The hairy origin of the Kinko’s name. Hint: Kinko’s a person
Though it’s rapidly being phased out by Fed-Ex Office, Kinko’s remains memorable, largely for its unusual name. That leads to a natural question: Why is Kinko’s called Kinko’s? And how did Kinko’s get its name?
When Paul Orfalea founded the company in 1970, he used his long hair for inspiration. According to his memoir, his friends called him Mohair, Carpethead, and Brillo Pad. He used a similar nickname to name his first store.
Orfalea’s friends also called him Kinko because of his kinky hair. If things had gone differently, the copy chain might have been called Straighto’s—Orfalea briefly tried to straighten his curly hair.
The first Kinko’s store was in Santa Barbara near UC-Santa Barbara. The walls had mermaids painted on the sides and a single copier. When they leased a second copier, they pulled it out to the sidewalk because there wasn’t enough space for it in the store.
