Heard of 'Town & country Shoes'? poss. 60's embroidered convertable bag

Pinkcoke

Pinkcoke

Alumni
Heard of \'Town & country Shoes\'? poss. 60\'s embroidered convertable bag

I'm not having much joy finding this company, despite it being Ltd & Rgd on the label and the only examples I can find seem to be US/Canadian so I think this may be a brand you know more about than me! I have also only found examples from the 60's/70's but none anything like this (most were leather/faux/suede brown examples)
Presumably it's like Clarks in that they made matching bags for their shoes. Can anyone help to pin point the period? I can see it coming from the 60's but don't when the floral embroidery was more popular, or perhaps it's just seasonal? i.e. spring/summer or wedding wear?
Also it has a sort of dusty coloured line on the bottom at the back, are there any tips for cleaning this? The fabric appears to be quite a sturdy linen effect mix.


vintage412.jpg

vintage410.jpg

vintage406.jpg

vintage405.jpg

vintage403.jpg
 
I have several Town & Country shoes, all dating from the late 1950s/early 1960s, and all with that same label. That is a very pretty bag, and begs the question... were there matching shoes?? Can you imagine!?

I would not worry about the dust mark. Get what you can out by rubbing with a dry cloth. I wouldn't do any liquid on it at all, because then you'll get a water mark on that pretty white linen.

Great bag!
 
Thankyou for that. Do you know anything about the 'Town & Country' company/brand? What country it originates from? when it was active perhaps? The phrase is used by so many companies in the UK it's a lot of sifting through modern groups :(

I may go back to the shop I got it from and ask after shoes - their stock takes a week or so to filter down from sorting and pairs of things are often seperated (e.g. matching skirts and jackets not kept as sets). The shoes take longer to be shown because they have limited space and have to wait for some to be sold before another pair can be put out. I agree the matching shoes must be lovely though. Same but minature design on the toes I would think.
 
As far as I know, it was a U.S. company. The "TM" is a trademark registration. Right now on ebay there are some ads for sale, one dating to 1951. I've never seen any Town & Country that were as old as that, or any that were newer than the early 1960s. They must have really been on a roll in the late 50s/early 60s, because I come across those quite a bit.

Sorry I can't help more!
 
Town & Country was indeed a U.S. company, very popular in at least the 60s (I'm too young to remember the 50s very well....). Did a lot of the matching shoes/bag sets, primarily in imitation leathers and suedes, although I have seen fabric shoes from them. I think yours is the first fabric bag I've seen--it's darling! Very "ladies who lunch" looks.

I think the brand was owned by another large shoe company in the U.S., though I'm darned if I know who.
 
Thankyou Anne, isn't it just? :D

Is there a certain name for a bag that can be a clutch or handbag? or should I just stick with convertable?
 
My grandpa was actually in charge of the production for Town and Country Shoe Company. It is absolutely an American company. Factories were based out of Missouri. The last was in Sedalia, MO. They sold their shoes at stores like Nordstrom. The company shut down it's factories in the 80's . I'll have to ask him if there is a matching pair of shoes to your bag. It's amazing how he can remember the shoes the company made (He's 90 now!). I wouldn't be surprised if there is a matching pair. I have a pair of eel skinned slingbacks with a matching eel skinned clutch. It was made at the T&C factory but is a one of a kind set my grandpa made for my grandma. I also have several pairs of real T&C shoes. The shoes came in orange shoe boxes, very unique. This bag is beautiful. Do you find Town and Country Shoe products very often?
 
Great info to have - I have looked before in many sources for information about Town and Country and never found any information. I figured it was probably a St. Louis area manufacturer as they seem to be the hardest to find histories about.
 
I have a pair of eel skinned slingbacks with a matching eel skinned clutch. It was made at the T&C factory but is a one of a kind set my grandpa made for my grandma.
Click to expand...

What a wonderful story (about a wonderful wearable heirloom!)

Here's a picture of the Town & Country shoes I've got, grey silver leather, with the orange shoe box!
 

Attachments

  • town2-001.jpg
    town2-001.jpg
    58.7 KB · Views: 730
Being from St. Louis, I've wondered if the firm's name was perhaps inspired by the local village of Town & Country? I always thought it was a nice posh name, for a great line of fashion products, in any case!
http://www.town-and-country.org/

Wonderful brand, that I remember fondly.
Thank you for sharing the family and company information.
 
Yup, they were the company that had all those great little mannequin pen sketches in the 1960s in Vogue. However, like the Life magazine article, the ads never said anything about the company, like when they were founded etc.
 
Did you get a link to the article because I can't seem to find it anywhere and there is no mention which collection this issue is in. Bata has a run of Boot and Shoe Recorder but I believe their run stops in 1963.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top