BrownTrout Publishers, Inc. is the largest calendar publisher in the world, and the only major publisher that is still independent. We produce over 1,200 titles and print more than 13 million calendars annually for a worldwide market. But we didn’t start this big. BrownTrout was founded in 1986, in Salt Lake City, by today’s CEO Mike Brown, along with his brother Marc Brown and sister-in-law Wendover Brown, with just three published calendar titles and 10,000 printed calendars. It wasn’t long before we began to publish wildlife, dog, cat, and horse breed calendars.
The nineties saw big growth for BrownTrout, as our corporate headquarters moved to San Mateo, California, and sales offices opened in Redondo Beach. Our distribution center in Vacaville opened in 1997, right before we won “Vendor of the Year” from Tractor Supply. We began our international expansion in 1999, opening offices around the world. With offices in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Netherlands, we embraced an international strategy that still allows us to serve our network of local and multinational retailers.
In 2000, our first licensed title, Pokemon, sold over 1.2 million units, generating over $15 million for our customers. Our calendar product list exceeded 1,000 titles by 2007, which eventually included the popular Goats in Trees title and the debut of Justin Bieber’s fist calendar with over 630,000 copies sold. With more titles and formats to offer, we began to supply other retailers such as Kmart, Target, and Walmart, as well as warehouse clubs.
In 2012, we moved our offices from Northern to Southern California, and also acquired Wyman Publishing in Canada. We continued to win numerous Calendar Marketing Association awards and was named “Vendor of the Year” by Calendar Club. BrownTrout continues to grow and take pride in being the leading calendar publishing company in the market.
Check our 2019 Calendar Collection by clicking HERE