Please Note: All Material below, and in all my "History of Gear" webpages, is copyrighted, and no usage of my material is permitted unless explicit permission is granted by me, Bruce B. Johnson, owner of OregonPhotos.com. Much of the material below has been contributed by reader Jim K., and some by Monte Dodge...... Editors: Please contact me if you have interest in publishing....Others: if you were involved with one of the old-line, vintage gear companies and have a story to tell in these pages, please contact me soon.....Sponsors: if your outdoor company is interested in sponsoring this site, please contact me for details.
JanSport formed in late 1960s, and was contemporary with the early days of such well-known companies as Sierra Designs, North Face, and Frostline.. It was founded in Washington State in 1967. This company stands out in my memory for their very creative and unusual catalogs …The image below was taken in 1967 at Paradise Inn on 14,000 foot Mt. Rainier. Already the penchant toward originality shines out. Shown are two of the three founders, Murray Pletz on the left and his cousin Skip Yowell on the right. One wonders whether the third founder, Jan Lewis, was taking the picture! The label notes Seattle as the company's base. For a very recent picture of Mr. Yowell, please see page bottom.
The oft-told tale about the origin of the "JanSport" company name is this: Murray was an industrial design student and designed a backpack that used aluminum in its flexible frame. His girlfriend Jan Lewis helped with the sewing parts of the project such as the packbag. Then Murray entered his pack in a design contest sponsored by the Alcoa aluminum company and won the prize. Using the contest award as "seed" money, he formed a company on a shoestring budget and talked his cousin Skip into joining him. But there was a large initial gap in their talents, which was that neither knew how to sew! The story goes that Murray then asked for help from Jan, who was an interior design student at the University of Washington in Seattle. Murray made Jan an offer she couldn't refuse-- to name the company after her, AND to marry her if she'd join up and sew for them! (and Jan sewed and Murray did marry her, and the fledgling company was given a home above a Seattle transmission shop owned by Murray's very supportive father Norman Pletz).
Jan Lewis in 2000 was the Director of Development for the Company. JanSport is currently another of the VF Corporation holdings, along with North Face and many other outdoor and clothing big names.
JanSports' early catalogs were marked by a very fresh and personal approach. A favorite of the fledgling company was cover photography which featured one or more of the founders and their modern gear artfully pasted into historical photographs. Often the images seemed to be from the Alaskan pioneering era. In the 1980 catalog, for example, we find Jan and Skip having fun in an imaginary historical setting with reindeer herders of the Far North!
JanSports' catalogs also fequently feature extremely high quality photography showing products being worn by the founders and various employees. Images of the models in the 1979 "Cross Country" and the 1980 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 1979 "Cross Country" catalog. She was not being shown as a Company founder; in fact, she was unnamed and merely advertising one of the company's packs. The same was true even for famous mountain-climber Lou Whittaker, for example in the Fall-Winter 1977-78 catalog, pg. 15, where he appears wearing a frame pack but unnamed.
The Jansport Mountain Dome is certainly a notable innovation within the History of Gear. It was designed by Murray and marketed by the company in about 1971 and became very popular, some say even an Industry Standard...... However, Geodesic dome tents were to revolutionize things about four years later (click to see first geodesic tents).... Below is a picture of Monte Dodge's classic version of the JS Mountain Dome-- the 1975 "K2 Expedition Mountain Dome." K2 of course is the second highest mountain in the world, and this JS dome had several added features to make it rugged enough for severe Himalayan snow and wind storms.
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. Some regard the Alpine Phantom as one of the pinnacles of flexible frame packs ever made (picture will be posted soon).. On a more prosaic level, Jansport early in its course recognized the need for better packs for students, and has made quite a niche for itself in this area ever since, right up to the present. Students all over the World are proud to be seen wearing their Jansport book packs!
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...some liked this design and some did not... 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."
The Company has had several corporate owners. It was sold to its first corporate owner, K2 Corporation (of ski fame) in 1971-72. Some say that the original "flavor" of the Company changed to mainstream after the three original owners went through divorce and Murray leaving the Company circa 1980. In any case, since 1986, Jansport has been wholly owned by one of the giants, VF Corporation. Sales in 2004 were an estimated 300 million dollars.....
Of great interest-- Skip Yowell recently
released his long-awaited book about Jansport and his life in
January 2007. The title is typically JanSport-like in its flair:
"The Hippie
Guide to Climbing the Coroporate Ladder & Other Mountains:
How JanSport Makes It Happen." Friends who have read it say
that it's a good read and illuminating. Meanwhile, Skip's cousin Murray still resides in
the State of Washington.
In the image to the left, we see Mr. Yowell in 2007 (he's on the right). He is in the company of his old friend and fellow gear-pioneer George Marks, who was the co-founder of Sierra Designs (along with Bob Swanson). This image is courtesy of Mr. Marks (who is the man on the left).
Note about the North Face-Jansport link--- The North Face and JanSport are corporate cousins, both having been absorbed by "VF," (Vanity Fair), click here for details)
GEAR INNOVATION: Staying Abreast of the Electronic Age
Not a company to rest on its laurels, JanSport has very recently introduced a line of packs like no others ever seen in the History of Gear. These packs are manufactured pre-wired for the iPOD, and are named the "LiveWire" series. Recently, I've been sent one to test, and in a month or so I will post a short review here, but I can already tell you I'm liking it...
Please Note: All Material above, and in all my "History
of Gear" webpages, is copyrighted, and no usage of my material
is permitted unless explicit permission is granted by me, Bruce
B. Johnson, owner of OregonPhotos.com. ... Editors: Please contact me if you have interest
in publishing....Others: if you were involved
with one of the old-line, vintage gear companies and have a story
to tell in these pages, please contact me soon.
