Filofax is a
company
A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether Natural person, natural, Juridical person, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members ...
based in
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
that produces a range of
personal organiser wallets. The organisers are traditionally
leather
Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning (leather), tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffal ...
bound and have a six-ring
loose-leaf binder system. The design originated at
Lefax, a United States company from
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
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 transport, transit. A modern tourist, traveler can be expected to have packages containing clothing, toiletries, sma ...
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
Walthamstow ( or ) is a town within the London Borough of Waltham Forest in east London. T ...
, East London (postal address Essex). In the early 1980s, it moved to nearby
Barkingside
Barkingside is an area in Ilford, in the London Borough of Redbridge. It includes the major road junction of Fullwell Cross, which also gives its name to the locality near that roundabout. The area is situated 10.6 miles (17km) north east of Ch ...
, also in East London (London Borough of Redbridge, postal address is in Essex). It was bought by
David Collischon.
In the late 1980s David Collischon floated the company on the stock exchange resulting in control of the company being taken over by Nightingale with Robin Field taking the role of MD.
In the early 1990s it moved its offices to central London, near Oxford Street, and subcontracted its warehouse operation to
Crick 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 buyout of the business. The deal provided an exit for
private equity
Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...
firm Dunedin Capital Partners. In 2012, the company was acquired by HSGP Investments.
References
External links
*
Filowiki independent listings of Filofax models' features
{{Authority control
Office equipment
Personal information managers
Companies established in 1921
1921 establishments in the United Kingdom