Lillian Vernon is one of America's most accomplished and well-known leaders in the catalog industry. As a pioneer in a field dominated by men, the significance of her achievements ranks with those of mail order leaders Richard Sears and L.L. Bean. These are the important milestones in our Company's history:
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| Lillian's family, fleeing the Nazis, moves from their home in Leipzig, Germany to Amsterdam, Holland. | |
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| The family emigrates to New York City to escape the Nazis and World War II. | |
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 A housewife expecting her first child, Lillian starts her mail order business in her small apartment using her kitchen table as her office. With $2,000 of wedding gift money, she designs a purse and belt and places a $495 ad in "Seventeen Magazine", offering a unique service - personalization with her customers' initials free of charge. The ad brings in $32,000 in orders and the business is launched. | |
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| Lillian's Company named after her home in Mount Vernon, New York, rents a storefront for a warehouse. She rents a building next door for her monogramming operation and a store across the street becomes the shipping department. Her Company soon begins manufacturing and wholesaling custom-designed products for other companies including Max Factor, Elizabeth Arden, Avon and Revlon. | |
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 Lillian publishes her first 16-page black and white catalog and mails it to 125,000 customers who have responded to her ads. She expands her product line to include personalized combs, blazer buttons, collar pins and cuff links. | |
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| First million dollar year in sales. | |
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| First retail store opens in Mount Vernon. | |
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| Sale catalogs are introduced. | |
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