JanSport is an American brand of backpacks and collegiate apparel, now owned by VF Corporation, one of the world's largest apparel companies.[1] JanSport is the world's largest backpack maker. Nearly half of all small backpacks sold in the United States are produced by JanSport and its sister brand The North Face, also owned by VF Corporation.
History
Murray Pletz (who changed his name to Murray McCrory in the early 1980s),[2] an industrial design student, designed a backpack that used aluminum in its flexible frame. In January of 1966, Murray Pletz bought his girlfriend, Jan Lewis, a $180 sewing machine to sew the backpack. Pletz entered the finished backpack project in a design contest sponsored by the Aluminum Company of America and won the prize.[3]
Using the contest award money,[3]