Vera Bradley 101: For the Beginners

First I want to say welcome! We have cookies! (Well, not really but it'd be really cool if I did). You may be reading this in research for your next bag. Or maybe you want to learn about the new Vera Bradley you received as a present. Let me teach you why you should love it, cherish, it, and sometimes let it go (to get another Vera Bradley bag):

1. Vera Bradley was founded by Patricia Miller and Barbara Bradley Baekgaard in 1982. They worked together selling wallpaper and noticed while traveling how boring and blah luggage was. So they went to work creating their own line of luggage and handbags to solve the problem. The company is name after Barbara's mother, Veronica (Vera) Bradley, who sold bags for them in Florida until she passed away in the early 1990's. The company is headquartered in Fort Wayne.

2. The company was once well-known for making their bags in the US. The older bags have tags with “Indiana” specifically on them. However, the company took most of their production overseas to China in the late 2000's and now all of their products are made overseas. Customers often assume the bags are still made in the US. (pic of Indiana tag)

3. Although the company has diversified into leather, accessories, bedding, perfume, jewelry, etc, they are most well-known for their fabric bags. They are lightweight, often washable, and generally affordable.

4. There are a lot of patterns available in each of the Vera Bradley styles. They release new patterns about four times a year, and usually several new styles in the all the current patterns along with each release. They “retire” patterns about twice a year, and styles a little less often. You will discover a style is retired if you search their website, www.verabradley.com, and that style is not made in the newest patterns. Retired patterns will go on discount and will be sold at their outlet stores. You can find a decent list of retired patterns at  www.verabradley.com/us/static/retiredpatterns. However this list does not include special editions and limited releases.

5. Annual sale vs outlet stores, this can be very confusing to a Vera newbie. The Annual Sale is the annual outlet sale Vera Bradley hosts in Fort Wayne. They opened their first outlet stores a few years ago. At the Annual Sale you'll find seconds, returns, unique items used at photo shoots, limited release items, and older items if you have a keen eye. The outlet stores have “factory exclusive” items and retired items. If you're interested in attending an Annual Sale, check out my three part guide for the Outlet Sale. You won't find a more comprehensive guide on the Internet! You can follow the sale on social media using #vbas17. Just change the year accordingly going forward.

6. There are several Vera Bradley fan groups and resell pages on Facebook. I highly recommend Vera Bradley Buzz. The ladies there are super helpful and drama is not allowed. You can also follow Vera Bradley on Instagram, Twitter, and through their blog Inside Stitch.

7. Pattern placement can be very important. For example, you don't want a bag with a decapitated bird on the front if the pattern has birds in it. Every bag is unique with the fabric line. If you're buying on eBay, check with the seller to make sure what the bag actually looks like. Some sell multiples of an item and use stock photos. You can't pick your pattern placement when ordering from the Vera Bradley website, nor with placing phone orders with the stores. Placement pics

8. The diamond stitching on the Vera Bradley bags is iconic.  However, it's also a difficult stitch for manufacturers. Very often some of the diamonds do not line up. It's up to you how off you'll find acceptable. This does not mean the bag is a fake, nor is it defective (unless the stitching is WAY off). (Off diamond pic)

9. Coupons – The most common coupon is $30 off your order of $125 that you can receive with your online order. This coupon can't be used for sale items, the collegiate collection, nor the leather line. You can sign up at stores and join their email list. There they will ask for your birthday and you should receive a birthday coupon during the month of your birthday. I say should because Vera Bradley is not consistent with their delivery. I suggest calling customer service if you don't receive one. It's the best coupon you will get from them. It used to be 40% off any one item or 25% off your entire order. This coupon does include sale items. Both online orders and phone orders with a Vera Bradley store offer free shipping when you spend $75 or more. (Insert coupon pic)

10. If you aren't a hoarder like me, you can resell your used bags. Ebay is the most popular website to sell them on, but there is also Poshmark, Mecari, Vera Bradley Facebook resell groups (not in Buzz that I mentioned earlier), and Etsy. If your bag shows a lot of wear, maybe you could sell it for scrap. You should except to get 20%-30% of the retail value back, if your bag is in great condition.

11. Speaking of wear, there are consistent places of wear you should look out for on your fabric bags. Primarily the corners and the straps get the most wear. The corners are often the easiest place to find hole. The older bags had layers of fabric to help with this, but the newer ones do not. The straps, obviously, can get dingy and yellow with wear. You could try Scotch Guard on them to help prevent staining. I've never tried it, but I've heard it works. It may give your bag a stiffer, slicker feel.

12. The Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer is a big part of the company. Since 1998 they've raised over $25 million for breast cancer research. The company holds events like the Vera Bradley Classic - their annual tennis and golf tournaments, and Tickled Pink – a fun annual night at their Design Center in Fort Wayne that anyone can buy tickets to attend. One pattern in the fabric line of bags is designated as a breast cancer pattern every year. These are marked with special Foundation retail tags. 10% of the profits from the sales of that pattern go to their Foundation.