Filofax is a

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

based in the UK that produces a range of

personal organiser A personal organizer, datebook, date log, daybook, day planner, personal analog assistant, book planner, year planner, or agenda (from Latin ''agenda'' – things to do), is a small book or binder that is designed to be portable. It usually con ...

wallets. The organisers are traditionally

leather Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffalo, pigs and hogs, ...

bound and have a six-ring

loose-leaf A loose leaf is a piece of paper of any kind that is not bound in place, or available on a continuous roll, and may be punched so as to be organized in a ring binder. Loose leaf paper may be sold as free sheets, or made up into notepads, where p ...

binder system. The design originated at

Lefax Lefax was a company founded in 1910 by J. C. Parker in Philadelphia that produced a range of personal organizers. In its early days, the biggest customers were power plant engineers whose technical handbooks had grown too big to carry. In 1921 ...

, a United States company from

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

which was exporting products to the UK. The company also markets a range of personal leather goods and

luggage Baggage or luggage consists of bags, cases, and containers which hold a traveler's personal articles while the traveler is in transit. A modern traveler can be expected to have packages containing clothing, toiletries, small possessions, trip ...

under the "Filofax" brand.

Products

The name originates from an abbreviation of the phrase "file of facts". This name for the product was first coined when the UK company was founded in 1921. The popularity of the Filofax personal organiser grew enormously during the early 1980s due to its association with

Yuppie Yuppie, short for "young urban professional" or "young upwardly-mobile professional", is a term coined in the early 1980s for a young professional person working in a city. The term is first attested in 1980, when it was used as a fairly neu ...

culture, where it was regarded as a "must-have" accessory, in the days before electronic organisers. A range of insert page formats are sold including calendars, notesheets, password lists and a thin calculator.

Company

The company was known as Norman & Hill until the mid-1980s, when it renamed itself after its most popular product. For much of its life it was based in

South Woodford South Woodford is an area of east London, England, within the London Borough of Redbridge. It adjoins Woodford Green to the north, Walthamstow to the west, Snaresbrook and Wanstead to the south and Redbridge to the east, and is north-east of ...

, East London. In the early 1980s, it moved to Barkingside, Essex. It was bought by

David Collischon David Collischon (19 July 1937 – 14 April 2016) was a British entrepreneur who, in 1980, bought the rights to the Filofax Filofax is a company based in the UK that produces a range of personal organiser wallets. The organisers are traditio ...

. In the early 1990s it moved its offices back to London and subcontracted its warehouse operation to

Crick Crick may refer to: Places * Crick, Monmouthshire, Wales * Crick, Northamptonshire, England * Crick Road, Oxford, England People with the name * Crick (surname) Other uses * Crick, the cricket from ''Beat Bugs'' * Francis Crick Institute ...

in Northamptonshire. The company was acquired by Day Runner, Inc. in 1998. In 2001, Day Runner, Inc. sold Filofax. Filofax is part of the UK-based Letts Group. In 2006,

Phoenix Equity Partners Phoenix Equity Partners is a United Kingdom mid-market private equity firm. It specialises in working with management teams to help grow their businesses. It invests in companies valued at up to £150m. History Phoenix was co-founded in 2001 by H ...

led a secondary buy out of the business. The deal provided an exit for

private equity In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a ty ...

firm Dunedin Capital Partners. In 2012, the company was acquired by HSGP Investments.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Office equipment Personal information managers Companies established in 1921 1921 establishments in the United Kingdom