Many years ago my mother bought me a box of vintage scarves from a yard sale for 1 dollar. Over the years I've worn many and had favorites, one of my favorites has always been this purple, brown, white, and pink printed one. When my roots start to grow in I frequently wear scarves to cover them up, and I love to wear this one. Well one day at school this girl mentioned how expensive this particular scarf looked, and I never thought of anything of it until I saw a scarf like mine with the Vera trademark in an E-bay auction with a designer scarf lot. I decided to research it and found a lot out about these Vera scarves!
History of "Vera":
The designer behind these scarves is Vera Neumann, an artist who became a textile designer. In 1946, her husband George, and partner Werner Hamm founded the Printex, soon after they began designing textiles. They used a small silk-screening machine to print designs onto linen, then Vera made them into placemats. Hamm took the finished placemats to B. Altman, and made the company's first sale. Printex started buying it, and it put them in the scarf business. Vera and George made the items themselves from their 57th street loft in Manhattan.
The "Vera" trademark was first used in 1947. By 1948 the business had gotten too big and they moved from the city to Ossinging, NY where they bought a mansion and made it into a studio/factory where the products were made from start to finish. By the 50s' the business was so big that she had other designers working for her, converting her original design into other products. There were 500-600 designs developed per year which were all copyrighted.
In the 60's a clothing line was added to the scarves and household linens. Blouses and dresses were made from the Vera textile designs. The earliest Vera clothing was made with either 100% cotton or 100% silk. Later, items were made from nylon and polyester.
An interesting fact is that in 1974, Perry Ellis went to work for Vera as a merchandise manager. He asked if he could submit designs for the clothing lines, she liked his work, and he became a designer for Vera. In 1976 he was given his own division, Portfolio by Perry Ellis for Vera, which he designed for three years before starting his own company. Vera worked nearly up to her death in 1993. Vera scarves continued to be made after her death, and today the trademark is owned by The Vera Company of Atlanta, GA.
How to place a date on your Vera scarf:
1947 - mid 50s: The earliest scarves were signed vera in a very small print. All the letters were lower case.
Late 50s- The Vera signature became capitalized.
Early 60s: The ladybug symbol and © copyright symbol (registered 1959) were added to the Vera. The signature and the bug were about the same size.
Mid to late 60s: The ladybug was used less, and the signature got larger. The ladybug became much smaller than signature.
Early 70s: The Vera signature continued to get larger and bolder. Usually no ladybug.
Mid 70s: Bug sometimes present, but disappears totally after 1976.
Late 70s: Signature started to slightly shrink.
80s: Smaller signature with © copyright symbol.
Some photos of Vera scarves:
