Like Whatever Gen-X
Remember the 1980s and 1990s and all things Gen-X. Take a stroll down memory lane, drink from a hose, and ride until the street lights come on. We discuss the past, present, and future of the forgotten generation. From music to movies and television, to the generational trauma we all experienced we talk about it all. Take a break from today and travel back to the long hot summer days of nostalgia. Come on slackers, fuck around and find out with us!
Like Whatever Gen-X
Get Your #2 Pencils Ready
Step into the weird and wonderful world of Gen X nostalgia as Nicole and Heather take you on a journey that begins at the Philadelphia Oddities and Curiosities Expo and transforms into a heartfelt exploration of the school supplies that shaped our youth.
The adventure kicks off with Heather in her element among taxidermy, preserved specimens, and macabre collectibles, while Nicole good-naturedly tags along. Between the mice dressed as ballerinas and a coveted $350 diaphanized octopus, Heather manages to score her perfect find: a tiny decapitated piglet in a jar for just $20. Their contrasting reactions to the expo perfectly illustrate the spectrum of Gen X sensibilities—some of us embraced the weird, others observed it from a comfortable distance.
Their conversation naturally evolves into a deep dive into the back-to-school memories that defined our generation. Remember when a Trapper Keeper cost just $4.85? Or how Lisa Frank's psychedelic designs weren't just decorations but emotional armor for kids seeking self-expression? The hosts unpack the cultural significance behind these seemingly simple objects, revealing how they functioned as identity markers in a pre-digital world.
From the iconic footwear that shaped our style (and possibly ruined our backs)—Vans, Tree Torns, and those plastic jellies—to the transformative power of Underoos that made us feel like superheroes beneath our everyday clothes, each item tells a story about belonging, status, and self-discovery. Perhaps most nostalgic of all is their exploration of the 1980s sticker craze, when adhesive paper became social currency and carefully curated sticker albums were treasured possessions.
Whether you collected scratch-and-sniff stickers, drew on your canvas sneakers, or saved for weeks to buy the perfect Benetton bag, this episode will transport you back to a time when our identities were shaped by the things we carried to school. Join us for this celebration of Gen X childhood—and maybe share your own memories of your favorite school supplies on social media @likewhateverpod.
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It was all rad and no one knew me. Like you know, it's like whatever. Together forever, we're never gonna sever Stopping and sharing our stories. Whatever We'll take you back. It's like whatever.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Like Whatever a podcast for, by and about Gen X. I'm Nicole and this is my BFFF, heather Hola, so we actually did something this week. We did, and it was fun, so much fun. Heather was in her glory.
Speaker 1:Loved it.
Speaker 2:For a change of pace. I was the odd man out.
Speaker 1:We were gonna go live, but nobody else was, and we're not like that. They weren't even taking pictures of anything.
Speaker 2:No, like I saw one girl run up and take a picture of the mice in the ballerina outfits. Those were cute, they were cute and she was like oh my god. And she whipped out and took a picture, but nobody else. But we were also there with a bunch of goths and you guys aren't really into pictures, so that's true although I do have to say it did come to my attention that I was probably the tannest goth there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I hate that that was embarrassing, it was embarrassing, I was embarrassed for you, I know, because my chest is not it's bright white, but my arms I know it was. We should probably tell people where we were.
Speaker 1:Oh, we were at the Philadelphia Oddities and Curiosities.
Speaker 2:Expo. I think it's like a traveling troupe. It is Because they had a long calendar of what cities they're going to be in. Yeah, I mean a lot of dead stuff. It was a lot of dead stuff yeah, I mean a lot of dead stuff. It was a lot of dead stuff. This, this part of this part of the podcast right here, did not have to worry about spending any money because there was not anything there that I really wanted.
Speaker 2:The other half of the podcast, however, could have bought everything everything in the place yeah, I like dead things in jars but watching her be happy and in her glory and oohing and aahing. I was like ewing and oohing but she'd be like, oh, look at this dead thing in a jar. I'd be like, oh, I'm good Thanks. Oh yeah, that's nice Dead stuff, but she did buy the best thing ever. I did buy the best thing ever, but she did buy the best thing ever. I did buy the best thing ever.
Speaker 1:So we walked around and hit all the like a beginner run through.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, kind of get a feel for the field.
Speaker 1:And then we walked around again, and and again, and again.
Speaker 2:We walked around for three hours.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's hard to choose one thing yeah, but then she took me for mexican, so I was good. Yeah, so the one guy at the one booth had on a little spinny thing like I like dead things in jars, I mean, I like dead things posed also and I learned a lot about that too.
Speaker 2:If it's not clear, it hasn't been done properly.
Speaker 1:Yes, so see, I paid attention um, I'm still gonna not ever live without that octopus, octopus it was stunning, it really was.
Speaker 2:I would have taken that it was gorgeous.
Speaker 1:Um, so yeah, basically it's a lot of taxidermy, and not just taxidermy, but taxidermy posed as well, as she said, mice as ballerinas. That's the kind of stuff I'm into dead things. I was looking for coffin nail jewelry and I did not find any, so I'm going to have to go on Etsy now.
Speaker 2:I'm 99% sure there was none there, because by the end I think we had pretty much seen everything at every booth um, but what I did find and we had, we went to the booth and we did a little spinny.
Speaker 1:There was like a little carousel that had tiny things in tiny jars and they were in my price range, yes, and I was looking, I was looking through them and I spotted one that was a it had a tag on it so everyone trigger warning if you get weird about dead stuff. You're gonna wanna fast forward. It was a tiny decapitated piglet it was in a little jar.
Speaker 2:Yes, like a wee little piglet like the end of my pinky finger, like from the first knuckle up.
Speaker 1:That's how tiny it, but you could see its tiny little piglet face yeah yeah, and so I looked at it and it was only twenty dollars, which I mean, really, come on like, how do you not sell a decapitated piglet for more than twenty dollars?
Speaker 2:and so I walked around the rest of the day listening to I need to sell a decapitated piglet for more than 20 dollars.
Speaker 1:And so I walked around the rest of the day listening to I need to get that decapitated little piglet so I did go back and I did get the decapitated piglet and the guy seemed pretty excited that someone bought the piglet he really was and he said it.
Speaker 2:it wasn't even on purpose, it just kind of popped off. And then we made jokes about mom, I had a baby and it had popped off and such but yeah, we couldn't believe it was still there.
Speaker 1:So I have now. I am now the proud owner of a tiny decapitated piglet. She is so happy about it. Then I also bought a muskrat skull with a pink hat on it and a black bow A black bow which I don't On a little pedestal. It's amazing, it is. We also saw, which I am now going to try and replicate, which I have now purchased almost all of the things to replicate.
Speaker 2:This was actually something I thought was cute, as long as I don't think about what it is, it is it was. Alice in Wonderland-y.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was teacups and saucers with dried flowers and rabbit ears Like real rabbit ears. So cute.
Speaker 2:They were kind of cute. They were cute, they were cute.
Speaker 1:So I have now procured some rabbit ears, which are all right. I should have probably set it up top. All of these things are ethically sourced, and by ethically sourced unless you're a vegan, and then some are not ethically to your ethics right right, like the, the piglets and, uh right, the rabbit ears are meat rabbits, um, but most of the other animals are ethically ethically sourced.
Speaker 1:They're usually from breeders that have lost animals, or a lot of them are in with rescues and stuff like that, and it is animals that are already dead, some of them.
Speaker 2:They just pull the dead carcasses off to the side of the road I think we even found out, or we discussed, that the piglet when they slaughter, yeah, pigs. If the pig was pregnant, yes, then that's where those, those could potentially because it was tiny, tiny, like it had to be I mean I thought it might have been a teenage pig having an abortion.
Speaker 1:I just wanted to go back to school. I don't know, I don't know, maybe I don't know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was a really good time. It really was, like I said, it was pretty good for me because I got to spend the day with Heather.
Speaker 1:I got to actually see her happy, which isn't something you see very often. I got to dress the way I want to dress, yeah, and blend right in and nobody stared at me, I didn't have to spend any money so and you got to see cool stuff, yeah, but back to this octopus so you have to know about this.
Speaker 2:I would have bought the octopus the octopus it's.
Speaker 1:It was in a jar, um, and it had it was. What's the process called? Starts with a d diaphyzed, it was a, so it was a diaphanized octopus and it was in like a soda bottle, like a you should probably explain what that d word means oh, that is the.
Speaker 1:I'm sure you have all seen it. It's where they're like neon colors and it's they remove all the. They remove all, like the flesh and all of that, and it's injections in so that all their blood vessels are showing and all that. So this was great was green like a teal, green, blue, like a sea. See, it was darker than that, so like a, a turquoise, I would say no, no, it's more green, yeah, but not green yeah, it was like a green blue anyhow it was like Heather's hair color.
Speaker 1:I know it's fading um, and it was in like at. The bottle was like, uh, almost like a soda bottle, but heavier on the bottom and then tapered up. And then the octopus was like in it and it just curled up just perfect on the bottom. And if you could see my hands right now I just showed you.
Speaker 2:I'll describe this like yeah, the like body part of the octopus was kind of laying in the bottom, but not like just laying there. It looked good. And then the way the tentacles kind of came up and wrapped around, that was like the perfection of it all and it was crystal clear.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like crystal clear it was really beautiful it was beautiful, and they had it lit from underneath, so it was but. I did not have 350 and I should not spend $350 on a dead octopus.
Speaker 2:But if she ever wins the lottery there will be signs.
Speaker 1:You will know, because I will have bought that.
Speaker 2:A lot of dead birds there A lot of dead birds A lot of dead birds Ducks.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's because baby ducks die a lot.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, baby ducks and baby chickens, the baby duck stuff was kind of cute too if you didn't think about what it was.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they die a lot just naturally, like duck farms and stuff. My sister had chickens and the babies would die all the time just because they don't know how to take care of them.
Speaker 2:Oh.
Speaker 1:Not the people that own them, but the ducks.
Speaker 2:They're all bred for domestic, domestic, so they're not wild.
Speaker 1:Oh okay, so they don't really know the instincts? Yeah, gotcha, they don't really know what to do, and so they die. They just know how to lay eggs. Yeah, they don't know what to do with them once they got them and we saw a contortionist.
Speaker 2:Um yeah, she just squeezed herself through a tennis racket. I could probably could have done that I, I think I could have. You just got to push the fat in all the right spots and you got it, yeah, but still kind of cool. They had a little freak show side show. They had the little wooden things with the faces cut out. Heather would not take her picture with me.
Speaker 2:We actually dodged that part of the expo for a long time because she was afraid I was gonna secretly get her in there somehow. She's gonna hit me over the head for a price.
Speaker 1:They had taxidermy classes I know and I think it was a raccoon.
Speaker 2:Next time yeah, so if you happen to see that we we just found it on facebook tickets were like 10 bucks a piece. It wasn't a big deal to get in. Yeah, check it out. It's all over the country, yeah.
Speaker 1:The Oddities and Curiosities Expo.
Speaker 2:It's pretty cool, yes, so if you're into dead things, yeah, yeah, check it out. Yeah, a lot of people carrying around like dead foxes draped over their head, their shoulders is draped over their head. At their shoulders, um, lots of like wildlife heads, which that doesn't do anything for me. I grew up with a hunter for a stepfather and my son-in-law. Now they have deer heads and geese and ducks and all kinds of taxidermied stuff hanging around their living room. So, uh, yeah, we're gonna steal it and sell it because it's worth a lot, a lot. Yeah, he can just kill another one, yeah, but yeah, so that was a fun day. The day before that, I went to the Caribbean Festival, or Caribbean, however you choose to say it However you like to say it.
Speaker 2:That was in the local city that I live in Lots of yummy food trucks, lots of scantily clad dancing music. It was amazing. I loved it. And this weekend is the Latin Festival in the same place, so I'm going to get cultured up this week. Get you some culture, that's right, and I will be stopping at every food truck in the Latin Festival. Caribbean you know I love rice and beans. Choose some culture, that's right, and I will be stopping at every food truck in the Latin festival. Oh yeah, caribbean you know I love rice and beans, but there's a lot of like ox and jerk and other things I don't eat. I probably would have liked the fish, but I just got because there was a stand with Puerto Rican food, so I just got empanadas. They were easy to carry around and eat. Well, that's fun. Yeah, it was fun.
Speaker 1:I don't have plans for this week.
Speaker 2:I don't think I feel like I do, but I don't. I feel like that every weekend.
Speaker 1:now we're gearing up for a mail count. Boo, boo, yeah, tomorrow's my day off, and then it's my last day off for like three weeks.
Speaker 2:And is it nationwide Yep? All right, be kind to your postal workers. Rural, it's not city.
Speaker 1:It's just rural carriers.
Speaker 2:They're going to go through hell. I remember as a small child my mom. She was a rural carrier in mail counts.
Speaker 1:My mom she was a rural carrier in mail counts. It depends, it's how we get paid. So it decides we do them every six months and it decides how we get paid for the next six months.
Speaker 2:So it's a lot of stress, and it's not the only thing, I think. During mail counts, I not only had to take care of my sister and put dinner on the table, but also make sure my sister got to bed, because it's a long day. So that's how I remember that it's a lot of work.
Speaker 1:We can't leave the office until later because they have to count everything and it just oh yeah. They're literally. I remember that when she was a literal master, yes.
Speaker 2:When she was postmaster. I remember that part of it.
Speaker 1:It's a literal count. So yes, it's a literal count.
Speaker 2:So it sucks, yeah, so be kind. If your mail's a little late. Don't get your panties in a bunch. Yeah, you'll get it eventually.
Speaker 1:You will, and it's all just junk now anyway, yeah, I know Do you really need it, that bad who still uses paper mail. Like seriously, I actually have something I have to. I need to go.
Speaker 2:I'm a terrible mail person because I don't check my own mailbox, and I found out today that I need to be checking because everybody in the office got something and I need to. If I ever actually need a stamp, which is super rare, I just have to go to the post office and buy one, because I probably have stamps somewhere, but I use them so infrequently.
Speaker 1:I keep them on me just in case. Yeah, but you're a postal employee. We sell them a lot. You're supposed to have old ladies love stamps yeah, writing checks, yeah, they buy they buy a lot of stamps actually bills by check my mother the other day. God rest her soul. She's not dead. God help her soul. She hands. She says I have a letter that I need you to mail and I said, oh, did you need a stamp? And she was like.
Speaker 2:Is it to her pen pal? No?
Speaker 1:I don't even it was some bill. She still pays her bills with checks.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:And I said, do you need a stamp or something? And she was like no, it has a stamp on it. And I'm like Put it in your mailbox.
Speaker 2:Do you have a?
Speaker 1:mailbox. I know you have a mailbox. I've seen it. Well, can't I just give it to you?
Speaker 2:Safe third trip down the driveway. Sure, mom, I'll take it. I was in a training today on one of my coworkers who was close to retirement, so she's a little bit older than me. She was bored so she busted out her checkbook register and she's balancing her checkbook. I was like I didn't even know people did that anymore, I never did that even when I had a checkbook, I mean I did it. It didn't mean anything, but I tried. That's funny. I guess you don't have to do that anymore. Yeah, but people do.
Speaker 2:It all pops up I actually think they might still do it in schools, because I sit in meetings for the kids I work with and they're like oh well, they're in. You know I forget what the math is called, but it's. It teaches you more of like real world math rather than algebra and geometry. And they often say they teach you how to balance a checkbook. Hey, they teach you how to balance a checkbook, and I don't know if that's just them saying it because that's what they used to teach, or if they really still teach kids that, which is absolutely insane if that's what they do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you don't need it. Yeah, I couldn't even tell you the last time I had a checkbook.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't have any checks and there are still places that demand checks. Yeah, it's happened to me. I can't remember Like direct deposit, I think for work Wanted a blank check and I'm like I don't have checks, yeah, and now they're really expensive because nobody buys them. I'm like I'm not paying 50 bucks for a box of checks. I can give you one for my direct deposit.
Speaker 1:Checks, poor checks. Yeah, remember when you could write a check and then hope you got the money in the bank before when you went to the grocery store the good old days well, if I take, if I go to the grocery store on Thursday and write the check, then it won't even go through they can't even deposit it.
Speaker 2:I'll go to the bank and deposit my check I won't go through till monday or tuesday fingers crossed.
Speaker 1:So I got a couple of days there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yep can't do that now. That's where our bad um budgeting habits started all those years ago. That's where it started. Learn to work the system, yeah all right.
Speaker 1:All right, we've gone on for far longer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I don't know the topic this week. I know I didn't tell her, well as of yesterday, we weren't gonna have a topic. She's like we're just gonna talk.
Speaker 1:I'm tired, I don't, I don't I had, I have had, I don't know. I had the greatest day ever at the beginning of the day with my karma was like no, not today, bitch.
Speaker 2:And then we let you have fun. Now it's me in the face.
Speaker 1:So so and I know what you're all thinking why would you wait until sunday when you record on tuesday, fuck?
Speaker 2:you, oh my god, a lot of times on tuesday I am crazy.
Speaker 1:She works from home.
Speaker 2:I can't I have to do it sunday, or mond I usually have it in my head and I'm like I'm going to do it this weekend, this time no, but I work best under pressure. I always have when I went to college, saving work until the very last minute, even at my work. Now I do much better when I'm on a timeline.
Speaker 1:Me too.
Speaker 2:Like a really close timeline.
Speaker 1:That's why I just had to turn. We have these things called edit books and it's a list of all your addresses and the names of the people who live at that address and whether it's vacant or whatever, and we have to turn. We're supposed to turn them in once a month but because of the mail count.
Speaker 2:we needed them to get and I waited until like last week. Yeah, I'm a hella procrastinator, for sure, but it's in, yeah so I'm good exactly, I'm actually kind of excited about this mail count.
Speaker 1:I'm really hoping that my route goes up.
Speaker 2:I hope so too and you can buy more bunny ears.
Speaker 1:I know if you all want to buy a bunny ear teacup. Holla I got.
Speaker 2:I got bunny ears coming yeah, oh, speaking of which, find us on all the socials at like whatever pod. Obviously, listen to us where you find, listen to podcasts, and you can email us if you would like some of Heather's but I'm stealing her bit. If you would like some of Heather's Alice in Wonderland-y real taxidermy, bunny ears in a teacup with cute little flowers, they really were cute then email us at likewhateverpod.
Speaker 1:Or if you want to go to buymeacoffee likewhatever at buymeacoffeecom, you can put money in there for me to buy the octopus. We could crowdsource me having the octopus. And then I'll take pictures of it so you all can see it.
Speaker 2:Yep, and you can brag to your friends that you helped this girl.
Speaker 1:you don't know buy a dead octopus.
Speaker 2:It'd be awesome. Yep, you should do that, okay.
Speaker 1:So let's fuck around and find out about going back to school. Oh my gosh, I love it. It's that time of year.
Speaker 2:Oh, I was one of those nerds that was always excited to go back to school.
Speaker 1:I liked the stuff, yeah, but I didn't want to go back to school, yeah. Well, we had very different experiences. We did, and that's why this is going to be so much fun.
Speaker 2:My school life was better for me than home life, and home life was better for you than school life, because everybody just left me alone at home.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was allowed to come home and just go to my room, yeah, and stay there and then go to bed, which I did at 9 pm. Sounds like my youngest. Really, 9 pm Sounds like my youngest.
Speaker 2:Really, oh my gosh, all she did was stay in her bed. Oh, when she lived with me, wow.
Speaker 1:Okay, she loves the bed. So this is going to be fun, because my back to school is different, because I wore a uniform also.
Speaker 2:Oh no, school shopping. We did go back to school, we did For uniforms.
Speaker 1:No, well, sometimes yes, but they came in the summer. Like one, the kindergarten through sixth grade wears a jumper in one color. Why one color?
Speaker 2:No idea.
Speaker 1:Oh no, fifth grade, and then sixth, seventh and eighth grade has the same colored skirt and shirt, and then, when you go into the high school, it's a completely different outfit, for whatever reason, I have no idea.
Speaker 2:Man speaking of saying stuff that's really inappropriate. I am just not going to say it. All right. All right, I'll say it and you can cut it out. Were they color coding for the pedophiles? Yes, I think so. That's all I can think. When you said it, these ones are up to age 10.
Speaker 1:The little ones were blue and white it was christian I wasn't christian after all I wasn't okay, back to the show. Okay, um, yeah, so I had to wear a uniform yeah, and you probably ordered them from school too.
Speaker 2:At least kids that wear uniforms now can go to like go buy the khaki pants, although I don't think schools around here do uniforms anymore. I think that fell by the wayside. I know Old Navy has uniforms. Yeah, and that's where most people get them, because they'd have the Oxfords in, like white or blue, and the khaki pants. But now most schools have gone pretty loose on their clothing, dress codes, right, which I like, like, I see, because teenage girls I mean.
Speaker 1:It's your fault if yeah, why don't we teach our teenage boys not to ogle our teenage girls?
Speaker 2:And our adult men.
Speaker 1:And our adult men? Why don't we teach the boys and the men to?
Speaker 2:behave Because they look freaking adorable in their little yoga pants and their little half shirts.
Speaker 1:It's not a girl's fault. You should be able to wear whatever the hell you want. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And you look good in it. And what are you supposed to wear Sweaters and baggy sweatpants just because you're a girl and you don't want boys to have to worry about how they're looking at you teach your boys yes, yes yes, we should stop saying girls shouldn't wear that everywhere and say girls boys shouldn't rape yeah how about that?
Speaker 1:exactly don't touch anything if, unless somebody says it's okay to touch it.
Speaker 2:Exactly, learn consent don't get us going on yet. Fun topics today. You know how that goes.
Speaker 1:So the Trapper Keeper was invented in the late 70s.
Speaker 2:I don't think I ever had a Trapper Keeper.
Speaker 1:I have one right now that I keep my. It's actually I'll get to it. I want one. The Trapper Keeper was invented in the late 70s by John Wyant I didn't know it was that old Director of New Product Development at Mead, acting upon a request by E Bryant Crutchfield, a marketing executive at Mead, for a locker item that would allow folders to be easily removed for their use in class, yet protected from falling out accidentally. It got its name because it was sold in combination with pocket folders designed by mead called trappers, which differed from other pocket folders in that the pockets three sides connected with the bottom outside edge and top, as opposed to the bottom outside edge and spine. If you remember, meads has like the little corner tuck in.
Speaker 2:And they would also a lot of times have the three hole punch thing, in the middle of the folder and folders were the glam of school supplies back then, like even if you only got them in different solid colors, getting to choose which color was for which class, and oh my gosh, it was a huge deal. And you just totally gave me an idea, because I'm not an organized person, so that is. My biggest issue at work is that I'm kind of good but I have to keep it minimalistic, because if I start trying to do too many things, things get lost. But a trapper keeper would be perfect for all the things I need to carry around with me, I have one for my, and then I can be the retro.
Speaker 2:That's where I keep my stamps. Employment counselor. Yeah, I'm getting one. Because, they still sell them, right? Yeah, did they make a. I'll wait. Thank you, stop giving away my shit. I'm sorry, I'm excited, damn it. You're giving away my shit. I'm sorry, I'm excited, damn it. We talked about your stuff. Now I want to talk about my stuff. Oh my.
Speaker 1:Oh my, the design prevented papers from falling out of the trapper's pockets when it was closed. Trappers were three-hole punched so that they could be put in any three-ring binder, including a trapper keeper. Oh, wichita Kansasansas was chosen. I forgot the period there. Wichita kansas was chosen as the initial market for august of 78 trapper folders came in three colors red, blue and green with a suggested retail price of you all might want to sit down here, especially if you have kids that you are currently shopping for the retail price of 29 cents. The trapper keepers had a. Now, this is another thing that when I read this, I was I got mad about.
Speaker 2:Okay, and you're about to be. I love it when you're mad. You're about to be mad about it too, not me anybody who didn't have a trapper Keeper.
Speaker 1:you're about to be mad. Trapper Keepers had a suggested retail price of $4.85. That's all I get it. It was the late 70s, but I still feel like $4.85 is reasonable.
Speaker 2:For real yeah.
Speaker 1:For as cool as they were, yes, $4?, not even five bucks.
Speaker 2:I mean I might have had one junior or senior year, but that would be. I bought it myself because I started working when I was 15, but I for sure never had one.
Speaker 1:So for $4.85, it came with a few Trapper folders In the test market. Each Trapper Keeper also included a feedback card which promised a free notebook from me if the card was returned. I know. To everyone's surprise, the product inventory sold out and the 1,500 feedback cards returned revealed that adults as well as teens were buying Trapper Keepers for non-school use. Three years after the Trapper Keeper was released, the design was tweaked to include a Velcro strap instead of the initial metal snap.
Speaker 2:Oh, I didn't know that. See, I didn't have one back then, for sure.
Speaker 1:The design change allowed for greater ease of use and more efficient manufacturing. The designer series ran from 1988 to 1995 and introduced fashionable, funky and sometimes psychedelic designs. The company also made a deal with Lisa Frank and licensed cartoon characters like Garfield and Sonic the Hedgehog from 96 to 99.
Speaker 2:I remember that.
Speaker 1:Mead released a collection of notebooks and folders known as Futuro City, featuring futuristic city and landscape designs. In 2007, a new version of Trapper Keeper featured a magnetic closure in place of the Velcro closure, a customizable front cover. I mean, technically they were customizable anyway, because you could slip stuff in them. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I do that with three ring binders at work all the time. I love that Print stuff off or get pictures done and stick them in there, yeah.
Speaker 1:In 2014,. Another new version of Trapper Keeper was released, featuring a metal button closure, as well as a new feature called snapper trappers, which are plastic strips that act as dividers and can have regular notebooks attached to them. In addition to folders and dividers, the snapper trappers can be placed or removed without having to open the ring of the binders. For the 2015 school year, trapper Keeper introduced Star Wars Trapper Keeper supplies and Hello Kitty Trapper Keeper supplies, and a new pattern line called Fun in the Sun brought back the original designs for the Trapper Keeper and most of its original features in 2021. So my trap I have the date planner Trapper Keeper and most of its original features in 2021. So my Trapper I have the Date Planner Trapper Keeper, which is wee, it's very small.
Speaker 2:I'm about to order this one right here, yeah they, they oh, that's nice, that one's nice.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. So if you, if you all, want one, meadcom M-E-A-d dot com will get you where you need to go. I'm sure you can also get them at Walmart or wherever.
Speaker 2:but tomorrow's payday, so pick you up a Trapper Keeper?
Speaker 1:I will if you didn't get one, I love mine. It's date planner sized and it's perfect because all of our stuff, like I put my stamps, my stamps are in there, because it came with little folders, so it's like your little home office.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:You can't talk about Trapper Keepers without mentioning the folders that were, as the kids say, doing too much, because they really were Founded in 1979 by artist Lisa Frank in Tucson, arizona. The company started with a children's jewelry line called Sticky Fingers, before pivoting to stickers and school supplies.
Speaker 2:Did they name it Sticky Fingers because it was getting stolen out of Claire's all the time. I don't know why they didn't say, I do remember Lisa Frank, though.
Speaker 1:Frank's designs were instantly recognizable Neon colors, fantastical animals and surreal dreamscapes that felt like a Lisa Frank acid trip through a third grade classroom.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Like the, I Remember the Unicorns. Her first big break came via a million dollar order from Spencer Gifts, launching the brand into national prominence.
Speaker 2:Oh Spencer, oh Spencer.
Speaker 1:Lisa Frank products became a cultural staple for school-aged kids, especially girls who collected, traded and adorned their notebooks with her vibrant stickers. The brand expanded into folders, backpacks, lunchboxes and even beach towels. At its height, lisa Frank Inc was pulling in tens of millions annually. A true story. The aesthetic wasn't just cute, it was aspirational. A true story. That's why Heather loved it. Yes, please surprise that. I literally never had anything like that no, nothing, not a single thing. I remember seeing them in the store, but I did not ever have a.
Speaker 1:And all your classmates probably had them, had them, oh, yeah, for sure I like. Yeah, no, I like the marbled ones. Yeah, lisa Frank was more than stationary, it was emotional armor. Her designs gave kids a sense of control, creativity and joy. In environments that often felt rigid or stressful, you got to at least pick out especially for me who had to wear a uniform you got to pick out.
Speaker 1:It was so hard to express your personality when you're wearing a uniform, so you have to do it with your shoes. And it was so hard to express your personality when you're wearing a uniform yeah, so you have to do it with your shoes and jewelry and all that, and even that gets limited.
Speaker 2:That's the irony of making kids wear uniforms the ones who have money are still going to stand out. We're still all going to know who they are. We're still going to know who the poor kids are.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, but the one thing you could do, because I know well and I know when my sister's kids were coming up like certain colors were for certain classes here. Anyway they like green means math or something I don't know. I they had like a list and it would be like green for this class.
Speaker 2:oh yeah, my that too yeah.
Speaker 1:So they don't give them the freedom now, but back then? I mean you could pick like all kinds of cool stuff on the front of your notebooks.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, that is true.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you could really. That's where you felt like you had control, if your mom would let you.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm, yeah, that was the other big. She had the cash. The brand tapped into a collectible culture before Pokemon cards and Beanie Babies, making every sticker sheet a mini treasure trove. Behind the scenes, lisa Frank Inc was reportedly a grueling workplace, with allegations of toxic management and sudden firings.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:I wanted to put this in here because I didn't want to just make it all rainbow dolphins and unicorns. So she was the Ellen DeGeneres of school supplies.
Speaker 1:Yes, okay, lisa Frank herself became increasingly reclusive and the brand faded from mainstream shelves in the early 2000s from mainstream shelves in the early 2000s. A recent docuseries, glitter and Greed, the Lisa Frank Story, explores both the magic and the mayhem, featuring interviews with former employees and family members, and I urge you to watch it. I think it's on Netflix, I don't remember, but I did watch that.
Speaker 2:And it's the Lisa Frank documentary.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's called Glitter and Greed. The Lisa Frank story. Okay, nostalgia has sparked a resurgence, with Lisa Frank Collaborations popping up in makeup lines, fashion drops and limited edition merch. Ew yeah, adults who grew up with the brand now embrace it as a symbol of childhood whimsy and a reminder that sometimes glitter really is the answer. It is never the answer. It is never the answer I mean it's not.
Speaker 2:No, it's really not. That shit gets everywhere, yeah oh my god, glitter's not cool yeah, I mean, I would say if you were doing like a poster board, no, it gets everywhere it does and you never can get it.
Speaker 1:and then it's like four years later and you still have glitter on something and you're like God damn.
Speaker 2:It's a good way to tell if your husband's been to the strip club. That's true, he will have glitter all over him.
Speaker 1:This, also, for me, was how you could express your personality before bpa-free plastics took over. Kids toted metal lunch boxes with matching thermoses that smelled vaguely of tomato soup and, betrayal.
Speaker 2:Mine did not smell of tomato soup because I don't like tomato soup yeah, me neither, but it lunch boxes did have a distinctive smell, whether they were metal or plastic, and I still remember that smell.
Speaker 1:I know when I was doing this I was like oh yeah, I can smell it. I can smell it right now. Yeah, some of the most popular coveted designs were Star Wars, especially the Empire Strikes Back, et, masters of the Universe, strawberry Shortcake, knight Rider, the Smurfs, care Bears, transformers, rainbow, bright, cabbage Patch Kids what was yours, smurfs?
Speaker 2:And when you started that list I was like she better say Smurfs.
Speaker 1:Mine was not on here, oh no, it was. I also like Strawberry Shortcake. I was going to say I think I had a Strawberry Shortcake and you know what else I had.
Speaker 2:I think I had a pac-man one too, oh yeah, did you prefer metal or plastic?
Speaker 1:well, I like the metal. I like the metal, but the metal would get like rusty, yes, and weird, and so it wouldn't like close together all the way sometimes you know how it would get like just a little, yeah, a little off kilter there, like and then you couldn't, and then. But it made a lot of noise with the thermos rolling around in it.
Speaker 2:My favorite thing about one show was when you went on field trips and you'd wrap a sub in aluminum foil and a soda can, like that was going to keep it cold.
Speaker 1:Well see, here's the Dragon's Dream episode of ours to find out about how it feels to live in a van, but when you do spend your life living in a van, you have the ability. My dad always has frozen water places. There's always frozen water in his freezer, in Ziploc bags and all sorts of things. Did you have frozen water back then? Yeah, we always had frozen water.
Speaker 2:Where'd you get it when you stopped here and there? No, did you have a freezer? Yeah, the ice chest. We had an ice chest.
Speaker 1:So he would make big blocks. Oh yeah, I do that, yeah, yeah yeah, I do that all the time he did. That's what he did, so when I would go on field trips, my mom would stick like little ice packs in them so you didn't have the fancy blue plastic, which don't work as well as the ice and plastic bags.
Speaker 2:Nope, that's like having a cooler where the ice starts to melt and your beer is like wicked cold because because ice water is cold yeah, I don't think I got ice, though. I just got aluminum foil. I mean, she was trying to poison me, I know because that shit had to be bad.
Speaker 1:That's how come when we're immune to things because that all that shit. Like you, you got in a bus and you rode in the heat for five hours.
Speaker 2:and then your lunch sat in the bus while you were doing whatever field trippy thing. And then you came out at lunchtime and they pulled all your hot lunches out and you all ate it, yep.
Speaker 1:Yep, yeah, we're going to live forever. And some of them was tuna. We all know one of your moms put tuna in there.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, oh yeah, or you got that. It was always. Well, maybe that was just for my kids. Anytime my kids went on a field trip, I got them subs and then it was expected Like I have a field trip, you got to go get me a sub. Okay, diva.
Speaker 1:So these boxes were loud, colorful and often featured full-blown action scenes or character lineups. The thermos was usually tucked into a plastic ring inside that always broke, ready to leak lukewarm milk at any moment. By the mid to late 80s, plastic lunch boxes started replacing metal ones. They were lighter, less dent and came in even more outrageous neon colors and geometric patterns.
Speaker 2:I still think I like the metal ones better.
Speaker 1:I don't think I had. I think I went, I think I transitioned to bags lunch bags at that point.
Speaker 2:The brown paper ones yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, when the plastic ones really started rolling out, I don't think I had any plastic ones and I really cannot remember. I know I had any plastic ones and I really cannot remember. I know I had, I can see it too, but I can't, like you know it's one of those things where you can see it but you can't really remember what it was on it. I'd have to ask my mom. My mom might know.
Speaker 2:What year did you say the plastic ones came out?
Speaker 1:Late mid to late eighties.
Speaker 2:Oh gosh, I was in high school by then.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I was in high school by then, yeah, yeah, I definitely had metal ones.
Speaker 2:Then, yeah, it must have been my kids that had plastic ones. I keep confusing my childhood in there, so I guess Well, here is also one of my favorite things in the whole world. Oh God, and I did not know You're killing me here.
Speaker 1:And you know what?
Speaker 2:I didn't do any fun facts.
Speaker 1:So my fun facts are I don't even need fun facts, these are all fun facts. I want to go buy school supplies just because I want school supplies, I forgot because of what was going on last night at my house. I totally forgot to look up the fun facts. These are all fun facts, my power was out for a really long time last night because we're about to get a hurricane and it's just a nightmare.
Speaker 2:Thursday is going to fucking suck If you've heard about Hurricane Erin.
Speaker 1:Thursday is going to fucking suck if you're a male person on the East Coast.
Speaker 2:Oh man, I took Thursday off.
Speaker 1:Oh, it's going to be nasty. This thing is churning out 90 foot waves. 90 foot by the time they're saying Thursday. It's what? Thursday? Friday here. 20 foot by the time they get here.
Speaker 2:Well, I know that for the past two days, our local beaches have been closed down. Like you, there are warnings all over to stay out of the ocean.
Speaker 1:It's really rough and it's about to get a whole lot worse, and the riptides are crazy.
Speaker 2:I think it's going to hit you more. I did see a graphic where it's like basically hitting all the coasts and I'm kind of more inland and there's a body of water in between me body of water and land before that a body of water in between me, body water and land before that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's supposed to. I think they said yeah, as of yesterday. I haven't checked today but as of yesterday it was going to be 600 miles off the coast, so not real close.
Speaker 2:But the wind, we're gonna get the outer, yeah the wind field will be.
Speaker 1:It's supposed to be really windy on thursday and rainy. We're gonna get the outer bands of it. I'm still going shopping and it fucking sucks, so I have to be out in the middle of the rain delivering mail. So my favorite thing and hopefully you all remember this underoos weren't just underwear. They were identity kits for Gen X kids who wanted to feel like superheroes before breakfast. You are fucking killing me.
Speaker 2:I still think I'm Wonder Woman because of underoos I had Wonder Woman too. I would literally put them on and put my arms out and spin in a circle and turn into Wonder Woman.
Speaker 1:I had two pairs. I had Wonder Woman and Get Ready for the Other One, because you're going to be mind fucking blown. Oh God, daisy Duke, shut the fuck up. I will not. I didn't even. God, daisy Duke, shut the fuck up, I will not.
Speaker 2:I didn't even know there were Daisy Duke underoos.
Speaker 1:Yep, that was the little Daisy Duke jeans. They look like jeans. I don't remember the top, but it must have been like a, just like a.
Speaker 2:I wonder if they make them for adults now.
Speaker 1:Invented in 1977 by entrepreneur Larry Weiss, who had a knack for turning mundane products into cultural touchstones. He also helped create Fruity Pebbles.
Speaker 2:Oh, I love Fruity Pebbles.
Speaker 1:He pitched the idea of matching tops and bottoms featuring beloved characters from DC, marvel, hanna-barbera and Archie Comics. Superman, wonder Woman, spider-man and Scooby-Doo. And Archie Comics. Superman, wonder Woman, spider-man and Scooby-Doo. The concept was initially rejected by Haynes and Scott Paper Company, but Fruit of the Loom saw the potential and bought the rights in 1978. Each set mimicked a character's costume, so kids could feel like they were becoming their favorite hero just by getting dressed, as you stated.
Speaker 1:It was the best. Early ads featured kids striking wrestler poses with slogans like when the color lasts and the fit lasts and the quality lasts and the joy lasts, it's got to be underoos damn, that's a really long tagline, it really is underoos became a staple of department store trips and Saturday morning cartoon fandom. They even earned a shout out in Captain America Civil War when Iron man called Spider-Man Underoos a nod to the brand's iconic stack.
Speaker 2:Yep, and the thing about Underoos is I don't have a lot of childhood memories because I just have a shitty memory, but I literally can still see my underoos. I can feel myself spinning around in my Wonder Woman underoos. I must have only ever gotten one pair, because that's all I remember. It is burned in my memory.
Speaker 2:It was a really big deal, and I was like seven because it was. I remember the place we lived in, and that was right after my mom left my dad and moved in with our new boyfriend. So, yeah, I must have been seven, that's how we do timelines. Tmi sorry.
Speaker 1:In later years, the brand was licensed to BioWorld to produce adult-sized underoos, letting Gen Xers relive their childhood in superhero briefs. Do they still make them? I don't know, you'd have to Google it.
Speaker 2:I don't know if I could do that, though let's look.
Speaker 1:All right. So we looked and they're very expensive. Very Jeez Louise, but you can still get them, but they're very expensive.
Speaker 2:I'll just live with the memory.
Speaker 1:Thanks, it's a little bit out of our praise range, yeah, so if you want to, you can check them out. Mostly it was they're kind of hard to get to. I think it was like yeah, everything was sold out.
Speaker 2:I'll just wear some red underwear, no, some blue underwear and a red shirt, and wear a gold chain there, you go Spin around my living room and pretend like I'm the underwoman Not that I don't already do that, but whatever.
Speaker 1:Vans in the 1980s wasn't just a shoe brand. It was a cultural movement wrapped in canvas and rubber.
Speaker 2:It's just blown my mind how old these things are, yeah.
Speaker 1:If you were a Gen Xer growing up in California or just wished you were, vans were your ticket to skate Skater kids, skate credit, punk rebellion and BMX grip. So I had two of these. Actually I'm all three, because I was a tomboy and it started with the BMX and I wanted the Mongoose and I never got a Mongoose. I only got a BMX bike from Sears, but everybody else had BMX. I had a mongoose.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was never an alternative kid or whatever, but I always had a crush on skater boys. I still love Rob Dyrdek that does Ridiculousness on MTV because he's a skater dude, and Tony Hawk, like I love them all and this reminds me, like in my memories on Facebook. 10 years ago I went to San Francisco and I went with my mom and her husband and my youngest, and my youngest has always been super trendy and everything she's wearing is Vans and like all the skater stuff and her little baseball cap and her hoodies and she's so cute.
Speaker 1:She is cute. I love that face. You know what she's uber, bougie? Do you know what the most gen x thing to have ever happened in the whole world is? No tony hawk's son and Kurt Cobain's daughter.
Speaker 2:Dude, they might Francis. Bean, it's Francis Bean it is Francis Bean, and they might bring Gen X back If they make kids and then their kids start influencing people.
Speaker 1:They have a kid.
Speaker 2:They do. Yeah, I don't know if I realized that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they just had a kid. I don't remember its name, but I know they just had a kid and I don't know what Tony Hawk's son is.
Speaker 2:It really. It almost seems like an arranged marriage, like it is too much, yeah, like crazy. Back to bands, okay.
Speaker 1:So I met well after I was on the BMX. Then the people that I hung out with kind of just rolled into skate and then we all kind of just rolled into the punk movement because I don't think that the skating and the punk were that far apart. Oh god, it's the same music, definitely not yeah, I mean that's.
Speaker 2:I mean the inner. The music that opens with ridiculousness is a sex pistol song. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah yeah, yeah, so yeah it's, they're definitely connected.
Speaker 1:Yeah so founded in 1966 by paul van doren in anaheim, california, van started as a local shop making shoes on site. By the late 70s, the brand had already caught fire with skaters, thanks to its sticky waffle soles and durable canvas.
Speaker 2:What a genius idea, and I still have a pair of Vans that I wear, but they're not great for Gen Xers because there is no arch support, no support at all.
Speaker 1:I also have a pair of Vans.
Speaker 2:I can only wear them when I know I'm not going to be walking a lot, because my back will kill me if I wear them too.
Speaker 1:I have high top on there and cheetah print.
Speaker 2:Mine are just the traditional black with the white shirt.
Speaker 1:But I do remember when they started getting crazy with them and we went to the skate store and I got to buy. I got to get a pair. I think it was for my birthday. I got to pick out a pair and I picked out purple check.
Speaker 2:High tops.
Speaker 1:I always wore high tops.
Speaker 2:Do you remember when wearing wrestling shoes was a trend? I do, but I never did.
Speaker 1:Of course I did.
Speaker 2:Because by that point I had a job and I could buy my own things. And I had the red Nike high top Like fit you like a glove. It fit you like a wrestling uni man. I was so proud of those shoes.
Speaker 1:I switched over from Vans to Converse because Converse had a lot more variety and also we used to take. We would either buy white ones and then draw all over them or we would take the black ones and bleach them Like I bleached, like super straight.
Speaker 2:I remember bleaching sneakers. Yes, yeah.
Speaker 1:The checkerboard slipped on release in 1977, became iconic after Jeff Spicoli wore them in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, launching Vans into pop culture stardom. The 80s was Vans' defining decade, a gritty, diy rise that mirrored Gen X ethos, skateboarding and BMX explosion. Vans became the unofficial uniform of West Coast skaters and BMX riders Legends like Tony Alva, christian Hoisey and Stacey Pearl no, I'm messing it up.
Speaker 2:I remember Christian.
Speaker 1:I do too Turning them into performance gear and streetwear staples. The brand sponsored local skate contests and leaned into grassroots marketing, building loyalty from the pavement up. What a genius.
Speaker 2:I mean, that person was a smart businessman.
Speaker 1:Vans weren't just for skaters. They were embraced by punk rockers, ska fans. I'm going to be controversial. I absolutely hate ska.
Speaker 2:She does, and also by preppy girls who were trying to look cool. Yeah, which would be me, yeah.
Speaker 1:I hate ska and hip hop, especially in urban scenes. Pop, especially in urban scenes. The affordable and customizable designs like the late 80s custom program made them a canvas for self-expression. In the mid-80s, vans tried expanding into basketball and breakdancing shoes and it did not do well.
Speaker 2:The company filed for you weren't competing with Michael Jordan. No.
Speaker 1:The company filed for by the way, he's here again.
Speaker 2:I saw that His plane landed yesterday. Yeah, the mid-atlantic why is he here the? Mid-atlantic tournament, although I think it's gonna end up getting canceled because of the hurricane.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, I don't actually know what's going on with that. Uh, the company filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1984 due to over expansion by 88. A group of investors bought vans for 60 million, setting the stage for its 90s revival and eventual global domination.
Speaker 2:In 88, that was a lot of money.
Speaker 1:Yeah, vans in the 80s, especially for a company that went bankrupt.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Vans in the 80s were more than a brand. It was a badge of authenticity, whether you were bombing hills, moshing at a DIY show or lawyering outside 7-Eleven. So the next I did not have these. Well, okay. So this I went through and did quick blurbs on the major brands, just because I didn't want to go into depth on any of them, because we can do that later.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But after I go through these, I want to talk about back-to-school clothes shopping. Okay, jordache, skin-tight, high-waisted jeans with the horse head logo. Their ads are basically softcore glamour shots on horseback.
Speaker 2:I never got those.
Speaker 1:Guess acid-washed ankle-zip triangle-logoed. I never got those. Guess Acid washed ankle zip triangle logo perfection, never got those. Calvin Klein Thanks to Brooke Shields Nope, ck jeans became a cultural movement. Nothing comes between her and her Calvins, and she was only like 13 or 14 or 15. I know Just ridiculously too. Levi's the OG I do have Levi's. I do have Levi's. I still wear Levi's the OG, whether cuffed, ripped or stonewashed Levi's with a great equalizer across clicks. 501s Members only Didn't have a members only jacket.
Speaker 2:I never wanted one. It never appealed to me.
Speaker 1:A spree. I did have a lot of a spree. I did want esprit. Yeah, they have the oversized sweatshirts, color blocked everything and coordinated sets. Uh, I like the oversized sweatshirts. And now here, this one was my favorite store benetton bold colors, I knew it. Multicultural vibes and sweaters that made you look like you had a passport and options.
Speaker 2:They always had ads that had white people and black people in it. Yep.
Speaker 1:Their perfume smelled so good Colors.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, I remember that, although I was an exclamation girl, oh yeah, sure, yeah, sure, sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, izod Lacoste the crocodile OP.
Speaker 2:So OP was big around here, op was crazy around here. Yeah, the.
Speaker 1:OP shorts.
Speaker 2:Little corduroy ones.
Speaker 1:Xenojeans? I don't remember Xenojeans.
Speaker 2:No, must have been a West Coast thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's paired with oversized sweaters and scrunch socks. I did rock some scrunch socks.
Speaker 2:I did. Yeah, I had the oversized sweaters, but I would wear pantyhose.
Speaker 1:Excuse me With them. I wore leggings.
Speaker 2:I had the oversized sweatshirts too, that went to your knee, and I'd wear pantyhose and flats with them.
Speaker 1:I remember when stirrup pants came into. I loved them, because then they kept them in my boots.
Speaker 2:Yes, I think they're coming back too. Uh, yes, they are, but now they would just fall below our bellies, our menopausal bellies, in 1985, a coca-cola apparel line featured red, white and blue sportswear with the iconic logo yep, I have my coca-cola swatch I had a lot of coca-cola stuff.
Speaker 1:So here's the thing because I wore a uniform we didn't have like we would go school shopping because everybody else. I think my mom was trying to make it as normal as possible, but it was for like out of school stuff, right, so it was all well, that's almost better.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you didn't have to wear your nice stuff to school, no, you just had cool clothes for at home. Yes, so my school shopping was, my mom would tell me I had a set dollar amount. I want to say maybe a hundred, right, and she's like you can get one thing for a hundred dollars or whatever. So that's where my learning to shop by walking into a store and walking directly to the clearance rack, which translates to the Internet, because when I go on a website, I instantly go check the clearance first before I shop for anything else. But, yeah, that was the best way I had about spent my money, and Express had this black t-shirt with big red roses all over it and I loved it, and my mom loved the color red and she made an exception that year and bought me that t-shirt or that shirt because she liked it so much and that was like my prized possession for so long and I really loved the Express. Once I started making my own money, that's where I wanted to shop.
Speaker 1:We had. Surprisingly enough, we had Benetons like all over here. There was one in Ocean City, there was one in Bethany.
Speaker 2:There was an outlet for years. It's not there anymore. No, it's not.
Speaker 1:So the thing was is my aunt, who is childless by choice not really my aunt anymore, but she would take us to one of the fancy stores and let us pick out whatever we wanted. Right, I know I always went to Benetton and the Benetton. Mostly I wanted the bag. Do you remember the Benetton barrel? It looked like a barrel bag with the strings.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:I really wish I still had one of those, because I did love those.
Speaker 2:Yeah, benetton barrel it looked like a barrel bag with the strings.
Speaker 1:Yep, I really wish I still had one of those, because I did love those, yeah, benetton, that's where I went yeah.
Speaker 2:School shopping was the best yeah.
Speaker 1:This one's not really school shopping, and I don't know if all of you guys had them. If you didn't live near, I guess you did. After world war ii, pvc plastic became a cheap alternative to leather. Do you know where I'm going? French fishermen wore clear plastic shoes for the durability and easy cleaning. These units, utilitarian shoes, were sold in bulk and considered unfashionable until two 20-something entrepreneurs, tony Alano and Nicolas Guillan, had a vision in 1980. While vacationing in Spain, tony and Nicolas decided to transform the humble fisherman's shoes into something fun and fabulous. With a loan from Nicola's mom and help from tony's chemist brother, they dyed the shoes in their kitchen, dried them in the bathroom and packaged them in their living room.
Speaker 2:The result bright, glitter infused, vanilla, scented jellies 12 colors damn, that's probably what's wrong with my back and my hips these days. Is I between those and the wooden clogs that God? I'm not going to be able to remember the name now, but with the strap, with the buckle, I don't know, they were like navy blue leather with the buckle and the clog. Yeah, I mean, it was solid wood you were walking on, dr Scholl. Dr Scholl's yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but jellies, forget about it.
Speaker 1:Jelly shoes exploded onto the fashion scene after appearing in parents' fashion shows, european magazines and shoe fairs In the US, preston Hayes European fashion shows had jellies. They In the US Preston Hogue European fashion shows had jellies. They were awful. In the US Preston Hogue Sr discovered jellies in Brazil and introduced them at the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville Tennessee.
Speaker 2:The World's Fair? Yeah, they were a sideshow.
Speaker 1:Soon. Bloomingdale's ordered thousands, and designers like Jean-Paul Gaultier and Thierry Mugler created new styles every six months. By the mid-80s, jellies were everywhere, especially among kids and teens. They were cheap, colorful and came in endless styles strappy sandals, mary Janes and even boots.
Speaker 2:Retailers must have made a fucking fortune off of this. Especially Jean-Paul Gaultier. You know that shit was made out of the same things we were buying at Ames, yep and good Lord, although I loved his perfume.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And his perfume bottles with the woman's body shape.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Man.
Speaker 1:He had some good smell of perfume Jellies faded in the late 90s but have resurfaced multiple times, often reimagined by high-end designers or nostalgic retailers.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're trying to make a comeback right now. Bad idea.
Speaker 1:So moving on. Founded in 1891 in Helzborg, sweden, by the Dunker family, tree Torn began as a rubber factory, making galoshes to help farmers survive the wet Scandinavian climate.
Speaker 2:Do you know that they still make Tree Torns? Yep, did you know that before I posted it on Facebook? Yep, all right, because I was in Marshalls looking at their shoes and I found a pair of Tree Torns.
Speaker 1:I almost bought mine and I almost bought a pair.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I posted them on Facebook and I was like, oh my God, I literally didn't know they were still a thing, like for real, for real. I haven't seen anyone wear them, I don't see them anywhere. But yeah, if you like Tree Torns, you can still get them.
Speaker 1:By 1900, they launched their first sneaker, making Tree Torn the second oldest sneaker manufacturer in the world, right after Keds Wow. In 1967, Tree Torn introduced the Nylite, the world's first luxury tennis sneaker. It became a fashion icon when worn by tennis legend like Bjorn Borg and Martina Navratilova, both on and off the court. The Nylite's signature gullwing design, usually navy on white canvas, became a subtle flex in prep schools, country clubs and college campuses.
Speaker 1:and the hell yes it did oh yes, everybody had them, and the store in fenwick that had them had them across the street and they. I would go over all the time and just look at them, just to see what colors. I had pink and white checkered one.
Speaker 2:I more so feel like they were white with a white straight. Was that like the, the?
Speaker 1:mainstream one they. This whole sneaker was white, right, but then that little thing was came in all different colors.
Speaker 2:They said it's going.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Tree thorns were the unofficial footwear of the preppy elites sink vintage bmw's weekend trips to montauk and Ivy League dorms. They were worn by icons like Farrah Fawcett, jackie O and even Billy Joel Check out his 52nd Street album cover. Girls paired them with a spree sweaters, benetton skirts and swatch watches, which we did an episode on swatch watches. If you go back and look at that Swatch, your step. Is that what it's called? I think so.
Speaker 2:Swatch your step.
Speaker 1:Swatch your step. Is that what it's called? I think so You'll get it. Wild guys rocked them with Izod polos and rolled up jeans. In 2010, Tree Torn has launched the Eco Essentials Initiative, reimagining classic styles with sustainable materials like recycled rubber and locally sourced canvas styles with sustainable materials like recycled rubber and locally sourced canvas. Today, the brand balances heritage and innovation, still producing timeless sneakers that say a summer in.
Speaker 2:Nantucket. Yeah, they were really preppy looking when I saw them. They were like white canvas with like khaki canvas and blue, that navy blue.
Speaker 1:Very yuppie. Obviously they had them all over my school because Obviously, you had your ducks. I did have tree twins, though the first ones I had were blue.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but you had weirdo tree twins. You didn't have normal people tree twins.
Speaker 1:No, mine, the gullwing was pink and white checkered, and then I would draw on them Mm-hmm, yeah, I'm going to skip, hold on.
Speaker 2:I miss drawing on shoes.
Speaker 1:All right people. I know We've gone on for an hour, but I just have two more and you'll just suck it up and listen.
Speaker 2:And we really hope you've enjoyed this, because God I know I have it's been a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't know if you all use these, the iconic yellow and black study guides. Oh yeah, cliff's.
Speaker 2:Notes Cliff's Notes yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Founded in 1958.
Speaker 2:I never did because I felt like I was cheating and I was a super nerd.
Speaker 1:I was a super nerd and I did them anyway. Founded in 1958 by Clifton Hill but I had to do it on the download because my mom would never have bought them Hillgrass, a Nebraska native working at the Nebraska Book Company. Hillgrass struck a deal with Jack Cole, co-owner of Canadian Canada, canadia.
Speaker 2:Canada's.
Speaker 1:Cole Notes to bring the concept to the US. So Canadia, adam, first that crazy Canadia. He and his wife Catherine started the business in their Lincoln Nebraska basement, launching with 16 Shakespeare titles. By the end of the first year they had sold 58,000 copies. A literary side hustle turned academic empire, hillgrass hired literature teachers to write concise summaries, character analysis and author bios. It was the Google of our day. It really was. The guides were designed to complement the original work, not replace them.
Speaker 2:But I mean, come on now it would tell you this is not but I was always terrified of plagiarism, so I like read stuff and gave my own Because my mom would have killed me if I would have gotten caught for plagiarism. So I like read stuff and gave my own because my mom would have killed me if I would have gotten caught for plagiarism.
Speaker 1:By 1964, cliffsnotes was selling over a million copies annually. Wow, in 1998, cliffsnotes was sold to IDG Books for $14.2 million.
Speaker 2:Well, that was a waste of money, because then Google came out.
Speaker 1:Then acquired by John Williams Sons in 2001 and later by Huft and Mifflin Harcourt in 2012. In 2021, they were scooped up by Course Hero, signaling a new era of online study support. The brand became a proprietary eponym. I meant this was my favorite new thing, eponym eponym and I didn't Google it. You know how you read a word and then you're like I love that word, and then let me make sure I know how to use it, right yeah. But then never got the pronunciation Anyway.
Speaker 2:That word.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it became a brand like Kleenex.
Speaker 2:Band-Aid CliffsNotes became shorthand for any short consummate In 2011,.
Speaker 1:They partnered with TV producer Mark Burnett to create 60-second video guides, so they are still well, 2011 is kind of I like Mark Burnett. So now they're just digitalized. All right, this is my last item and absolutely hands down my favorite. Oh, without a doubt. And it's all of your favorites too, and I know this and I don't even have to know you the sticker craze of the 1980s dude, I found my sticker books.
Speaker 2:Oh, did you?
Speaker 1:I have some of my old sticker, wow oh gee, I mean there might be in one of these eaves yet, like we can probably open this up and there might be some of my shit in there, because she there were literal sticker stores.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I get to that okay the sticker.
Speaker 1:Craze is you got me excited. I'm sorry, I told you I saved the best for last. The sticker craze of the 1980s was pure. Well, the stick hold on. The sticker craze of the 1980s was equal parts consumerism, creativity and chaotic binder decoration. It was full-blown cultural movement that turned adhesive paper into currency, identity and obsession there will never be anything like that the boom began when I've never been that happy, since I know right.
Speaker 1:The boom began when mrs grossman, a california designer, accidentally printed heart stickers on rolls instead of sheets. That mistake birthed the concept of stickers by the yard, and suddenly kids could buy endless strips to decorate everything from lunch boxes to math books. By 1983 stickers were being called the baseball cards of the 80s.
Speaker 2:Kids collected, traded and hoarded them in albums, shoe boxes and grocery bag covered text I had the photo albums with the cellophone page that stuck to the sticky and you peeled up and you'd fill the whole page up. That's what I found yeah, was that's amazing.
Speaker 1:I know that is so amazing I have to them.
Speaker 2:They're still at my other house.
Speaker 1:This one. I know all of you had this sticker. Scratch and sniff Smelled like pizza, strawberries, bubble gum or old shoes.
Speaker 2:And it legit smelled like what it was supposed to smell, like Like I smell candles now it's hard to find a candle that actually smells like what it says it is, and those stickers and stickers straight up.
Speaker 1:And for a long long you could scratch the fuck out of those things. They would be dull in the middle, it's probably, and it's still smell. You know what? I think I figured it the fuck out. That's why none of us look our age, because we were shoving preservatives up our snozzes and that is what has made us look so younger it's the keith richards effect. Yeah, we, we, we preserved ourselves by doing lines of scratch and sniff.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, I'm still obsessed with stickers.
Speaker 1:So the ones you're thinking of are called Stinky Stickers, the popular scratch and sniff sticker brand. They were not stinky. It's the name of the brand. They weren't stinky though, but that's the name of the brand. They were developed by trend enterprises inc. In 1978 as scratch and sniff awards. These original scented stickers were available in a few scents, like cherry and bubble gum, but were sold as part of award pads. Remember the banana ones? Yes, it had a little banana, and if I saw it when I was doing this and they were the first stickers that popped up and I was was like oh my God.
Speaker 2:The grapes had little grapes on them yeah and they were animated grapes.
Speaker 1:Yes, by 1979, they were redesigned and sold as a standalone product line. The stickers became a major trend in the 1980s. They offered 100 different designs and scents by 1985. They offered 100 different designs and scents by 1985. They recently reintroduced some of these original designs as retro stinky stickers in 2023.
Speaker 2:I bet they are stinky now Because it's probably illegal to sell the stuff and use the stuff that we used back in the day.
Speaker 1:Gail Mattson was an American inventor who developed the underlying scratch and stiff technology for 3M in the 60s. Although I didn't find how they made them, I think it's proprietary.
Speaker 2:I guess they probably don't want lawsuits, so they're just not going to tell you how they made them.
Speaker 1:It was probably asbestos or something it probably held the scent really well yeah, um, fuzzy stickers, uh, velvety textures shaped like skunk soccer balls or scotty dogs. You, you're fucking killing me. So yeah, the fuzzy stickers. So I didn't have. I liked the fuzzy stickers, but I didn't have a whole lot of them, because didn't some of?
Speaker 2:them come with, like googly eyes, are you going to talk about puffy stickers?
Speaker 1:Okay, so I'm going to wait then.
Speaker 2:But I had a lot of fuzzy stickers and I just want to say because I am just so excited right now and I can't stop thinking about it like so, the Milford Plaza, which is basically the just I don't even know the word for it, but it is the epitome of my childhood. We used to cruise the plaza on the weekends when we got our driver's license, but this plaza and it's still there um, it had a sticker store and I wish they still had stickers. I would shop at sticker stores if they still had them. It was an an affordable way to go in and just be so happy. And I would buy photo albums which, by the way, I don't know, gen x, if you have bought any photo albums lately but they are fucking outrageously expensive. Like what the hell? Because we're all finding our old pictures and maybe we would like to put them in photo albums, but no, even at target they're like 50 bucks a piece, like it's ridiculous. But yeah, the sticker, like you move my sticker books were the.
Speaker 1:They were like a hard plastic not a hard plastic not like a cardboard coated so you bought sticker books?
Speaker 2:yes, I bought photo albums and put the stickers. In them put the stickers in them, put the stickers in them, like they were as important to me as pictures of my family Right.
Speaker 1:I had the sticker books and then they would put them in like, categorize each, like you put your scratch and sniffs here.
Speaker 2:Or like this theme jungle animals, or no, I had complete control over my sticker collection and.
Speaker 1:I did it the way I wanted it not the way some hard book was going to tell me to do it.
Speaker 2:You could go rude I can't wait to get those back and show you I'm excited.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, You'll get those pictures I want with this.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Well, I don't have them. Oh, okay, they're one of the things I have to go back and get back and get um. So, yeah, uh, fuzzy stickers, the metallic and holographic ones.
Speaker 1:yeah, I wasn't yeah, I was never a fan of because they were weird, they were too thin or something. Yeah uh, pop culture stickers featuring cabbage patch kids, michael jackson, gremlin, scooby-doo, ghostbusters and the muppets. So the sticker albums kids fell into two camps. Smack them down. Collectors who filled albums with no rhyme or reason Me. Trade ready collectors who kept stickers pristine on their backing paper, ready for swaps. No, no, I was not.
Speaker 2:You know what? Actually, my daughter my youngest and her boyfriend both have their birthdays within the same week and I love wrapping presents. So I went to the Dollar Tree and I bought just generic little white gift bags, some cute tissue paper and stickers, and I took markers and I drew balloons, like I used to do when I was a kid on there, and they made fun of my balloons and I put stickers on the bags and it's. They're just so versatile. Seriously, stickers make me happy. I have a shelf at home that I collect stickers whenever I travel somewhere or I buy something or whatever, like I got a free sticker one way or another.
Speaker 1:I didn't spend any money, but I got a free sticker when we went. She was so excited.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I didn't spend any money, but I got a free sticker. And I was like oh my god, I got a free sticker and I have like a three long, three shelf bookshelf that I painted like a lavender color and I've been collecting stickers and I'm covering it in stickers and I yeah, I mean it definitely. This trend definitely stuck with me for life.
Speaker 1:Sticker stores popped up across the country and brands like Sandy Lion made stickers their entire business model. Stickers were more than decorations. They were identity markers. Your collection said who you were, what you loved and how cool you were I had a lot of cat stickers.
Speaker 2:Even back then I would still buy cat stickers.
Speaker 1:And peeling the perfect sticker and placing it just right on your trapper keeper was a spiritual experience.
Speaker 2:Actually, the stickers that I bought for my daughter and her boyfriend's bags were cats With houseplants. She's a cat lady. They were cats and houseplants.
Speaker 1:This is another thing, how we disagree, because I am not a cat lady. I like dogs.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I like dogs. I don't want dogs.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I want dogs. I don't mind cats, I have cats. Cats keep showing up. What's it called the cat distribution program?
Speaker 2:for some reason seems to like to give me cats, I don't know why distribution program for some reason seems to like to give me cats, I don't know why. It's the weirdest thing, like I had two twin orange cats for years. We got them as kittens and then they both passed within the same general time because they were brothers, and literally these four cats that I have now that are seven years old, all just showed up to me.
Speaker 1:Like I didn't go seeking a cat and and I haven't had.
Speaker 2:I mean, of course, like a lady came into work last week and she had this big box, cardboard box, and the thing was folded and she's carrying it like all awkward. I was like what's that? She's like a kitten. I was like what? And she's like, well, I was gonna take you to the spca but they were closed and and then my boss was like, uh, you can't have a kitten in here, sorry. So she had to leave. But anyway, she was like you know, anyone wants a kitten. I was like, get away from me, I am not, get a fuck away from me I have four cats.
Speaker 2:I have had my four cats seven years and I am not in the market for a kitten my cats have shown up.
Speaker 1:Um well, I made you take one yes, once yes, he was an awesome cat, though. Okay, we had an agreement. I fell in love with your dog. I know I'm saying he and I had an agreement. I fed him, I changed his litter and he lived there see, when I had him he was awesome, but when he was aggressively nice, he was aggressively friendly it was a little bit too much for me.
Speaker 2:That's how my friend and he. He reminds me a lot of my friend um, my friend's cat, my friend that I live with, um. She has a cat named um sunny and he's a big orange boy and he's long-haired, like magic was um and he likes his love, but he has humongous claws and humongous teeth and when he's in the mood to play, I don't know if he's trying to kill you, but it really feels like it and I guess that's how magic was. But magic fell in love with raven.
Speaker 1:Yes, and I had to keep him. And then I had he didn't clean himself, he did not clean himself, he was dirty, so I had to I shaved. And then I had he didn't clean himself, he did not clean himself, he was dirty, so I had to I shaved him because he was, he was part mancoon yes and, uh, I had to shave him all the time and he would get the lion cut.
Speaker 2:And he did look pretty freaking handsome with the lion cut but yeah, I remember when, um when I had him, before he and raven moved in together um the back of my couch the wall was white and there would always be dark spots where he had leaned against the wall. He was very dirty.
Speaker 1:And then sadly at the end of his life because he lived to be like 20. And let me tell you else, people, this bitch made me take this cat right. And then the cat got cancer in his fucking ear and the way I found out is that the tumor grew through his eardrum and burst out and he was shooting blood everywhere and then he was deaf. So she gave me a cat with cancer.
Speaker 2:I didn't give it to you, raven. Yeah, it was Raven's fault.
Speaker 1:And he lived to be like 20. And it was very sad because 20. And at the end it was very sad because near the end of his life he did go senile and he would just walk in circles screaming Anyway, yeah, so that's that about that, and you're such a good person.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And that's the episode.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was amazing. I have to say that was one of my favorite episodes ever. We tried to bring up Gen X nostalgia with our own little opinion, our own big opinions about everything in it. But that was the shit. Thanks, that was amazing. Thank you so, so much. I cannot wait to get my sticker book back. She's so excited about her stickers. I'm going to creep in in the middle of the night and steal my sticker books. There you go, yeah.
Speaker 1:Stickers were cool. I don't know if I saw.
Speaker 2:I doubt.
Speaker 1:I saw you should wait until the last minute to do your episodes every week.
Speaker 2:I know right, although you always crush it, but that was really amazing. Thanks, I loved it.
Speaker 1:Thank you, so I'm sure there's going to be a lot of fun on the social medias this week with this topic.
Speaker 2:I'm going to try, because then I mean there's all kinds of, I mean there's endless opportunities.
Speaker 1:What's your favorite sticker? And yeah, I think this one will be a good one. So check us out on the socials. See how I did that. That like whatever pod on all the socials you can like, share, rate, review, find us where you listen to podcasts and you can send oh wait, hold up, back it up. I'm going to add if you want to buy me a coffee on the, buy me the coffee like whatever pod at buy me a coffee or however, I don't remember, but it's like it's buy me a coffee and then like whatever pod, I think, but anyway, and you can help me buy an octopus.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, and I'll buy some stickers. Yeah, no, seriously, we'll upgrade our equipment.
Speaker 1:Or we could just send us stickers, send us pictures of your stickers no, send me stickers.
Speaker 2:Send, I don't want pictures of your stickers.
Speaker 1:Okay, oh, find us wherever you listen like share rate review. Follow us on the socials at like whatever pod, you can send an email about what's your favorite sticker or what underoos you wore or are currently wearing. It was and the email. It's like whatever pod at gmailcom or don't like whatever what ever bye.
