How School Backpacks Have Changed Over the Last Few Decades

From the early part of the 20th century to at least the 1930s, kids fastened their books and notebooks to a leather strap, perhaps adapted from a belt, and slung it over their shoulder.

As any golf caddy can tell you, carrying objects with a leather strap on your shoulder for prolonged periods cuts into the shoulders and can affect circulation and nerves. These types of straps can lead to tingling, numbness, and weakness in the arms and hands.

When students weren’t carrying their books in their arms, they put them in duffel bags, gym bags, squared leather bags, or satchels.

Duffel bags and gym bags can carry many objects and some have shoulder straps, which can put stress on the shoulders and cause circulation problems.

The first zippered backpack was created by Gerry Cunningham, founder of the Colorado-based outdoor apparel company Gerry Outdoors. This backpack, first made with canvas, is considered to be the model for the modern school backpack. Zippered compartments allowed for better access.

Cunningham would later replace the canvas with nylon — used extensively during WWII for parachutes and tents — which is stronger and more durable. The downside to using nylon is that some people are allergic to nylon and can develop a rash called textile dermatitis.

The backpack that popularized the item was made by the Seattle-based company JanSport in the late 1960s. It was intended for use by student hikers, but other students adapted it for carrying books and supplies.

The bag,however, wasn’t designed to heavy books, causing physical strain on students. Eventually, the company created a sturdier bag.

Some school districts are requiring transparent backpacks because of security reasons. The first of these plastic backpacks were created in the 1960s.

Many plastic backpacks, however, are made with PVC, a toxic plastic with dangerous chemical additives such as cadmium and phthalates.

Backpacks with wheels were first created in the late 1960s. They were well received by business and vacation travelers, and many students use them.

But some schools look askance at backpacks with wheels because people can trip over them.

In California, a student helped advance the backpack evolution in the early 1970s. Gary Kirk was an outdoorsman who founded Caribou Mountaineering.

When he was a student at Chico State, he could not find a bag to hold his books, so he asked a seamstress, Marcia Briggs, to make one for him. They used textbooks to measure the square shape to fit books in the backpack, which they called the Cricket.

Over on the East Coast, Maine-based outdoor apparel company L.L. Bean created what became known as the Book Pack, which eventually became the company’s biggest seller. The item was modified to create more room to accommodate text books. The backpack was made of water-resistant ballistic nylon, adjustable foam shoulder straps, and an organizer pocket for pens and pencils. The drawbacks to the backpack were broken zippers and inner seams that could unravel and get caught in the zipper.

Because of concerns that students are overloading their backpacks, L.L. Bean and the American Occupational Therapy Association launched a joint safety campaign, mailing out information with backpacks. Groups such as the Maine Occupational Therapy Association hold awareness days to educate children, parents, and school officials about health impact overloaded backpacks have on students.

High-end brands such as Gucci and Prada are catering to aspiring fashionistas. The tony fashion labels create their backpacks from materials such as leather and canvas. Leather is a luxurious material but it comes with a health warning.

Some studies indicate that leather products may contain elevated levels of the toxic chemical hexavalent chromium, an allergen that can lead to skin reactions like eczema.

Backpack makers, including L.L. Bean and JanSport, began making bigger backpacks in the late 1980s, with deeper pockets and more compartments.

However, health experts cautioned against students putting too much weight in one compartment. Multiple compartments helped distribute weight more evenly.

Designers are creating sleeker backpacks in response to the transition to the digital age. Students are carrying fewer books and need appropriate storage for their devices.

Though backpacks might be getting sleeker to accommodate technology, the weight of objects such as laptops in backpacks has caused some concern among health experts. They’ve found that backpack loads carried by students during a school day are as much as 40% of their body weight, well above the suggested level of 10%, according to the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

For the students who plan to step way up in technology class, the high-tech backpacks of today seem like the backpacks of tomorrow.

These backpacks feature padded laptop/tablet pockets, charging ports, durable materials like ballistic nylon, and smart sensors.