DRG Craft Division Rebrands as Annie's

BERNE, Ind., June 5, 2012—Annie’s is the new name for the craft and nostalgia media division of DRG.

The move unites under the Annie’s name the family of products that have been offered by DRG for many years under a collection of well-known brands, including Annie’s Attic, House of White Birches, The Needlecraft Shop, Clotilde and American School of Needlework.

DRG is part of the third-generation Muselman family business headquartered here. It began in 1925 with the founding of Economy Printing Concern. EP Graphics, as it is known today, is still owned by the Muselman family.

Another DRG division, Strategic Fulfillment Group, provides state-of-the-art fulfillment and database marketing services out of a 140,000-square-foot facility in East Texas.
The 1985 acquisition of House of White Birches, a craft and nostalgia magazine publisher founded in 1947, launched the DRG media division. In the ensuing years, the division grew with new products and acquisitions, including craft companies The Needlecraft Shop in 1994, Annie’s Attic in 1996, and Clotilde and American School of Needlework in 2002.

Annie’s craft products (Annies-Publishing.com) embrace varied creative interests, including crochet, knitting, quilting, sewing, needlework, beading, card making and paper crafts. The company serves these interests with magazines, original and seected outside products featured in its catalogs and websites, and membership clubs.

Choosing the Annie’s name

“Consolidating our craft and nostalgia products under the name ‘Annie’s,’ taken from our strongest brand, sends an important message to our customers about the common promise of quality and originality behind our many products,” said David McKee, CEO for Annie’s and DRG.

“Our products are united, too, under a common theme: Celebrating home, family and the creative spirit,” McKee said.

“We began the search for a single name by asking our customers how they best know us,” Annie’s Executive Vice President Michele Fortune said. “Annie’s Attic was the answer. We shortened this to Annie’s, an abbreviated form already in common use among our customers and staff.”