If Frank Krasovec had to pick his favorite Koozie, it would have to be the one his wife gave him four decades ago for his 40th birthday.
The Austin-based entrepreneur admits he doesn’t know where it is around the house. But he noted the can cooler with “all the colors and all my friends’ names on it” marked a major milestone beyond his 40 years on earth.
It also was a shining example of the everyday can cooler he turned into a household name out of San Antonio.
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That’s right, the ubiquitous Koozie with a capital K first rose to fame in the early 1980s when Krasovec bought the brand and made San Antonio its major manufacturing hub. Put that fun fact around your beverage of choice and drink in the history.
“It was a home run times two,” said Krasovec, 83.
For nearly half a century, the thirsty masses have turned to the generic and trademarked drink wrap for cold comfort on a hot day.
It’s a summer beverage accessory that’s always in season. It shows your love for the Spurs or the Cowboys or any other team that drives you to drink in celebration or misery. It’s promotional swag at the big job fair or convention. A personalized memento of your best friend’s wedding or bachelorette party. A pun fest of the “I give into beer pressure” and “sip, sip, hooray” variety. Basically, anything you can express on a handheld foam and neoprene canvas.
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The original drink insulator has evolved beyond the common 12-ounce can. It also hugs slim-can energy drinks and seltzers. It zips up to the neck of long neck bottles. It even comes in stainless steel for an added layer of cool drink armor.
Today, the Koozie is the titular product of the Koozie Group, headquartered in Clearwater, Fla. The promotional products supplier acquired the brand in 2009 when the company was better known as BIC Graphic, part of the BIC Group behind the famous writing pens. BIC Graphic changed its name to Koozie Group in 2021.
But make no mistake: The Koozie has deep ties to the River City. Here’s how that tubular wonder first rolled out of San Antonio.
The ubiquitous beverage cooler, the Koozie, is a South Texas staple throughout the summer.
Photo illustration by Andrew J. Whitaker/San Antonio Express-News
Creativity at construction site
The modern Koozie was born in 1979 at a hot construction site, though its original creator’s day job is up for debate.
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The online lore goes Bob Autrey of San Antonio was knocking back a cold one at an Alamo City job site when he noticed the tubing insulation material he was installing fit perfectly around his beverage can. The wrap not only kept his drink cool but also kept his hands dry from the can’s condensation. Autrey named the makeshift wrap “Koozie” in honor of his grandmother, who called her teapot warmer a “cozy.”
That tale is only half right, according to Krasovec.
Autrey did coin the term “Koozie,” Krasovec said, but Autrey was a small business entrepreneur from Seguin, not a construction worker in San Antonio. Autrey happened to be in San Antonio when he saw a construction worker wrap his beer can in the foam tubing. Autrey added a bottom to the wrap to keep the can in place and the Koozie was born.
It’s unclear if the “Bob Autrey” behind the Koozie is still alive. There are no public records of a Bob or Robert Autrey from Seguin. Of the four Bob Autreys found with ties to San Antonio, two are deceased, one confirmed he is not the inventor of the Koozie and the other now resides in Oklahoma but did not reply to a phone message at press time.
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Koozie Group credits an unnamed worker at a Texas construction site for the invention. Koozie Group did not respond to multiple interview requests.
Koozie comes to San Antonio
According to Krasovec, Autrey started cranking out Koozies doing business as Concept Enterprises, a Seguin investment group Krasovec bought and moved to San Antonio. Concept Enterprises filed the stylized KOOZIE trademark registration on April 26, 1979. It was registered Dec. 16, 1980.
Koozie manufacturing in San Antonio dates back to at least 1980. One of the first newspaper ads hawking the Koozie ran Aug. 27, 1980, in the San Antonio Express. The beer vendor ad highlighted “Koozie cups foam insulated drink holders” in your choice of designs for as low as $1.29.
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Krasovec takes over
Koozies quickly became a six-figure success, with sales reportedly hitting $300,000 a year. But according to Krasovec, the manufacturing demand was more than Autrey could handle. So in 1984, Krasovec made Autrey an offer he couldn’t, and ultimately didn’t, refuse.
A full-page Koozie ad in the March 25, 1984, edition of the San Antonio Light. The ubiquitous drink sleeve quickly became a popular promotional product.
Express-News archives
“We just paid him a couple of hundred thousand for the business and the trademark,” Krasovec said.
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Under Krasovec, Concept Enterprises later became known as Radio Cap Co., a San Antonio promotional products company. Radio Cap originally screen-printed hats with corporate logos and operated out of the basement of a downtown radio station, hence the name.
On its Koozie Group Blog, Koozie Group credits Krasovec as the owner of Radio Cap Co. who became the proud owner of the Koozie name and design patent.
A colorful ’80s boom
The original Koozie material came in black. Radio Cap worked with the Koozie’s original tubing manufacturer to make them in a rainbow of colors, according to Koozie Group. Radio Cap upped its manufacturing capabilities to meet demand.
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An ad for a Whataburger/Dallas Cowboys Koozie in the Sept. 5, 1982, edition of the San Antonio Express-News.
Express-News archives
“We bought the insulated pipe and put the bottoms on and did all the decorating,” Krasovec said. “It was modified manufacturing. It was a good business.”
The 1980s were big years for little Koozies. As previously noted, Concept initially did around $300,000 a year in Koozie sales. By 1990, Radio Cap was ringing in about $8 million in Koozie sales and claiming roughly half of the national market.
“It was a great small investment,” Krasovec said.
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Aggressive ’90s expansion
Under Krasovec’s ownership, Radio Cap became a wholly owned subsidiary of a new holding company, Norwood, which Krasovec restructured and renamed Norwood Promotional Products in 1989.
By the mid-1990s, annual Koozie sales were ringing in a cool $13 million. Radio Cap grew the Koozie catalog to include Koozie Kup editions with an inserted cup as well as 16-ounce King Koozie Kup Travelers and 32-ounce Koozie Sport Bottles. Insulated Koozie Koolers covered six- and 12-packs as well as snack packs, lunch packs and backpacks. There were even Koozie MousePads and SpaceSaver Keyboard Koozies for the tech set.
In this 1990 photo, Radio Cap Co.’s John Finnell, vice president of marketing, left, and Paul Larson, vice president of manufacturing, stand where Koozies come off the assembly line. The San Antonio-based Radio Cap Co. acquired the Koozie name and patent in 1984.
Rick McFarland/San Antonio Light file photo
Chris Edelen grew up in San Antonio and joined Radio Cap in 1999 as vice president of marketing, then served as president from 2000 to 2003.
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Under Edelen’s watch, Radio Cap added the foldable neoprene Koozie that’s still popular today, as well as the curve-clinging bottle Koozie. Now a private investor and advisor, Edelen still affectionally refers to the Koozie as “a San Antonio product,” one that’s stood the test of time and technology.
“There’s been no technological or material innovation that has changed that,” he said. “Nobody has come up with anything that is dramatically changing the process or the material to keep things cold. It’s really kind of been a timeless product, which is how I would describe it.”
New century, trademark lapse
As the world spun into the 2000s, demand for Koozies and logo-bearing caps, coffee mugs and other promotional products began to level off and decline. This may explain why Norwood let the trademark expire in 2001.
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Suddenly, “koozies” were everywhere bearing the no-longer-trademarked name, sparking a rash of legal battles with online businesses over its commercial use. Norwood ultimately won and retained ownership.
Koozie sales peaked at around $18 million in the early 2000s, Edelen noted. But the trademark became a victim of “genericide,” which happens when a brand name becomes so popular it becomes a generic term for the whole product category.
Former Radio Cap Co. president Chris Edelen shown in July 2026 with the Koozies for his 1991 wedding. In the 1980s, the San Antonio-based Radio Cap was one of the first major manufacturers of the Koozie.
Courtesy Chris Edelen
To this day, Koozie remains as synonymous with drink insulators as Kleenex is with tissues, even though “koozie” is not a generic term.
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BIC acquires name, makes it its own
Despite the Koozie’s continued appeal in the mid-2000s, Norwood faced financial hardships due to rapid expansion debt and plant closures. Then came the economic collapse with the Great Recession in 2008.
Norwood filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May 2009. BIC Graphic acquired it two months later. BIC Graphic officially changed its name to Koozie Group in 2021, citing the flagship brand aligns with the company’s goal of “providing useful solutions that evoke positive vibes and spark lasting memories.”
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Koozie Group offers its titular drink cooler in myriad colors and formats, from your basic collapsible Koozie that folds flat to tuck in your pocket or purse to Koozie brand triple vacuum tumblers that would give Yeti a run for its cup holders. Yet the simple foldable Koozie remains a classic go-to to this day.
Before joining Radio Cap, Edelen had custom Koozies made for his 1991 wedding. Three decades later, he revisited the tradition with wedding Koozies for his son, Daniel.