By the mid-1980s, JanSport bags were ubiquitous in colleges and high schools. When The New York Times published Mr. McCory’s ...

He brought lightweight packs to millions of students and transformed the way they carried their textbooks to school.

That’s when JanSport is (very briefly) celebrating its origin story with the launch of the Retro Series, with a throwback in both design and price. Each bag, which would normally cost between $ ...

The original bag, the precursor to JanSport’s iconic SuperBreak backpack, became a hit at the University of Washington’s campus bookstore; soon it was for sale at colleges around the country.