Paul Frank Industries
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Paul Frank Industries is an Orange County, CA. company that produces a broad range of comsumer products, many bearing the face of their well-known character, Julius the monkey. The company was founded in 1995 by Paul Frank and Ryan Hauser - in 1997 John Oswald was added as a third partner/owner.
[edit] History
One day in 1995, Paul Frank used some spare orange vinyl to create a wallet. It sparked such interest that Paul soon found himself spending every spare moment sewing vinyl — attaching patches to garments, decorating backpacks, and designing custom guitar straps for cohorts in the Orange County music scene. His friend Ryan Heuser left his job as the head of men’s public relations at the youth brand Mossimo and borrowed money ($5000) from his stepmother to help Paul quit his day job. They subsequently obtained a business license and a resale number, and began placing products on consignment in local boutiques. The popularity of Paul Frank Industries prodcuts grew meteorically.
Today, Paul Frank Industries is a $100-million enterprise selling accessories, apparel, eyewear, watches, and more in 41 countries around the world. The network of Paul Frank Stores includes 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 2004, Paul Frank Industries added small paul, a line of clothing for kids.
In March 2006, Paul Frank 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. The parties in the process of settling the suit out of court.
Paul Frank Industries 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.
