In the beginning Jenny and her sister were both the designers and the creative directors, her mother oversaw production and her dad ran the shipping. Henry, her husband and now CEO of Velvet, oversaw the business along with his father.
One day, Henry announced that they needed to decide on a name by the end of weekend. On that Sunday morning, Jenny pulled the dictionary off the shelf and started looking at words. When she came to the word “Velvet” the definition had a meaning that many people don’t know. It not only means luxurious textures and fabric, but it also means “profitable gains.” Wanting to make a living for her family, the combination of the two meanings clicked with her.
The first Velvet factory opened in Southern California, where much of the clothing is still manufactured. Jenny decided along with her sister to start only using two fabrications, 100% cotton rib and a viscose. They would make eight tee-shirts, in each fabrication, and the intention was to keep it that way. The idea was simple — each season they would change the color. But the key was that those fabrics would feel so soft that any woman would come and touch it and say, “oh my god, I have to put this on.” One of the first signature touches was that the label would be a strip of velvet, denoting each size by a different color. This simple model lasted two seasons. To keep up with demand, they began adding more and more pieces. They dropped the strip of velvet for a more traditional label. Eventually Jenny’s sister departed and Toni Spencer was hired, who would work alongside Jenny for almost two decades. Hence the name “Velvet by Graham and Spencer.”
