What happened to our
jewelry quality blazer button collection?

Third, companies got into the business of licensing collegiate products. Originally, the licensing was impactful on sweatshirt manufacturers selling college logos or names on sweatshirts, but eventually the licensing business set out for any use of a college logo. By the time licensing became an issue, Ben Silver had well over 1000 dies, but except for orders placed directly by colleges, a typical order was for a single set of buttons. We argued that we could not afford the upfront licensing fees for hundreds of schools. Sometimes those fees were as high as $1,000 each annually! We also argued that licensing was intended for highly commercial items, like Tee shirts, not jewelry quality buttons.

We lost that argument. One by one we stopped selling sets of buttons unless they were ordered by the school. Soon we were down to a few schools with which we had special arrangements.

Quietly the blazer button business became a product of the past. More recently, this quality can no longer be made in the United States, and we have chosen not to manufacture offshore.

Nevertheless, a history of jewelry quality blazer buttons is part of our company’s larger history. As the years passed, we made monogrammed buttons and buttons with motifs for various themes and sports and clubs and companies, which people enjoyed buying in precious metals as well as brass, and wore with pride associated with their organization. We are exploring being able to produce these themes as cufflinks in England, where some enameled jewelry is still made. We will keep you posted if we are successful in our quest, and in the meantime, we will be offering current inventory exclusively on our website.

— Sue Prenner