Fashion designer Vera Neumann set the foundation for her business in 1947, and now Susan Seid is on a mission to resurrect the brand.
Industry veterans knew Neumann for her brightly colored, eye-catching prints that looked great on everything from place mats to sheets and scarves. Her designs were selling at more than 20,000 stores worldwide by 1975. Neumann’s work, all inspired by her world travels, has even hung in some of the top U.S. museums, including the Smithsonian. She was a mentor to Perry Ellis and called Pablo Picasso a close friend.
Neumann died of a heart attack in 1993 at the age of 84. Her assets and trademarks were purchased in 1999 by Tog Shop, which primarily sold merchandise through a catalogue business based in Atlanta. Tog Shop sold only a simple pair of pants with the Vera label and put the thousands of prints in storage.
Tog Shop hired Seid in 2002 as vice president of merchandising. She was given a tour of the company’s headquarters and taken into a room full of Vera printed scarves.
“I felt like I was in the ‘Wizard of Oz’ when everything goes from black and white to Technicolor,” Seid recalled. “It was unbelievable. They had no idea what they had behind that door.”
When Tog Shop went up for sale in 2005, Seid asked executives to break out the Vera brand in the sale, and she purchased it. Now that Seid has all of these prints, she plans to bring the brand back in a major way. The logo will be the same: the Vera signature with her ladybug graphic next to her name.
“I have every original print that Vera created,” she said. “I feel like I have just struck gold…or maybe I was just bitten by the ladybug.”
Seid’s plan is to license the Vera brand, starting with apparel — dresses and scarves to be exact. For a spring launch, Seid has signed a license with New York-based contemporary designer Beth Bowley to create a collection of dresses using select Vera prints. Collection XIIX will produce the Vera scarves, all in silk.
“I talked to a number of potential licensees,” Seid said. “But I was intent about partnering with people that were as passionate about this brand as I am. Beth Bowley has great quality standards and a great eye for design, which is so important.”
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Seid is looking to target better department and specialty retailers with the line. There are silk and cotton printed dresses, with matching cashmere wraps. Dresses and wraps wholesale from $71 to $120. The scarves wholesale from $31 to $46.
“I really love this line,” said Stacy Pecor, owner of the New York-based Olive & Bette’s stores, which picked up several pieces from the collection. “I know Beth Bowley’s quality product and great fit, which was a major plus for me. The Vera collection was by far the most outstanding collection I saw at the last Coterie.”
Seid said she hopes to reach $4 million in wholesale volume with this launch. She said she is in talks to launch children’s wear, swim and sleepwear as well as paper goods and home products.