Vera Bradley Spring 2012 Retirees

Now that the Winter 2011 colors (which I still haven't seen in person) have been released , a lot of people are starting to think about Spring 2012.

If you want to see a sneak peek of the colors that will be released in Spring 2012, head over to Oh My Vera.

There's been a lot of interest in what colors will be retiring next. (Yes, I do see what you're searching for when you stumble across my little blog.)

Well, I donned my Sherlock hat and grabbed a couple nicotine patches* and headed off to do some detective work. And here are my results...

I believe that Vera Bradley will be retiring 5 colors next spring. They usually retired 4 at a time, so this is a bit unusual, but I think I see why they are doing it.

English Meadow

Night & Day

Symphony in Hue

Twirly Birds Pink

Buttercup

So why these colors? Buttercup, Twirly Birds Pink, Symphony in Hue, and Night & Day are four of the oldest patterns still active. Twirly Birds Navy was retired last time, but they kept the pink. Now with Tea Garden released, there are 2 colors that benefit the Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer, so it was time to retire the older color.

The Twirly Bird patterns were released with the already retired Versailles and the to be retired Buttercup, leaving only Baroque active from the Winter 2010 collection.

Symphony in Hue is from Winter 2009 and the other colors it was released with have long been retired. It must have been selling well, but with the release of Suzani in similar colors, it was time to go.

Night and Day has been a popular pattern since its release in Summer 2010. It will be the last of that collection to be retired. The release of Camellia in Spring 2012 will add another black and white pattern, so Night & Day is being cleared out.

English Meadow was released this year in the summer. So why retire it so quickly? Honestly, I don't know! I do know that Vera Bradley will retire colors that are not selling well, so perhaps it's just not popular. It's a little strange to see such a new color retire already, but I'm sure there's a good reason. Time to stock up if you're an English Meadow fan!

So, what do you think? Sad to see a pattern go? Surprised by any colors? Any idea why English Meadow is being retired so soon? Leave a comment and let's discuss!

*I don't smoke, but I couldn't resist a good Sherlock reference!