The story
Company Creation and Growth
Company Creation
The founders, Baekgaard and Miller, met in 1975 in Fort Wayne. Baekgaard was redecorating her home by hanging wallpaper when Miller, who was new to the area, came over to her house and introduced herself. Baekgaard asked for help hanging the wallpaper and this experience developed into a wallpapering company they created, called Up Your Wall.
The two were in an airport while traveling back from Florida for a spring trunk show, the pair noticed the bland, masculine carry-on bags that many travelers were using. Baekgaard and Miller thought that women may want the option to use something brighter and more feminine. Once back in Indiana, they borrowed $500 from their husbands, bought some fabrics inspired by the Pierre Deux French Provençal look popular at the time, and had a seamstress friend develop prototype bags. They disassociated the bags from the wallpaper they sold in order to find out what the demand would be if the customers were not aware the bags were produced by them. The two named the bags "Vera Bradley" after Baekgaard's mother. The bags sold well, and family members ran the business out of Baekgaard's basement. Family involvement was at the forefront of "Vera Bradley" with the first logo created by Baekgaard's teenage daughter, and mother Vera became a sales representative in Florida.
Vera Bradley Designs was incorporated on November 15, 1982.
Retail
The majority of bags were initially sold through small shops as well as Marshall Field's. The business did not have issues selling the bags, but did encounter difficulty keeping up with the demand. They hired local seamstresses as well as provided a loan for the creation of Phoenix Sewing, a company dedicated to making Vera Bradley products. Phoenix Sewing was under contract to not produce other products unless their board agreed to do so, where Baekgaard and Miller were board members. Eventually several sewing companies formed and expanded in the area to produce the products.
Continued growth was initiated when the company started selling online in 2004. Small shop owners who had helped the company gain its market early on were disgruntled, but the Vera Bradley owners claimed the wider exposure would be able to drive more people to the small shops, when they might have overlooked them previously.
The annual Spring Outlet Sale in Fort Wayne proved to be so popular that in 2005, the company sold out of products and the next year, a per-person spending cap was initiated.
Rebranding
In an attempt to appeal to millennial buyers, who perceived the goods as not pertinent to their lifestyles, the brand was refreshed. The logo was updated, goods made of microfiber and leather were introduced, technical accessories such as bags with grommets and pockets for charging electrical devices and computer and tablet bags were made.
Advertising and Expansion
A news story on Good Morning America generated more interest in the products when it featured an interview with college students about various campus trends, and one of the sorority girls had a Vera Bradley bag.
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Advertising was done on Hulu, Pandora Radio, and Spotify as well as in Glamour and InStyle magazines. Licensing deals were made with other companies to use Vera Bradley designs on their goods. The initial "#itsgoodtobeagirl" campaign was perceived as patronizing and old-fashioned, but was quickly amended to portray women in active, unusual jobs and promoted the company's image as being socially conscious.
In 2019, the company purchased a 75% stakeholder share in Creative Genius, parent company of Pura Vida Bracelets, a bracelet company based in La Jolla, California. They have the option to purchase the remainder of the company in 2024.
Corporate
In March 2026, the company named Ian Bickley as the company's new CEO and Chairman. Bickely, who has been with the company for over 24 years, previously served as Executive Chairman.
Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer
Mary Sloan, longtime friend to Baekgaard and Miller and one of the company's first sales representatives, died in the early 1990s from breast cancer; Sloan's mother and grandmother died from the disease as well. In 1993, Baekgaard and Miller initiated contributions to assist in funding research for a cure for breast cancer with a portion of Vera Bradley's profits. The Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer was created in 1998 and sponsors the annual Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer Classic, which is a multiple-day fundraising event with yoga, golf, and pickleball (which replaced tennis in 2019), concluding with a dinner. As of 2015, it was the largest amateur women's golf and tennis charity tournament in the country. The public and corporate sponsors are invited to volunteer and donate. The company also produces special Breast Cancer Awareness fabric patterns that have the color pink as a main component. Funds collected from the activities and donations go to the Vera Bradley Foundation Center for Breast Cancer Research at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, Indiana. Posts from the cancer researchers and Vera Bradley on Facebook, Instagram and the company's blog were used to help recruit patients for clinical trials. Research information is published on the website of the Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center at Indiana University for scientists to be able to collaborate toward a cure.
Corporate Restructuring and Retail Transition (2025–2026).
In January 2025, Vera Bradley implemented a restructuring strategy named Project Sunshine, intended to reduce annual operational costs by approximately $20 million. As part of this initiative, the company reduced its full-line retail store count by over 43 percent between 2023 and 2026, which included closing 12 full-line locations and one outlet store during fiscal year 2026. To transition away from underperforming traditional shopping malls, the company increased its factory outlet storefronts to 86 locations, expanded its e-commerce infrastructure, and established a wholesale distribution partnership with Nordstrom. The turnaround plan also involved a corporate focus on the company's traditional product lines, specifically its signature quilted cotton patterned bags and travel accessories.
From Wikipedia’s article on Vera Bradley, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.8