The 44-year-old accessories company Vera Bradley has achieved its first quarterly revenue increase in roughly five years, driven by its latest revival effort, “Project Sunshine,” which launched in 2025. The initiative seeks to reverse declining sales, improve financial performance, and better connect with younger consumers.
According to Ian Bickley, the company’s CEO, Vera Bradley had lost track of what made the brand special and unique, and had become indistinguishable from other brands. The new strategy, “Project Sunshine”, has been about “sharpening the brand” for today’s consumers, said Melinda Paraie, the company’s chief brand officer.
Vera Bradley Revival Efforts
Paraie explained that the brand has gone back to its DNA, focusing on joyful optimism, colors, and prints. The company has also added new materials such as velvet, corduroy, beading, and ruffles to appeal to younger consumers. Young people aren’t carrying as much, and “everything is on your phone,” Paraie said. “Shoulder bags are a key silhouette for them.” Many teens and twenty-somethings are also opting for vintage aesthetics, Vera Bradley is directly tapping into this sentiment; in September, it released a Remix Collection of bags drawing from its archives. “This younger generation is really inspired by our vintage prints and smaller ditsy patterns and muted patterns,” Paraie said.
Jessica Ramírez, co-founder and managing director of the retail advisory firm The Consumer Collective, said Vera Bradley is “tapping into the right trends” for young shoppers. Ramírez recently visited a mall in Texas and surveyed teenagers about their shopping habits. “They all had bag charms,” she said. What’s more, Ramírez attended trade shows earlier this year and found that everything is about “color and patterns,” both of which are key to Vera Bradley’s philosophy. “I think people are happy to mismatch,” Ramírez said.
Tapping Into Personalization Trends
Vera Bradley is increasingly leaning into trends like personalization and customization, as well. In March, its design team revisited the Original 100 Handbag and created a bespoke collection of 50 bags that sold out in under three minutes. This holiday season, the brand is hyping up bag charms in designs like bears, cookies and mini totes, finding them to be a major growth category.
It has started holding bag personalization days, so customers can add on patches and monogrammed initials. “She just loves the one-of-a-kind piece,” Paraie said. “That is something we know has resonated from the very beginning. When you got a bag, it was your print, and you collected everything in your print. … Even today, the idea of self-expression is something that customers care about.”
The brand’s in-store experience is important, with its own stores and outlets, as well as partnerships with Nordstrom and other retailers. Vera Bradley has hosted events such as a charms event with Little Words Project in its Disney Springs store and a “Strawberry Girl Summer” activation in stores. Ultimately, Vera Bradley’s objective going forward is to play into the nostalgia and brand truths that resonate with customers, while making it relevant today through new prints, patterns, and styles. Organizational alignment is a key aspect of “Project Sunshine”, which involves refining the company’s structure to better support its goals. Mark Dely, the brand’s former chief administrative and legal officer, described “Project Sunshine” as “building from our DNA, not rebranding”.
Digital Transformation Takes Hold
There’s more transformation afoot at Vera Bradley. On the marketing and merchandising side, the brand is working to be digital-first and reaching out to more influencers, encouraging user-generated content, and working to position its quilted products at the forefront of TikTok trends like “grandmacore” and “coastal grandma.” As of Oct. 26, Vera Bradley had sold more than 24,000 units on TikTok Shop. “We’re really starting to make a more concerted effort on what we are giving to creators and how we give them briefs and share with them what we really want them to focus on,” Paraie said. “It’s important that we have the right bags for the right channels.”
