The history of the BECKMANN brand

1946. Norway is recovering from the Second World War, goods are still scarce in the shops and Olav Beckmann — a young man with unstoppable energy and a head full of ideas — is sitting in his living room, sewing. Not clothes, not handbags. He's sewing school backpacks for children. One after another, by hand, with a precision that will change the lives of generations. This is how the story of the Norwegian brand BECKMANN begins — and we're happy to be able to tell it in Czechia today.

From the living room to the world: 1946

Olav Beckmann didn't found a factory. He didn't get a big loan. He didn't measure the market. He simply knew that children need a backpack that won't harm them — and decided to make one. He planned it himself, designed it himself, sewed it himself. In the living room that served as his workshop, the first pieces were made – laying the foundation for one of the longest-running traditions in the history of school bag making.

It's the detail that fascinates us most about this story. Starting in a living room reminds us that great things aren't born in big offices. They're born where someone says: this could be better.

The sixties: when the leather came from Germany

In the 1960s BECKMANN gained its first international dimension — the synthetic leather for its school bags was made in Germany. The bag itself, however, remained typically Norwegian: practical, durable, functional. It could be carried or pulled on a trolley, and it quickly became popular with Norwegian parents – a popularity that lasted for decades.

One bag, two ways to use it. A forerunner of the philosophy that guides BECKMANN to this day: designing products that genuinely make life easier — for children and parents alike.

The seventies: a blue backpack and tartan for teenagers

The seventies brought an innovation we'd call "ergonomics ahead of its time" today. The blue school backpack came in three sizes — for the first time in the company's history adapted to the child's age, not the other way round. No one-size-fits-all "it'll fit somehow". The backpack matched the body.

And then came tartan. The checked model with a back panel with spring steel and a supporting frame became a cult piece among Norwegian teenagers. It lived on until 2000. Thirty years — that's not a seasonal hit, that's a classic.

The eighties: 10,000 backpacks a year to the USA

The leather backpack of the 1980s became the company's biggest international success to date. Every year, roughly 10,000 pieces crossed the ocean to the United States. Ten thousand. A year. From a Norwegian maker for local schools, BECKMANN was becoming a player with global reach.

Throughout the decade the company never stopped innovating the backpack — continuously improving, fine-tuning and perfecting it. Not to sell more. But because it could always be made a little better.

This may be the most important sentence in the whole story.

The nineties: Kristiansand, 22 litres and six versions

In the 1990s BECKMANN returned to its roots — the school range for the youngest. The new first-grade backpack had a 22-litre volume and a supporting frame and was made right in Kristiansand, Norway. It came in six versions and became a symbol of what Norwegian quality means: carefully designed, made at home with children in mind.

At the same time, a generation of parents who had grown up with BECKMANN was growing up in Norway. And they started buying it for their own children. The circle was closing.

Since 2000: 30 countries, one mission

Since the turn of the millennium the collection has grown year after year. BECKMANN is sold in 30 countries — and in each of them it says the same thing: a healthy back is no accident, it's the result of good design.

We joined this story in 2014 as the exclusive Czech distributor. Not because we were looking for a product to sell. But because, as parents, we had gone through the decision ourselves — what to buy, whom to trust, whether the price makes sense. And BECKMANN answered each of these questions convincingly.

Today, 2026

Today we accompany Czech families through their entire school years. From a preschool backpack, through a school bag for first-graders, to a student backpack for secondary school. And behind every backpack is a story that began in a Norwegian living room almost eight decades ago.

Sometimes we wonder what Olav Beckmann would say if he saw where his idea is today. We hope he'd smile. And keep sewing.

Become part of a story that has lasted 80 years.

We never planned to run a backpack shop. But then it was time to choose a school bag for our daughter...

Find out more about us