Location July 1947:

Meyers Manufacturing Co.
330 Fifth Avenue
New York 1, NY

December 1935 Luggage & Leather Goods, page 53

The Handbag News column of the February 1942 Luggage & Leather carried this story on page 64.

Mother and Daughter Types

"Meyers Manufacturing Co. is showing a group of simulated leathers to retail around $1.59, featuring the mother and daughter angle. Generously sized bags, many in the long narrow silhouette, are fitted with duplicate smaller bags to be used for change or cosmetics.
The Kosmo Kit group which features a center change purse with cosmetic zipper pocket continues to be good with this firm, and is offered in both the $1 and $1.59 ranges.
Simulated python grain in red, green and beige as well as simulated patent and calf types are being shown in the season's leading staple and novelty colors."

July 1947, example of Meyer's Back to School line in Handbags Illustrated, page 41. The bags were style 4901, priced at $20.70 per dozen wholesale. They were produced in calf-grained or patent style plastic in black or brown.

"Make the adventure-minded pleased as punch by showing 'em this patent plastic box bag. They'll be doubly joyous when they see that this one has a "kid sister" size handbag hidden inside. By Meyers Manufacturing Co."

Trade news for June 1949 included this notice. (page 40 June 1949 "Handbag Buyer")

Bryna Baker Joins Meyers Mfg.

Bryna Baker

George Meyers, of Meyers Manufacturing Co., announces the appointment of Bryna Baker as stylist and fashion consultant. She will work closely with the production department in an effort to bring more fashion details to this popular priced line. Mrs. Baker is well known in the handbag industry. For the past few years she was handbag buyer with W. T. Grant Co. Prior to that she held a buying post with R. H. Miller and May Company New York buying office.

The 1950s

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

The 1960s

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, 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 wont 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.

Categories: Makers