Fellowes Brands history

During the 1930’s, the Bankers Box Company slowly evolved from a regional to a national manufacturer as it benefited from a network of dealers who carried local inventories of file boxes for banks and businesses.

In 1932 Harry’s son Folger left college to help his father in the selling of the products.

In May 1938 Harry's sons, John E. and Folger Fellowes, joined the company, traveling to the West Coast on sales calls.

In 1956 the company moved from its awkward multi-floor manufacturing operation in Chicago to a new 30,000 sq. ft. factory and office in Franklin Park, Illinois.

In 1969, when third-generation Fellowes family member James began working for the company, total revenues were somewhere around $4 million per year.

By 1972 the company was a major manufacturer of office products.

By 1980 total revenues reached approximately $31 million.

In 1982 the company started selling, as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM), five general office shredders, which were manufactured by other companies, under their own brand name with moderate success.

Nevertheless, Peter Fellowes sensed the family call and joined his brother in the business in 1989.

The company shipped more than 1,300 interbranch shipments with a total weight in excess of 32 million pounds in 1990.

Computer accessories accounted for nearly 37 percent of the company's total revenue in 1994.

At the 1997 Consumer Electronics Show, the company introduced a handheld computer input device, called "Tracker." The device was a result of a joint venture between Fellowes and Fujitsu Takamisawa, a Japanese producer of high-end technology.

By May 1999 the company offered the industry's most extensive line of computer accessories, with roughly 350 unique products and more than 2,000 SKUs (storekeeping units) within 17 different product categories.

John Fellowes II, representing the 4th generation, had joined the family business full-time in 2001.