Private Labels & House Brands

In the 1860s and '70s, R.H. Macy and John Wanamaker became some of the first American retailers to carry so-called "private label" merchandise. Such products cut out the middle man and offered quality goods at a lower price...resulting in greater profits for the seller.

Sears, Montgomery Ward and J.C. Penney instituted their first "house brands" in the earlier part of the 20th century. By mid-century, the three nameplates seen above had become household words.

Sears established Sears Gramophone, its first record label, in the late 1890s. At the time, only wax-cylinder recordings were available. A Silvertone record label, based on flat disc records, was introduced in October 1915.
Photo from https://archive.org / The Internet Archive

The Silvertone brand of phonographs appeared in 1916, with the hand-cranked Model X seen above. Battery-powered Silvertone radios were added to the product line in the early 1920s, with musical instruments joining the fold in the 1930s.
Graphic from http://www.silvertoneworld.net

Montgomery Ward also manufactured and sold phonograph records, such as this "electrically recorded" 78 rpm. disc.

Photo from the https://archive.org / The Internet Archive