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Just in From the US
Listed under: Trend Report
Published: Friday, March 26, 2010
Todd Gibson, managing partner of Liesl + Co., Inc. manufacturers of the Oliver + S line of contemporary sewing patterns for children’s clothing, reports on the latest news stateside
A growing garment sewing trend in America is helping independent fabric shops reposition themselves to attract new, younger customers.
“I am elevating the traditional quilt shop to meet the needs of a new generation,” says Callie Works-Leary, owner of CityCraft located in Dallas. Serving a customer base of women aged 25-35, Works-Leary is cultivating a new demographic that wouldn’t have set foot in a fabric store five years ago.
With prices for off-the-rack garments falling through the 1980s and 1990s due to increased global trade, garment sewing (previously viewed as a money-saving, rather than a creative, activity) went into decline.
This decline bifurcated the American fabric shop environment in the 1990s. To create a market niche for themselves in the face of declining sales, many independent fabric store owners repositioned their shops as specialty quilting stores, leaving apparel sewing to the large chain stores.
In recent years, however, savvy fabric shop owners have realized that apparel sewing and younger customers - many of whom have become interested in garment sewing again thanks to the popular television program Project Runway - are the future of their business.
“The target market and traditional model of the quilt shop is under stress,” says Works-Leary, who earned an MBA before opening her shop. Data from the National Survey of Quilting in America, a triennial industry survey, supports her claim. The most recent study shows that “dedicated quilters” represent only 5% of quilting enthusiasts but account for 88% of industry spend.
With an average age of 59.3 (up 6.8 years over the last decade), these enthusiasts are aging rapidly. Having such a large percentage of revenue dependent on a small percentage of customers who are approaching retirement age puts retailers who have cultivated these customers at risk.
“Instead of coming at the next generation fabric store customer from a quilting angle,” says Works-Leary, “I’m coming at them from an apparel angle. It’s more approachable and more fun.”
To protect their futures, forward-thinking American retailers like Works-Leary and Johanna Hertz of Cloth and Bobbin outside Philadelphia, PA are positioning their stores to meet the needs of younger customers who don’t consider themselves quilters. “If you’re trying to sell a product like cotton fabric,” says Hertz, “you try to sell it to the largest number of users you can.”
This means not limiting a shop’s potential by marketing it specifically as a quilting store. “I carry the full range of Amy Butler bag patterns and the full range of Oliver + S patterns for children’s clothing,” adds Hertz who also offers apparel sewing classes and carries buttons, trims, ribbons, and home decorating weight fabric - things a traditional independent fabric shop wouldn’t have done ten years ago. “I want to sell fabric to whomever comes into the store, but quilting has become a smaller portion of my business, as a percentage, than other products.”
“I am elevating the traditional quilt shop to meet the needs of a new generation,” says Callie Works-Leary, owner of CityCraft located in Dallas. Serving a customer base of women aged 25-35, Works-Leary is cultivating a new demographic that wouldn’t have set foot in a fabric store five years ago.
With prices for off-the-rack garments falling through the 1980s and 1990s due to increased global trade, garment sewing (previously viewed as a money-saving, rather than a creative, activity) went into decline.
This decline bifurcated the American fabric shop environment in the 1990s. To create a market niche for themselves in the face of declining sales, many independent fabric store owners repositioned their shops as specialty quilting stores, leaving apparel sewing to the large chain stores.
In recent years, however, savvy fabric shop owners have realized that apparel sewing and younger customers - many of whom have become interested in garment sewing again thanks to the popular television program Project Runway - are the future of their business.
“The target market and traditional model of the quilt shop is under stress,” says Works-Leary, who earned an MBA before opening her shop. Data from the National Survey of Quilting in America, a triennial industry survey, supports her claim. The most recent study shows that “dedicated quilters” represent only 5% of quilting enthusiasts but account for 88% of industry spend.
With an average age of 59.3 (up 6.8 years over the last decade), these enthusiasts are aging rapidly. Having such a large percentage of revenue dependent on a small percentage of customers who are approaching retirement age puts retailers who have cultivated these customers at risk.
“Instead of coming at the next generation fabric store customer from a quilting angle,” says Works-Leary, “I’m coming at them from an apparel angle. It’s more approachable and more fun.”
To protect their futures, forward-thinking American retailers like Works-Leary and Johanna Hertz of Cloth and Bobbin outside Philadelphia, PA are positioning their stores to meet the needs of younger customers who don’t consider themselves quilters. “If you’re trying to sell a product like cotton fabric,” says Hertz, “you try to sell it to the largest number of users you can.”
This means not limiting a shop’s potential by marketing it specifically as a quilting store. “I carry the full range of Amy Butler bag patterns and the full range of Oliver + S patterns for children’s clothing,” adds Hertz who also offers apparel sewing classes and carries buttons, trims, ribbons, and home decorating weight fabric - things a traditional independent fabric shop wouldn’t have done ten years ago. “I want to sell fabric to whomever comes into the store, but quilting has become a smaller portion of my business, as a percentage, than other products.”
