Perennial Vintage Supply: The Papel Mug Company

Just recently, I picked up a vintage mug for my shop and looked at the bottom of it. It was made by Papel. Papel is a company I've seen for decades. I've owned Papel mugs for years, and I remember seeing it growing up. I just figured Papel was another gift-making company, like Hallmark, that had been around since the '80s.

Well, I finally did a deeper dive into the brand, and what came up totally shocked me: Papel began at Walt Disney's Disneyland in 1955. What? How did I not know this? Papel's mug invasion all started and thrived because Walt took a chance at letting the owner and creator, Phil Papel, set up a small shop on Main Street, USA, of Disneyland. He called his shop "Ruggles China and Gifts." This wonderful storefront was there from 1955 to 1964.

The rest is history.

I'm such a Disneyland fan, have gone dozens of times, love the joy Walt Disney created, and am in awe of his visionary and creative endeavors. I also love vintage mugs, have a slight obsession with collecting and selling mugs, so this combination of two loves into one is sort of over-the-top incredible. I'm having a hard time believing two cherished things - Disney and vintage mugs - get to be celebrated together!

I've had issues tracking down, tracing, and researching other brands of vintage items I sell in my shop. It's as if some designers disappear after having a wonderful career. And if no one is recording the history of the brand, it disappears with them. Which is a horrible shame. Papel, on the other hand, actually has a history (thankfully, his son is making sure the name continues in the history books!) and there's even a website, through his son Stanley, which is remarkable.

Stanley is still making sure his father's legacy is written down, recorded, and known. He's on LinkedIn with lots of information regarding a book or two he's written about his father. The current one is called "Generation to Generation," and you can find it here. I look forward to reading it.

There is another page of information I found about Papel through Phil's granddaughter, Melissa (Stanley's daughter), and it is loaded with images of designs. They were the FIRST company to do personalized name mugs. Amazing.

300 million mugs sold later, even though the mug production is no longer, the history, love, and incredible tenacity of a man named Phil Papel created a corporation that put smiles on millions of American homes over the years.

What a legacy. Thank you, Phil Papel, for your ingenuity and vision for filling a void in the coffee mug industry. And thank you, Stanley, for continuing that legacy.

If you're anything like me, you have had - or still have - a Papel mug (or more) in your cupboards. And guess what? You have Phil Papel to thank for that.

Cheers. May your mug be vintage and your coffee hot.

-Heather