1946 Address:

Jana Handbags Inc.
232 Madison Ave
New York 16, NY

After WWII's end Jana established a prominant advertising presence in Vogue and Harpers Bazaar. The 20% luxury tax was still in place, so it took some aspirational encouragement for buyers to spend $12.50-$25 ($126.53 to $253.05 in 2011 dollars) PLUS 20% for Uncle Sam 20PercentFederalLuxuryTax for the purchase of Luxury goods!

Jana Handbags exhibited at the Fashion Flair 1947FashionFair, June 12, 1947 at Madison Square Garden. "Handbags Illustrated" July 1947 page 56

Display ad "Handbag Buyer" June 1949, page 41

This quarter page Display ad for Radiant Leather Company's Willow Calf features a Jana Briefcase style handbag. ("Handbag Buyer" June 1949, page 72)

Betty Held, editor of "Handbag Buyer" in June 1949, included this tidbit in her "Out of the Bag" gossip column on page 32.

"Harry Jason of Jana Handbag, accompanied by his wife and nine-year-old son Eric, sailed on Thursday, May 5, on the Queen Mary. They'll be gone about five weeks, during which time they expect to tour France, Italy and England. This should be quite an eventful trip since their boat carried many celebrities including Jane Wyman, Governor Dewey, Chaim Weitzman and many others. The Jasons expect to return on the Queen Mary."

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The 1950s

Display ad February 1950 "Handbags and Fashion Accessories," page 64

January 1955 Handbags & Accessories, page 42

March 1955 display ad, page 51 Handbags & Accessories

Learn more about Fa-cileFasteners

Accessory market round-up

"Jana's distinctive group of marbleized calf bags are offered in tortise shell, sand or antique white. A very long pouch has a rigid swinging handle; a French gusseted vanity type has gold polished legs. There is a hooded ac-cordian pleated box and a neat clutch on a gold jeweler's frame." (Handbags & Accessories December 1955, page 34)

Bags for Spring 1956 were presented on January 3, 1956 by agreement as a member of the National Authority for the Ladies Handbag Industry. 1956NationalAuthorityMembers

Accessory market round-up

"Jana Handbags, 232 Madison Avenue, accents the silhouette of the long pouch in Scotch grain, reverse suede, smooth leathers, dressy suede and velvet. The browns, taupe, gray, navy and black are among color offerings. A great many casual shapes made in Italy at Jana's direction, feature new softness. Natural and self-stitching are used in these bags, many of which are done in new combinations of suede-trimmed aniline finish leathers. These bags are fabric lined and have inside purses, zippers and compartments. Many are zip-top styles. Some styles, new for Italian bags, are done in three sizes and retail at $10.95, $12.95 and $15.'' (Handbags & Accessories June 1956, page 56)

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The 1960s

Jana produced some lucite bags under their label in the 60s.

February 1961 Handbags & Accessories, page 40 and in the June 1961 issue on page 61

Pucci was the rage in the mid-60s. Jana was the authorized Pucci maker and manufactured bags in Italy of the uS market. Many companies, including Meyers and Julius Resnick, climbed on the bandwagon, producing bags in Pucci and Pucci-like fabrics.

The New York rimes took note of this trend in their issue February 23, 1966, page 34.

Everything's Coming Up Pucci by Enid Nemy

The distinctive Pucci type of print is one of the strongest fashion statements brightening the tag end of winter.

Some of the prints now being shown on almost every floor of department stores are originals, designed in a Florentine palazzo and bearing the "Emilio" signature. But, more often than not, they are a strong and moderately priced echo.

The growing number of Pucci-influenced items has apparently done nothing to dampen the ardor of the true aficionados. Sales of the originals have never been better, stores report. "The more they make, the better ours took,'* said a representative of Jana Accessories, the concern that makes the official Pucci handbags and accessories. The purse accessories cost from $6 to $20 and the handbags for $19 to $60 and “we don’t make enough to go around…purposely so.

QUITE A PHENOMENON

On the other hand, Herbert Meyers, an executive of the Meyers Manufacturing Company MeyersManufacturingCo, says his company's print bags, strongly reminiscent of Pucci, are "quite a phenomenon — selling well across the country and accounting for probably 25 per cent of our business."

The six Meyers styles, ranging from an over-the-shoulder barrel to a design that is a cross between a. Pucci and a Gucci, sell for about $14 in almost every major store in the city.
Mr. Meyers has only one note of admonition: Pucci is the Italian designer of women's wear. His main office is in Florence. Gucci, an Italian company, makes women’s handbags and other leather accessories. It has branches in Europe and in this country.

"We would hope that these handbags won't be worn with print dresses. They are meant for plain linens and silks."

Julius Resnick, Inc., another handbag concern, is busily readying six new inspired-by-Pucci styles to retail for about $7.

OTHER ACCESSORIES

The over-all effect will be completed with eyeglasses and cigarette cases and cosmetic and coin purses at $3 each.
Wilroy, Inc. where $25 to $50 Ban-Ion and silk Jersey dresses hang in closets from bed-sitting rooms to Park Avenue duplexes, does less than 5 per cent of its business on Pucci-like prints, but even that figure is formidable in a firm that manufactures in thousands of dozens. The newest addition to the vast Wilroy line is the collection of silk raincoats ($70). These will soon be made in Ban-Lon as well. One of the most eye-catching prints in blue and violet has everything but the “Emillio” signature.

"We have our own took," Jack Barr, the vice president, says- "We try to balance our shipments so that there will be a selection of prints for every kind of woman—including the women who like the Pucci look. They aren’t our main concern, but we have them.”
Women who wear authentic Pucci silk jersey pay $140 to $170 for them. The look at Mr. Dino, Inc. is a colorful one, with a Mr. Dino signature on each dress or overblouse, discreetly placed at the hemline.

"We felt the influence of Pucci strongly at first," rays Joan Kay, sales manager of the four-year-old concern. "But we have a definite signature of our own now and our name has become ft prestige thing."

Mr. Dlno's overblouses and shirts cost from $17 to $25, Pucci's from $40 to $65. Berets, scarf hats and kerchiefs are also being made in the vibrant prints.

CUSTOMER’S REQUEST

One of the few areas left virtually untouched in the children’s market. But at Rue des Enfants, the two partners Sheila Marks and Linda Goldberg, have designed a hooded lounging outfit in Pucci inspired fabric “for sophisticated children of sophisticate mothers.”

The two fabric concerns that print many of the Pucci-like designs- Robaix Inc. and Edwards Inc.- both do so only at the specific request of a customer.

“We do custom designing and a manufacturer must order at least 1,000 yards,” says Jerome Rossman, Jr., president of Robaix. "We have about 15 of these Pucci-type prints, but we were asked to do them."

The Pucci look In a Ban-Lon dress by Crazy Horse is surrounded by the Pucci look in Ban-Lon handbags by Meyers. Ban-Lon, a synthetic fabric, is made by Fair-Tex Mills, Inc. The bags sell for $14 in almost every major store in the city.

An example of a Pucci by Jana bag ca. 1965.

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April 1949 Handbag Buyer, pg 50 scan pg 51 Jan 1954 H&A display ad

1946_ad

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Categories: Makers