Jostens Inc. is an American manufacturer of memorabilia. The company is primarily known for its production of

yearbooks A yearbook, also known as an annual, is a type of Annual publication, a book published annually. One use is to record, highlight, and commemorate the past year of a school. The term also refers to a book of statistics or facts published annually ...

academic regalia Academic dress is a traditional form of clothing for academic settings, mainly tertiary (and sometimes secondary) education, worn mainly by those who have obtained a university degree (or similar), or hold a status that entitles them to assum ...

, and

class ring In the United States and Canada, a class ring (also known as a graduation, graduate, senior, or grad ring) is a ring (jewellery), ring worn by students and alumni to commemorate their final academic year and/or graduation, generally for a high ...

s for various

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

s and

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...

s as well as championship rings for sports. For over 50 years, Jostens has been the supplier of the Super Bowl championship rings. Jostens also produced photobook products for Disney's PhotoPass photography service offered at Disney theme parks and resorts. As well as its headquarters near

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

and operational offices in

Owatonna, Minnesota Owatonna ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Steele County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 26,420 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Owatonna is home to the Steele County Fairgrounds, which hosts the Steele County F ...

, Jostens has facilities in

Clarksville, Tennessee Clarksville is a city in Montgomery County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 166,722 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tennessee, fifth-most populo ...

;

Denton, Texas Denton is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Denton County, Texas, Denton County. With a population of 139,869 as of 2020, it is the List of cities in Texas by population, 20th-most populous city in Texas, the List of Un ...

;

Eagan, Minnesota Eagan ( ) is a city in Dakota County, Minnesota, United States. It is south of Saint Paul, Minnesota, Saint Paul and lies on the south bank of the Minnesota River, upstream from its confluence with the Mississippi River. Eagan and the other near ...

;

Laurens, South Carolina Laurens is a city in Laurens County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 9,139 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Laurens County. History Located in upstate South Carolina, the city of Laurens is named after Henry Lau ...

;

Sedalia, Missouri Sedalia is a city located approximately south of the Missouri River and, as the county seat of Pettis County, Missouri, Pettis County, Missouri, United States, it is the principal city of the Sedalia Micropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 ...

;

Shelbyville, Tennessee Shelbyville is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Bedford County, Tennessee. The town was laid out in 1810 and incorporated in 1819. Shelbyville had a population of 20,335 at the 2010 census. The town is a hub of the Tennessee Wa ...

; the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

; and Aguascalientes, Mexico.

History

Otto Josten founded the company as a watch-repair business in Owatonna in 1897. Jostens (then called "Josten's" the apostrophe was later dropped) began manufacturing emblems and awards for nearby schools. In 1906, its year of incorporation, Josten added class rings to his product line, the market being the Midwest. Jostens created the American Yearbook Company in 1950, later merging it under the Jostens brand. In 2003, Jostens was acquired by private equity firm DLJ Merchant Banking, a subsidiary of aPriori Capital Partners. The following year, in 2004, DLJ and KKR formed

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

-based Visant Corporation. On October 14, 2015, consumer products manufacturer

Jarden Jarden was an American consumer products company. Formed by the spin out of Ball Corporation's canning business, the company became a wider conglomerate of consumer brands, particularly in the outdoors and home appliances market. Jarden was a ...

acquired Jostens from Visant Corporation, stating that it planned to take advantage of synergies with its other properties (particularly Rawlings and Yankee Candle), and "turn it into a true consumer-product business, as opposed to it historically being run like a printing asset". Jarden merged with Newell Rubbermaid in 2016 to form

Newell Brands Newell Brands Inc. is an American manufacturer, marketer and distributor of consumer and commercial products. The company's brands and products include Rubbermaid storage/or waste disposal containers; home organization and reusable container ...

. In 2018, Newell Brands sold Jostens to Platinum Equity for $1.3 billion.

Products

Jostens is the primary supplier of Super Bowl rings, and having made 37 of the 57 championship rings as of 2024. In April 2015, Jostens launched the world's first

Adobe InDesign Adobe InDesign is a desktop publishing and page layout designing software application software, application produced by Adobe Inc., Adobe and first released in 1999. It can be used to create works such as posters, flyers, brochures, magazines, ...

streaming partnership with

Adobe Inc. Adobe Inc. ( ), formerly Adobe Systems Incorporated, is an American computer software company based in San Jose, California. It offers a wide range of programs from web design tools, photo manipulation and vector creation, through to video/audi ...

, called "Monarch," at the Journalism Education Association spring convention in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control Companies based in Minneapolis Design companies established in 1897 Jewelry companies of the United States Printing companies of the United States Publishing companies of the United States Private equity portfolio companies Yearbooks Manufacturing companies established in 1897 1897 establishments in Minnesota Publishing companies established in 1897 2015 mergers and acquisitions 2016 mergers and acquisitions 2018 mergers and acquisitions