SHS Grad Improves the Backpack

When Lauren Bass attended school in Scarsdale (where she lived from the ages of  4- 17 ), she realized backpacks could be greatly improved upon. And now, years later, Bass has launched the business Gutzy Gear to do just that. Gutzy Gear, which Bass founded with her cousin Wendy Koolik, offers kids the opportunity to personalize their backpacks and messenger bags with patches (called Gutzies) that express their hobbies, interests, and passions.

“Children’s backpacks are the same today as when I was bringing a backpack to school in Scarsdale,” says Bass. So when she and her cousin Koolik found a sweater their grandma Betty had made featuring patches from all of the golf courses where she had played, it sparked an idea. They decided to create “flair”-like, removable, tradable patches that could be used to customize any bag and reflect the personality of the carrier.

Gutzy Gear has already seen great success—the Gutzies were featured on “The Today Show” and in Us Weekly. But it was in Scarsdale where Bass first honed her business sense. She was always inventing little businesses and flexing her creative muscles as a young girl. Then in college, at the University of Michigan, she started her first real company called the Privelege dining card.

Gutzy Gear is available at Child’s Play and Denny’s in Scarsdale and at Millers in Mamaroneck.