Onebyone

In a letter to vendors today, Fabric.com announced that it will be shutting down. The company, which is owned by Amazon, said it alerted employees to news on Monday.

https://craftindustryalliance.org/fa...shutting-down/

mkc

This is disappointing to hear. They were wonderful for fabric samples. I have been purchasing nearly all of my home dec/drapery fabrics from them for a couple of years.

joe'smom

The article says it was because of the labor costs of cutting fabric. I would occasionally buy from them when searching for a particular fabric. They bought at such a high volume, they would often have an out of date fabric for longer than everyone else.

Stitches23

California was considering raising minimum wage to $21/hr. Many businesses located there said they would be pulling out if this happens because the cost of labor would exceed product sold. I hope Fabric.com's closing is not a trend for on-line fabric shops - especially with many of the lqs closing since covid.

sewbizgirl

So sorry to hear this! We all used Fabric.com.

tallchick

I am sad to hear this! It is one of my go to places for fabric, their service was alway top notch and they always contacted if an item was short or of they could not fulfill in continuous yardage. It is where I bought all of my OBW Fabrics, I will miss them, but my wallet won’t.

cashs_mom

That's so sad. I've often found just what I wanted at fabric.com. Sadly, when minimum wage goes up, it drives all the other wages up and makes it very hard for businesses to be competitive.

Onebyone

Gina Pantastico, Co-founder and Director of Operations at Cloud9 Fabrics and Felicity Fabrics.

“This will be an adjustment for fabric manufacturers, but once we all get over our initial shock and surprise I think this could be a positive change for the fabric industry as a whole,” Pantastico said.

Hard to understand how it can be positive to the customer.

cashs_mom

I don't understand what she's saying is going to be positive for the consumer. We'll pay more money for the product because labor costs are higher? We have less choice because sites close down? I can see some positives for Gina but certainly not for the consumer. I think it's just spin.

Okay, I just did a bit of skimming. She's saying it will open up new "opportunities" for independent fabric shops. It might cut down competition so there will be more market share for independent shops, but if they all have increased labor costs to deal with and we have higher prices that will also mean a shrinking market as people can't afford to buy as much (I know I can't) so a larger share of a smaller market doesn't necessarily add up to more sales or even an "opportunity" for small independent stores. I'm not sure this is very positive.

Stitchnripper

I guess I am okay with folks making a living wage. I've never bought from them directly but do use amazon on occasion.