Clear solution to schools’ no-backpack rules

When school officials banned backpacks at Cohasset Middle School in Massachusetts recently after a series of students’ threats, Jeanne Astino saw how hard it was for her fifth-grade daughter to carry books, binders, pencils and papers.

“All of a sudden one day, I thought, ‘What if I could find a clear backpack?’ ” said Astino, who searched the Internet for see-through bags.

Up came the Web address for Louisville, Ky., startup, My Clear Backpack Co. After the school agreed to exempt the plastic packs from the ban – designed to keep students from sneaking weapons into school – she and several dozen other Cohasset-area families placed orders.

Now the book-juggling days are over, Astino said. Her daughter “can put everything in there … Everything fits. I think it’s a great thing.”

The Massachusetts story is typical of the orders that come to My Clear Backpack, said Monte Lucas, owner and company president. The business already has a growing list of customers – schools worried about weapons, prisons concerned about employees smuggling in contraband and retailers wary of employees who might slip out of their stores with a backpack full of stolen merchandise.

Capitalizing on the growing market for security that followed the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the company sells a variety of see-through gear, including clear plastic or mesh backpacks, lunch bags, tote bags, fanny packs, picnic bags, athletic-equipment carriers and more.

Lucas began working on the Internet-based company four years ago as a sideline to his work as an automation consultant. After studying other see-through products, he thought he could build a better bag.

He got a hand with the designs from his wife, Amanda Lucas, who worked at the time as a kindergarten teaching assistant. “First thing every morning, she would help the kids unload the backpacks,” Monte Lucas said. “She knew exactly what she liked or didn’t like about the current kids’ products.”

Lucas doesn’t release sales figures, but the company is still small enough to operate out of the couple’s home. Still, the couple has big hopes for My Clear Backpack and has so far re-invested profits into the company.