“Good design endures,” explains Susan Seid, current owner of The Vera Company.  Seid’s statement during Fashion Lawyer’s interview  illuminates the reason why in 2007, designs from Vera Neumann’s brightly printed scarves still seem fresh even 50 or 60 years after their conception. 

During her life Vera Neumann (pictured above), artist and original owner of The Vera Company, experienced nearly unparalleled success. She began in 1947 by using extra parachute silk to fashion bright scarves, and by the 1970’s, her company was making over $100 million- impressive commercial success for any artist!  

Susan Seid stands ready to move the Vera brand into renewed success, her model for brand regeneration? Coach.  Read below and discover where Vera is going and how the brand will get there.

Fashion Lawyer: How did you become involved with The Vera Company?

Susan Seid: My background was in apparel merchandising and direct mail, and I was interviewing with the direct marketing catalog Tog Shop.  See, Tog Shop had been producing Vera apparel since 1992, and in 1999, they actually bought the Vera brand.  I live in Atlanta, and the main office of Tog Shop was down in Americus, Georgia.  One day, I finally made the trip down to meet with Tog Shop’s owner.  He took me into a factory that had all kinds of defunct equipment, and he led me up a narrow set of stairs and to a door. 

When he opened the door, I felt as though I was in the Wizard of Oz, when the movie turns from black and white to color. The room I stepped into was bursting full of hanging scarves and boxes filled with Vera’s prints and artwork.  I was speechless.  You know when you fall in love and all sensibility leaves your head? The owner promised me that if I took the position with Tog Shop that I would be able to do something with the archives of Vera that he was storing. I took the position with Tog Shop mainly because of Vera.  About 2 years to the day from that, I actually bought the brand.

Fashion Lawyer: Wow.  I can understand why.  I absolutely love the brand.  I see the scarves around the neck of many a stylish New York hipster girl.  Where do you plan to go with the brand?

Susan Seid: Vera Neumann is an iconic American artist.  You know, I really feel like I am the guardian of this brand, and I want to make sure that it is out there, being used by the public in the way Vera would have wanted.  Her idea with her artwork was to have high quality fine art available for ordinary people to purchase- that’s really still the company’s motto under my leadership.  I want the brand to be readily available and affordable- even for those interested in young contemporary fashion.  When I was still with Tog Shop it was the young twenty-something ladies who would say, “Why aren’t we doing more with Vera?”

I want to extend the brand licenses into linens, handbags, shoes… stationery.  Anything that you can put a print on.  Currently, Collection 18 handles the apparel licensing, and I am also forming new agreements with some very talented people.  Vera is currently selling at Fred Segal, Ron Herman and Henri Bendel.  One representative from Bendel’s told me that few brands can cross generational and product categories successfully, but Vera does just that. 

Fashion Lawyer: How are you going about getting exposure for the brand?

Susan Seid: Last Sunday we were involved in an art auction in Chicago with a fabulous auctioneer there.  The idea was to get Vera Neumann back out on the fine art market with her peers like Joan Miro.  We were very pleased with the auction and sold three of her original art pieces.  I do feel that there is a regeneration in interest in women artists, and Vera is really beginning to come back into her own.  People say that her art affects at a visceral level because it’s authentic. 

Also, we’ve hired a new P.R. firm to help gain exposure, and additionally, I am just trying to get the story out there of who this woman was and the remarkable things that she accomplished at a time when women were not as involved in business.  She’s the classic kitchen table success story!

I, for one, am sure thatVera’s success story is far from over.