quiltingshorttimer

one of our LQS hosted a dinner and talk with Scott Fortunoy (hope I'm spelling that right) of Jaftex Textiles--parent company of Blank Quilting; Studio E; Henry Glass fabrics--and a couple of others which I can't remember! He was very fun and informative--it was neat to hear about how they decide on designs, the process of going from designs to finished product. He addressed the notion that the fabrics at chain stores (Walmart, JoAnn's ,etc) is really the same stuff, just 2nd of what is sold in LQS. Not So! Said that the fabrics at the chains are mostly made & dyed in China which does not produce as fine of cloth. He said that most LQS fabrics are done in S. Korea, Pakistan, Thailand & Indonesia (batiks) etc.

he also talked about what they do with fabrics that just don't sell--they get marked down to the LQS a couple of times to get them marketed, then they go to "undertakers"--his term for stores that will take a greatly marked down fabric and sell at reduced prices. He said there are several levels of these "undertakers", with some taking the the fabric when it's not as marked down (as desperate to get it sold!).

I know we all complain about price, but his explanations sure helped me realize that there are so many people involved that it's no wonder our nice fabrics cost so much.

oh--he also was asked about insecticides, etc to prevent bugs in shipping. He said they fabric is shipped on big rolls (either flat roll or folded double and rolled) and then sealed in plastic. he did not think they were fumigated before shipping, but some warehouses do fumigate (he said they didn't). He said if the cargo box is full of fabric it likely will not have smells, but when it's not full of fabric and other stuff get's put in the cargo box, then it could smell like the other stuff.

Plus we got to see the sample cards of the Halloween and Christmas and Fall lines coming out in April & May for next year! I can hardly wait for some of those!

ArtsyOne

That sounds so informative! Thanks for sharing what you learned.

QuiltnNan

thanks for sharing

SusieQOH

Thanks for sharing this.
I don't have a problem with prices. When you think of all that goes into a quilt, why buy cheap? Doesn't make much sense to me.

feline fanatic

What an interesting presentation. But I feel he left out a big fabric exporter.... Japan. I would say I see made in Japan on the majority of my stash's selvages, probably more than any other country of origin (except of course for my batiks which have no info printed on the selvage). But I do have a lot of Asian prints in my stash and it seems the vast majority of those do come from Japan.

sprice

very informative--thanks

joe'smom

That was so interesting, thanks for sharing!

cashs_mom

I agree totally!

Thanks for the info. I always enjoy talks of textiles and quilting. I always learn so much!

lots2do

Sounds very informative. Here in Maine, we enjoy one of the undertaker's - Marden's. Their motto is : you should have bought it when you saw it at Marden's and that is generally true!

Mariposa

Thanks for sharing this!