Enid Collins of Texas Handbags

Several years ago I had the privilege to talk with Jeep Collins, the son of handbags designer and maker, Enid Collins.  The interview is in the archive here at The Vintage Traveler, but I also had written a short article about Collins and hints on how to place a date on the bags she made.  So, you may have already read this post, as I’ve taken it from my website, fuzzylizzie.com.  More about that at the bottom of the post.

To many American women and girls from the 1950s through the early 1970s, the Enid Collins bag was a “must have” fashion accessory.  These bags were fun fashion, and were the perfect handbag for a casual ensemble.  And the very features that made the bags so popular then, look just right with today’s eclectic approach to dressing.

“Port of Call” bag, courtesy of Maggie Wilds

Enid Collins was a Texas rancher’s wife, and she started making canvas and leather bags in the late 1940s in order to help her family make ends meet. At first her bags were sold in the gift shops of nearby dude ranches, but when Dallas department store Neiman Marcus placed an order, the Collins family found themselves in the handbag business.

Enid and her husband Frederic opened a factory in their town of Medina, Texas to produce their canvas totes. By 1958, they had eighty employees and had opened a retail outlet in Medina.  They also started a plant to construct the wooden boxes for their latest product, the box bag.  In 1966 another factory was opened in Puerto Rico. Wooden box bags decorated with papier-mâché were made in that factory. This operation was closed in 1968.

In 1970, Enid Collins sold her business with the copyrights to her designs to the Tandy Corporation.  She continued worked for Tandy for about a year before leaving the company.  Tandy continued to make Enid Collins designs through the early 1970s.  They eventually sold the company.  Enid Collins died in 1990.

Hints for Identifying and Dating Collins Bags

Outside ec signature on 1960s bag

Inside signature on 1960s box bag

Because the Enid Collins bags were so popular, there were many imitators. Bags produced during the time Enid and her family owned the company are marked ec on the outside of the bag. You will also find the name of the bag printed on the outside. The interior is usually marked “Enid Collins Original” and “Collins of Texas”, and often there is the galloping horse logo.

From a 1960s box bag

From a 1960s box bag

There are other ways that the bags were sometimes marked. There was a sun logo, and sometimes, the bags were marked on the bottom of the outside, instead of the inside.

Boxes were sometimes dated, and if you are really lucky, you’ll find one that has a handwritten signature by Ms. Collins, as she did frequent promotional signings. In order for your bag to be from the 1950s or 1960s, you should find Enid Collins’s name or initials, or both, somewhere printed on the bag.

Interior of a 1970s box bag

Bags that were made after the Collins family sold the business in 1970 have the design name on the exterior. The Collins name and horse logo will be found either on the exterior or on the inside, but Enid’s name will not be on the bag.

1970s Flutterbye Box. Notice, there is no ec signature.

There are many different bag designs, and often several variations on the theme. Popular designs such as the Glitterbugs and Flutterbye were updated and changed with the different seasons. Popular trends affected the designs, such as the mid 1960s Love bags, and various Flower Power themed bags which were made to appeal to younger buyers. Today, some of the most popular designs are the ones based on animals, such as Sophistikit and Wise Guy.

 

Over the past few years I’ve been moving all the articles from my old Fuzzylizzie.com website to this blog.  Does anyone even make static websites any more?

At any rate, I’ve been wanting to change the focus of the website for some time now, and I have settled on an idea that I hope will turn out to make a site that is useful to the fashion history community.  Called The Vintage Traveler Antique and Vintage Photo Archive, it will be a site where my entire collection of photographs will be posted as a resource for others studying sports and travel in women’s dress of the twentieth century.

It will take time to get it all posted, and so will be a work in progress over the next year or two.  I’ll be posting links as soon as the first photos go online.

 

Enid Collins: An Interview with her Son, Jeep

I’m very pleased to be able to share with you an interview with Jeep Collins, the son of famed handbag designer and maker, Enid Collins.

*  How did Collins of Texas get its start?

Soon after World War II Frederic and Enid Collins came to Texas  and bought a small ranch close to the town of Medina.   Struggling to make a living as ranchers they began to use their talents and training to make things they could sell.  Enid studied fashion design and fine art at Texas Woman’s University and Frederic studied engineering at the University of Michigan and was also a sculptor.  Together they began to make leather handbags which she designed and he built on their kitchen table.  Frederic sculpted brass ornaments for the handbags.

* How were ideas for new designs developed?  Did Enid work as the sole designer?

She was the primary designer but Fred was also creative and had input especially in the ornaments.  He was good at figuring out how to make things, first by hand and later when he built the factory he invented various jigs to make production easier.  His father’s father was in the carriage building business in Michigan and his father invented things used in the early auto industry.

* My favorites are the box bags.  Did Collins of Texas make the wooden boxes used as the handbag base?

At first they had someone make the boxes.  When suddenly that source dried up Fred quickly acquired a large tent, until he could build a workshop, bought  woodworking equipment and began producing them himself.  The stock number prefix for the box bags was HH which stood for “high hopes.”  The success of the box bags was a major step in the growth of the company.

* I know Collins was a family business.  How were the Collins children involved in it?

Cynthia and I both worked summers in production.  Later Cynthia modeled for a series of ads run in The New Yorker.  She later went to Puerto Rico to train workers there in the factory.

*  What were some of the most unusual bags produced?

The early leather ones were very unusual.

* What were some of the most popular designs?

“Money Tree” comes to mind.  Enid did so many designs.  Every season she would have new ones ready to come out.

*  Over the years I’ve found some unusual Collins of Texas items.  What are some of the things, other than handbags, that the company produced?

Early on they made whatever they could sell.  Frederic made bronze horse sculptures, bronze ashtrays (I have one of these from his maternal grandfather’s business, Alamo Explosives), and other bronze items.  They also made leather belts with brass ornaments, leather sandals, papier mache mirror frames, paperie mache waste baskets, and papier mache broches.

*  How big a problem were knock-offs and copycats?  Did Collins of Texas ever try to take action against any of these copiers?

There was always much business discussion at home and I remember my mother especially discussing it but I do not think there was ever any action taken.  Their philosophy was to always stay ahead with new things coming out constantly.

*  Did the company copyright the designs?  I know there is a copyright symbol on some bags under the “ec” signature.

Yes

*  I’ve read that the business was sold to Tandy in 1970, with Enid continuing to work for them for a short while.  What happened to end this arrangement?

The company took a new direction not wanting to be dependant on any one designer.  This was difficult for her as a person because she built the company and now had to let others run it a different way.  Being semi-retired she then began to use her artistic talents in other things: ceramics, painting, stitchery, and other media.

* And, most importantly, was a bag with a Scotty dog motif ever produced (please say yes!)?

Quite possibly, but I can’t say for sure.

A very big thank you to Jeep, and to his son Christian Collins for arranging the interview.  Jeep is a jewelry designer and maker.  Christian has a website dedicated to all things Enid Collins. 

And I’m still looking for that Collins of Texas Scotty bag!

Photo of Enid Collins in her studio courtesy of Christian Collins.