It’s Not Just a Satchel, It’s a Rite of Passage

If you’re a parent, grandparent or any kind of significant other to a little kid, you know the significance backpacks pack.

They are not mere satchels for carrying stuff to school.

To kids, they are the first symbol of growing up, branching out, being part of the bigger world--with places to go, things to do and the gear needed to do them.

The backpack as status symbol: In preschool, it says, “I am now old enough to have something to carry, and a grown-up way to carry it.”

In elementary school, it shows oneness with an “in group,” especially when ornamented to denote coolness. Southland kids sew patches on their backpacks and hang decorative key chains, miniature flashlights, whistles, little stuffed animals and other ditzy items from zippers and straps.

Older backpackers are concerned with performance. How comfortable is it to lug around? How strong are fabric and zippers? How well padded is it at crucial points on shoulders and back? Is it weatherproof?

Experts advise that backpacks are more comfortable when straps are padded between straps and shoulder only, rather than completely wrapped. And they suggest that the backpack should be padded where it rests on the wearer’s back--to prevent sharp book corners from digging in. Single stitching is likely to break, they say, so look for double, crisscross or bar-tack (solid line) stitching.

Older kids are also likely to be brand-conscious. Rob Seitz, a public relations consultant, says his 13-year-old daughter had a perfectly good backpack from sixth grade but refused to carry it when she entered seventh grade last year, insisting on a new one bearing the status-y L.L. Bean label.

Backpacks are a $970-million-a-year industry and play a major role in teenagers’ social and academic lives, according to industry giant JanSport. Quality backpacks range in price from $25 to $50.

For an independent study of teens conducted in Boston, Los Angeles and Atlanta for the firm, backpack users were asked to relinquish their packs for one week during the school year.

Participants found their grades suffered (because they left key items such as calculators, homework or books at home) and their appearance suffered (because girls usually carried their makeup and boys their grooming aids in their packs.)

But the most compelling problem was loss of organization, participants said. Backpacks have a place for everything: pens, calculators, books, reports, breath mints, hair spray, deodorant.

What did kids ever do without them?

Many of their parents can remember.

The modern backpack evolved after World War II, says JanSport’s Mike Cisler. For years before that, cumbersome versions with wood frames were devised by trappers, hunters and explorers to carry heavy provisions through tough terrain.

When aluminum and other lightweight frame materials became available after the war, these frames were teamed with the then-new nylon fabrics, making lightweight backpacks with frames available for campers, hikers and other back-to-nature types in the hippie ‘60s.

In the 1970s came the so-called daypack, a frameless backpack favored by mountaineers and hikers who wanted lighter packs for shorter trips.

“Some of those mountaineers were college kids,” Cisler says, “and they started using their daypacks on campuses across the country.” But, he says, it was a slow-growing trend and it wasn’t until the 1980s that the rage for backpacks-as-bookpacks really took hold.

These days, you can hardly start school without one.