The "Knight" Trademark
The Champion Trademark
The “knight” trademark emerged soon after formation of a
corporate advertising department in Hamilton in 1924. Charles B. Falls,
a New York artist, was hired to design a trademark which would suggest
the company name and symbolize leadership, integrity, dignity and strength.
Falls created a mounted knight in full armor with a flowing robe and carrying
a lance.
The first Champion trademark also featured a motto: "The Champion
of organization, equipment & service -- the foundation of quality."
The logo was first used Oct. 19, 1925, in labeling paper made in the Hamilton
mill. It was registered March 22, 1927, in the U. S. Patent Office. For
nearly 50 years the medieval knight and the accompanying slogan were utilized
in a variety of ways, both inside the company and in advertising its products
to potential customers.
"It is your trademark -- for your reputation as a worker depends
upon its success -- and its success depends upon your work," said
Peter G. Thomson in explaining the symbol's relevance in an employee publication.
"The Champion trademark is in reality no stronger than the least
efficient worker in the Champion mills."
The knight continued to represent the combined company after the Champion
Coated Paper Company of Hamilton and the Champion Fibre Company of Canton,
N. C. - both founded by Thomson - became the Champion Paper and Fibre
Company in 1935.
In July 1961, the company was renamed Champion Papers Inc., and the knight
was redesigned and diminished in its use.
Mergers later prompted additional trademark changes and the knight was
gradually retired. When it was last used on company documents, labels
and advertising is unknown. But the knight's final appearance on the masthead
of Chips, the Hamilton mill employee publication, was May 23, 1974.
View The Champion Coated Paper Company TImeline (1893 - 2005)