored and FUN shell materials see image below Shown is the Jansport "Brass Bed" series, which featured down tops paired with Polarguard bottoms.
This unusual design was meant to maximize the powers of down, while minimizing down's two main weaknesses-- compressibility under body weight, and poor performance when wet or damp I personally owned one for awhile, and eventually sold it because it was far bulkier than an all-down bag. I also found that while the Polarguard bottom was good for summer camping, for sleeping on snow it was not enough insulation, and one still had to carry a separate sleeping pad or suffer a night of poor sleeping-- "warm on top, and chilly on the bottom.
Murray comments about the circa catalog picture below: "I am in the photo you attached, as the person in the Brass Bed sleeping bag, while Jan is next to me in the Burley Boy sleeping bag. Phersumba Sherpa, nephew of Ghombu, is to her right, and Skip to my left [crouching]. Murray McCory is wearing one of the pack designs he is proudest of: the Alpine Phantom, models of which were used by Jim Wickwire in the Himalayas. The Company has had several corporate owners.
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