Paul Frank

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Paul Frank (born Paul Frank Sunich) is a well-known accessories designer. Paul Frank Industries produces clothing and other products, many bearing the face of Paul Frank Industries well known character, Julius the monkey.

1 Biography
2 Influences
3 Characters
4 Personal life
5 External links

[edit] Biography

During the 1990s, Paul Sunich was an art student at Orange Coast College. He bought a sewing machine in order to complete small projects such as attaching patches to sweaters. One day, he used some spare orange vinyl to create a wallet. After seeing his work, his friends expressed interest in other accessories, so he began to sew items such as guitar straps and backpacks.

A few years later, Paul Frank Industries, Inc. formed in order to keep up with the demand for his products. Paul worked during the day, but sewed and sold his products during his spare time. After his friend Ryan Heuser borrowed money ($5000) from his stepmother to help Paul quit his day job, they obtained a business license and a resale number. Their corporate offices are currently located in Orange County, CA. The company's stores are also popular with domestic locations in Southern California; San Francisco, California; New York City; Dallas, Texas; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Chicago, Illinois. International locations include: London, England; Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Berlin, Germany; Athens, Greece; Seoul, Korea; Bangkok, Thailand, and a group in Japan. Future locations include Doha Qatar and Dubai United Arab Emirates.

In 1999, Paul Frank Industries collaborated with The Aquabats. Since then, Paul Frank Industries has worked with other bands including Bad Religion, Radiohead, The Vandals, Alkaline Trio, Tool, and Pretty Girls Make Graves. Other musical collaborations include the Coachella festival, Lollapalooza, and LA radio station KROQ.

Besides co-branding and licensing affiliations with bands, the company has had ties with Mattel, Oscar Mayer, Elvis Presley, Andy Warhol, Wahoo's Fish Tacos, SHAG, John Deere, Nirve Bicycles,Obey Giant, ProKeds shoes, Mark Ryden, Thomas Campbell, and Hello Kitty.

In 2004, Paul Frank Industries added small paul, a line of clothing for kids.

In November 2005, during "Julius" the monkey's tenth "birthday", Paul Frank Sunich resigned from Paul Frank Industries to "pursue other interests"[1]

In March 2006, Paul Sunich filed a suit against his former business partners at Paul Frank Industries alleging that he was fired from the company, pushed out of the partnership, and being prevented from using his own name to pursue other opportunities within the field of design. They are in the process of settling the issue out of court.

[edit] Influences

In 1972, Paul Sunich attended Sun View Elementary School in Huntington Beach, CA. The building was painted in bright colors -- rusty orange, light blue and gold-yellow -- and Sunich acknowledges this influence on his subsequent work. He also says that he is inspired by industrial designers: "...whoever designs schools, desks, chairs, office furniture, bicycles, cars, blenders, toasters from the '40s through '60s, stuff like public buildings." Further, Sunich says that much of his style has developed as a result of his love for music such as The Who, The Rolling Stones and The Velvet Underground.

[edit] Characters

Well-known Paul Frank Industries characters include Skurvy, a skull and bones, Clancy, and Worry Bear. Paul Frank Industries designs have been featured in numerous movies, most notably in the third installment of the Austin Powers series.

Paul Frank Industries, Inc. is currently in discussion with Warner Bros about extending a series of cartoons found on the Paul Frank website (as previously seen at the Sundance Film Festival). The series is called Julius & Friends.

Other Paul Frank characters include: