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MEMORIES:
misty jade remembers...I wish I had a picture of my old TrapperKeeper: A bright blue sky with a bunch of balloons, including ... More »
Posted on 08/20/08
PHOTOS:
As a part of the “personal organization” trend that hit it big in the 80s, teens and pre-teens around the United States were encouraged to do the same with the 3-ring bound keep-all… the Trapper Keeper. As a fad turned love-hate relationship, the Trapper Keeper has become an icon of the 80s to those of us that grew up during the Reagan years. If you didn’t have one, you wanted one, and if you had one, by the time Winter Break hit, you were probably a little ticked off that it was falling apart already. Alas, the pitfalls of plastic gadgetry!
The Trapper Keeper was a brand of loose-leaf binder designed to attract elementary to teenage attention during the 80s. Brought to us by Mead, the Trapper Keeper was too cool for the old-school snapping metal rings – it had sliding plastic rings. Though earlier versions of the Trapper Keeper came with snaps, later versions featured the much-easier-to-use Velcro. You know… the stuff that used to be on your tennis shoes. The now-nearly-extinct Trapper Keeper came complete with its own folders – Trappers. Trappers were unique in that they were connected in three areas to the binder, the spine, the bottom and the top, helping to prevent fly-away papers.
Now the “hate” part about Trapper Keepers. Remember the Velcro mentioned earlier? After a short period of time, the fuzz got too fuzzy to hold anything. Not to mention the pencil bag, which was usually fell apart within half a year. The folders couldn’t fold; after all, they were too full. The edges were starting to wear away on the exterior of the precious Trapper Keeper… And that sliding three ring bind system that was so cool – yeah it broke, too. Alas, to remember the good times is to remember the bad times.
Trapper keepers came in a variety of colors and designs, often featuring geometric or tropical designs, animals, cartoon characters as well as a number of other styles. Anyone could customize their Trapper Keeper by cutting a slit at the very top of the clear plastic exterior. Slide in your own pictures and you were good to go with our very original organizational masterpieces. For this reason, and many others, Trapper Keepers will carry a place in the hearts of 80s babies everywhere – one of the few remembrances of a childhood filled with neon colors, slouch socks and French-rolled cuffs.
