A venerable Chicago-area company perhaps best known for its paper shredders is making a run at the ski-slope-shredding set and other action-sports enthusiasts.
Itasca-based Fellowes Brands Inc. recently purchased startup Optrix, which makes iPhone and iPad cases, mounting gear and lens adapters that allow users to record everything from ski runs to mountain bike rides to big waves, CEO John Fellowes said. Optrix was founded in San Rafael, Calif., in 2011.
Fellowes said he hopes to put the power of his company’s distribution network into the four-year-old Optrix brand, whose sales had been primarily online and in West Coast specialty retailers. The companies didn’t disclose terms of the deal, which they plan to announce this week.
“It’s a business that’s selling well today, but there’s a much bigger upside potential,” Fellowes said. “That’s really where the opportunity is.”
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Fellowes already sells mobile accessories under the Body Glove brand, and Optrix gear will be sold as Optrix by Body Glove, Fellowes said.
Although John Fellowes didn’t mention action camera-maker GoPro by name, he’s clearly gunning for a piece of the surging sector. San Mateo, Calif.-based GoPro, which went public in June, closed at $91 per share Monday, a high since its $24-per-share IPO in June. Also entering the market last week was Polaroid, with its Cube, positioning itself as a lower-cost alternative to the GoPro.
Fellowes, founded in Chicago in 1917 as a maker of boxes for storing financial documents, still makes storage boxes but also makes paper shredders, air-purification equipment and mobile accessories.
John Fellowes said the Optrix acquisition broadens the company’s offerings, essential for it to stay ahead of ever-changing technology.
Office products “will always be a part of our roots,” he said. “But office products will change. And traditional office products will continue to decline.”
John Fellowes, the fourth generation to lead the company, said mobile accessories represent about 20 percent of the privately held company’s business in the U.S. and about 10 percent globally. He sees plenty of room to grow that, he said.
The company won a Chicago Innovation Award in 2007 for a safety device on its paper shredders. Dan Miller, co-founder of the Chicago Innovation Awards, said Fellowes knows the importance of product development.
“Fellowes’ future depends on innovation” Miller said. “If they can’t find it inside, they’ll have to go outside and acquire it.”
John Fellowes said the company was looking to expand in the mobile-accessories space and connected with Optrix founder John Willenborg at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. They finalized the deal Aug. 8, he said. Optrix operations will be run out of Fellowes’ Itasca headquarters, though Fellowes said Willenborg will keep California as his base.
Fellowes said Willenborg, a motorcycle racer, got the idea for Optrix when he arrived at a race and realized he hadn’t brought his sports action camera. Willenborg had his iPod with him and secured it to his helmet, Fellowes said.
“He realized he could play back his race immediately,” Fellowes said, citing what he said is an advantage of the smartphone or tablet over other action-sports cameras.
The basic Optrix kit includes a waterproof case, plus two lens attachments that can be placed over the smartphone or tablet lens, Fellowes said.
Fellowes said Optrix will be marketed to the action-sports set and “also works for a family who just want to put a waterproof case on their phone and let kids take videos in the pool.”