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In 1876, William H. Wade, Edward P. Davis and Louis Heckman formed a partnership for the manufacturing of jewelry - Wade, Davis & Company in the town of Plainville, Massachusetts. The firm of Wade, Davis & Company manufactured fine jewelry such as brooches, bar pins, chatelaine chains, hat pins, cuff links, and many others.
In 1880 a 16 year old errand boy by the name of Charles Whiting was hired. By 1890 his entrepreneurial spirit raised him into management as the company representative in New York City. In 1896 he partnered with Edward Davis and the name of the company changed to Whiting & Davis.
The first Whiting & Davis mesh handbag was handcrafted by Mr. Whiting in 1892. The small gold and sterling silver purses which the company produced were completely handcrafted until 1912. As Mr. Whiting reminisced in the 1926 Golden Anniversary WADCO News, “It was no unusual sight in the summer to ride through the country and see groups of women sitting under the trees in their yards making purses just as you would see them spending an afternoon sewing”.
In 1903 Edward Davis received a patent for a hinged bangle bracelet that would change the jewelry making industry.
In 1907 Charles Whiting became sole owner of the company. Seeking a faster more efficient method of manufacturing mesh, Mr. Whiting enlisted the help of A.C. Prat, who, in 1912, designed the world’s first automatic mesh machine. In a very short time, Whiting & Davis had taken center stage in the world of handbag fashion.
During the next 8 years many modifications to the machines took place, new mesh patterns were developed, and the company expanded from 12 mesh machines to 500 machines.
In 1914 the mesh handbag business had assumed such proportions worldwide that it was necessary to open a Canadian branch in Sherbrooke, Quebec. Offices were also maintained in New York City and Chicago.
During this incredible time, Charles Whiting built a new factory that became the envy of the industry. Across from it, he built a recreation hall for the employees with billiard, bowling, dining halls, club rooms and a newspaper, “WADCO Times”.
By 1926 Whiting & Davis was considered the world’s largest manufacturing house of its kind.
In the late 1920’s Whiting & Davis received an inquiry from a Flat Creek Mink fur farm for a mesh glove to protect workers from being bitten by the animals. The glove was also shown to the Armour Meat Packing Company, who immediately placed an order for its workers because no meat handlers were allowed to work with open cuts. This was the start of the Whiting & Davis mesh safety gloves.
The international reputation brought the famous to Whiting & Davis like Paul Poiret and Elsa Schiaparelli, Broadway plays and Hollywood movies, the most famous Cecil B. DeMille’s 1934 Cleopatra.
During World War II there was an acute shortage of brass and aluminum which were essential to the war effort. Mesh manufacturing was impossible, but the plant was large, well equipped, prosperous, and able to store their machinery and subcontract with Raytheon Manufacturing to produce vitally needed radar equipment.
August 10, 1940 Charles Whiting died and the company was headed up by his grandson Charles Rice. He continued with the same drive, aesthetic and quality of what was now one of America’s greatest brands.
In 1943 the company was in solid financial condition and bought the fledging Mandalian Company who made beautiful mesh purses.
In 1948 the company received the Rice Award of merit by the prestigious Rice Leaders of the World Association.
In 1950’s Whiting & Davis fashion jewelry once again became a prominent, featuring cameo’s and charm bracelets and in the 1960’s it became whimsical to match the free spirited styles of the “Hippie” decade. Joint ventures with other brands such as Disney happened during this decade.
The 1970’s brought a young Halston model, Elsa Perretti, and Tiffany & Co to Whiting & Davis and once again the jewelry world would change forever.
Now one of the world’s largest, Whiting & Davis fell into the sites of the investment community and in 1979 was purchased by Taim Management of Australia.
The 1980’s glitz and glamour adored Whiting & Davis. The company grew exponentially and it was frequently featured in major national and international magazines and in 1989 made a $500,000 18k mesh dress for the “Absolut” vodka campaign.
In 1986 the shark suit was born when National Geographic’s, Ron and Valierie Taylor, successfully demonstrated the ability of the mesh to resist shark bites.
In the 1990’s the company’s focus became the industrial safety products with the handbags and purse accessories being licensed in 1999 to a handbag company.
The new millennium brought more takeovers, most notably BACOU of France acquiring the company to leverage the giant safety business.
This new decade would end beautifully in 2010 on the eve of Whiting & Davis’s 135th year, with the acquisition of the original company by Mr. Darrin Cutler.
Mr. Cutler studied the history of this great American brand and embarked on the same path of Charles Whiting 100 years earlier by bringing the great jewelry history to the forefront. As part of this process, industry experts were hired, original Whiting & Davis patterns, dies, and molds were studied, a design studio was built along with a showroom to support this renewed focus in the Whiting & Davis tradition.
The luxury of 135 years of continued operation of “hand crafting a living tradition” resumes with the launching of Whiting & Davis Collection in 2011.
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“Any success which I have had has come largely through the loyalty and friendship of those who have worked with me.
It has been my duty many times to devise ways and means to keep production going and to dispose of our completed product; but if I had not had in factory and office and on the road men and women who were willing to work with me, to add their efforts to mine, the fame of Whiting & Davis product would not now be what it is - not merely national, but international.”
Charles Whiting
Owner, 1907 - 1940
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Whiting & Davis has had the pleasure of working with the following designers over it’s 135+ years in business.
• Paul Poiret
• Elsa Schiaparelli
• Elsa Peretti
• Anthony Ferrara
These designers have pushed the fashion world in new directions and taken Whiting & Davis to the forefront
of style.
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