Why The '90s Clear Phones Became So Popular

Before clear phones were all the rage, AT&T monopolized the phone business, and it was more than just your phone service provider: The company, also known as Ma Bell, rented phones to most people, too, as The Washington Post reported in 1983. After AT&T was dismantled, a free-for-all in new and unusual phone designs followed. Clear phones were just one new design among many. At that time, there were also hamburger, banana, and football-shaped phones — and even Barbie and Garfield brand designs. 

In 2020, one-time Conair CEO Barry Haber, formerly of Conair's consumer electronics division, told Slate, "In the phone business, you have to understand that after the phones were deregulated, the industry went from one company, AT&T, being our phone supplier, to two years later, there were over 300 companies supplying telephones." 

Clear phones weren't an original idea at Conair, which was typically a maker of beauty electronic devices like hairdryers. According to Mental Floss, the Los Angeles Times' 1988 Disneyland guide listed a clear phone sold at the Premiere Shop in Tomorrowland. But Haber thought with just a few changes, existing clear phone designs could be marketed to young women — Conair's target demographic.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7qL7Up56eZpOkunB9k2lvbWxhZMSpxYxqcHJoo2KwrbHAq2SpoJ%2BjsrR5wZ6amqWVYr2wvNSlmKtn