It’s that time of year when students head back to school for another year of education. Parents want them to be organized and ready for classes, while the kids want to look their best with stylish new clothes and gear. One thing that has accomplished both of those goals was the Trapper Keeper.

The Trapper Keeper is a loose-leaf binder with plastic rings in the center that secure papers and folders. It has pockets on the inside of the binder and a wraparound flap that keeps it closed with Velcro. The style part came in the design on the front and back covers of the binder. By the late 1980s, Trapper Keepers featured bright colored patterns, pictures of sports figures or cute animals, and licensed images of characters from TV shows, movies, comics, and video games.

Created by the Mead packaging company, Trapper Keepers were popular from the time of their creation in the 1970s through the ‘90s. It was invented by Mead’s Director of New Product Development Jon Wyant who was tasked with creating an item that could easily be filed and protected in lockers and backpacks. The binder was sold with Mead’s pocket folders that they named Trappers, hence the name, Trapper Keeper. It was first tested in Wichita, Kansas in August 1978, receiving positive feedback from both kids and parents, and quickly selling out.

The product sold well for years, then had a bump in popularity with the Designer Series from ’88 to ’95. The volume of cover choices expanded significantly with Lisa Frank designs, psychedelic designs (during a ‘60s nostalgia phase), cartoon characters like Garfield, the “No Rules” line with aggressive sports and animal designs, video game characters, and more. The next wave from ’96 to ’99 was the “FuturoCity” line with futuristic cities and landscapes.

Trapper Keeper went through a design change in the 2000s when the Velcro was replaced by a magnetic closure, binder dividers were added, and it had a customizable front cover. The next wave had plastic straps that could fasten to notebooks, in addition to the folders and dividers, and they got the license for Star Wars and Hello Kitty. In 2021 a throwback version was available that was based on the original design.