Source: Simplicity.com
Management worked with private equity to spin off the sewing pattern division into a “200-year-old startup.”
After much uncertainty, it’s confirmed: The “Big 4” sewing patterns have survived the Design Group Americas bankruptcy.
The sewing pattern business, including the Simplicity, McCalls, Vogue, and Butterick brands, was sold as a going concern for $2.25 million to Rubelmann Capital in partnership with existing management.
The new head of Simplicity Creative Group is Abbie Small, who worked at the company for 35 years before her retirement as Executive Vice President and General Manager in 2017. Simplicity Creative Group will continue to operate in New York City, keeping on about 78 employees, many of whom have worked for the company for decades.
“We’re really a startup that’s almost 200 years old, and we feel confident that we’re going to be back and better than ever,” Small told the Craft Industry Alliance podcast.
She was referred to Rubelmann Capital to secure funding. “They love the business. They love the fact that it’s got these amazing brands, they love the fact that it’s got a loyal consumer and a product that is unique,” Small says.
Rubelmann Capital is helping the new company rebuild its entire infrastructure, as the pattern business sale did not include the back-end processes like accounting or email that are necessary for a business to function. It’s an opportunity to build the company smarter, Small says, whereas when the pattern business changed hands in the past, “they never invested in it. They just plugged it into the next thing and hoped it was going to work as well as it did before. These guys are really looking at it from the start to finish of how we can make this easier and better for the consumer,” she says.
The sale includes the historical and vintage library of materials related to Simplicity, Butterick, Vogue and McCall’s sewing and patterns, more than 200 boxes of materials that have been moved to New York. It also includes inventory at the printing plant in Neenah, WI, including its pattern printing presses and equipment for envelope stuffing. These are the last operating tissue paper pattern printing presses in the United States, also used by independent designers who contract with Simplicity for printing.
“There will always be paper patterns as long as I’m around,” Small says. “But the PDFs are going to continue to grow.” In fact, Simplicity is on the verge of introducing projectable sewing patterns — the release was initially slated for September before the sale of the company.
Response from the sewing community
The reaction from sewists has been a collective sigh of relief. “Since they announced the sale of DGA for $1, the Simplicity site had sales nonstop, and that’s not normal,” says Toni Ugueto of SewSewLounge.
“It was making everybody really nervous. The Joann bankruptcy was such a total disaster, where everything was shut down so quickly… people were still having PTSD from that in the spring.”
While indie designers have embraced PDFs and pattern projection technology, many sewists prefer paper, and the Big 4 are the most reliable source.
“I was so concerned about losing access to paper patterns,” says sixth-generation sewist Lisa Woolfolk of Black Women Stitch. “Taping PDF patterns together is hazardous to my health. It reduces my will to live. I would rather mop the ocean than do that.”
Looking at the sewing pattern industry’s development over her lifetime, Woolfolk feels that “the paper pattern industry kind of struggled under the weight of its own success, and it gradually felt almost bloated.” Constant sales made the sticker price on paper patterns seem fake — “I have never, not one time, paid the envelope price for a sewing pattern,” she says — and bricks-and-mortar distribution meant the Big 4 were a step removed from end users.
Plus, the Big 4 has been slow to adapt to modern consumers’ needs and embrace new technologies, Woolfolk says. Traditional sizing isn’t a fit for many modern bodies, and indie pattern makers have jumped in to serve those sewists, creating online communities to have direct lines of communication with customers.
Simplicity Creative Group’s renaissance will require fresh perspectives to be successful. “To remain competitive, they will have to use some of the new fabrics people are really excited about, and they will have to think about their digital plan. There’s a lot they could do, or they could stick with what they’ve always done,” Woolfolk says. “The biggest obstacle will be designing and becoming a legacy brand that doesn’t just rest on what it’s done in the past.”
(A version of this article originally ran in our newsletter for Corporate Members of Craft Industry Alliance, Craft Industry Insider.)
Grace Dobush
contributor
Grace Dobush is a Berlin-based freelance journalist and the author of the Crafty Superstar business guides. Grace has written about business and creative entrepreneurship for publications including Fortune, Wired, Quartz, Handelsblatt and The Washington Post.
This is fabulous news. I can’t wait to start bringing the new patterns into my shop! We’ve all been wondering what we’re going to do and like Lisa Woolfolk said, taping PDF patterns together is hazardous to my health and that of many of my customers.
And yet people are still being told by retailers that sales of paper patterns will be stopping because the company has gone out of business!
HOORAY AND HALLELUJAH. This is the best news to come out of this entire debacle. The other day I had another grief ambush when I realized I could not just simply drive over to JoAnn, wander through the store, smell the fabrics, see what was new, and end with my final visit to the pattern counter. There are certain things that Cannot Be Denied and sewing patterns top that list. I cannot tell you how happy I am that this has happened. Best wishes to Abbie Small and Rubelmann Capital for supporting the obvious — there will ALWAYS be sewists, and the need for patterns will NEVER end.
JoAnn used to have terrific sales on patterns. Is there any way this can continue in any other stores who still carry even limited patterns?
Wouldn’t it be amazing if the online purchase process could include print on sturdier rolls of AO sized paper… sturdier than tissue but not requiring calibrating printers and taping with registration marks and such. Yes it’s a bit harder to store rolls of sturdier paper patterns, or maybe even sturdier tagboard, but the advantage of being able to re-use, draw, trace… pin to the pattern. I’d pay full “envelope” price for a pattern that was sturdy enough for multiple reuses!
I use lightweight fusible interfacing on my paper patterns, some of them have been in use since the 1970s.
I found a wheeled bin at the Container Store in which I store rolled up A0 pdfs. The biggest issue is finding which pattern I want to work with. I think I’m going to go through these and writing out in red in the corner the pattern info so I can easily poke around before pulling out those I want to work with.
So glad to hear it and fingers crossed for an amazing future for our beloved brands. But as a projector sewist – I’m glad they’re going to continue to offer PDF’s and make them more projection friendly. I especially appreciate that they released some OOP patterns as a PDF – I understand that it’s too expensive to print everything – so it’s nice to have that option with the “instant gratification” of a PDF file.
I agree that printing and taping together pieces of paper is just awful. But thankfully projectors are becoming more and more affordable, and apps for calibrating easier to use. To each their own!
This is great news! I have been sewing with patterns since the early seventies and I would rather take a whipping than tape a PDF pattern together. On the other hand; I really would like to see sizing that fits women’s bodies who have curves. The custom fit patterns that feature cup sizing and Sandra Betzina’s Today’s Fit patterns are a big part of my collection of over 2K patterns.
Excellent podcast, Abbie and Abby. I am hopeful, and I am glad Abbie is committed to continuing to print patterns for indie companies, but I worry about how many times in the podcast Abbie Small emphasized that customers need to be “patient” with the process. These days, customer patience is in (very) short supply.
Here’s hoping!!!
I am so glad that these brands have been rescued into a new “startup!” And that Abbie is at the helm and MimiG is a big force in it. Although I have a huge indie pattern stash too and I often gravitate toward them because the fit is better out of the envelope, I look forward to changes from our favorite sewing brands (and I have a huge stash of those too!) There’s something about a paper pattern that I love, and while I’ve embraced PDF as well, it’s a big hassle and time consuming when you’d just really rather roll out a tissue and cut into it (and not even be Team Trace because you live wild like that.)
Why is everyone getting their knickers in a twist about taping PDF patterns together? There are other options for digital files, like sending them to a printing company for AO size pattern sheets, or using a projector to show the outlines directly on your fabric. It’s time to be pragmatic, not dogmatic!
I’ve figured out that sometimes it’s not always necessary to tape together every single section into one large piece before cutting. Most will have a a layout view page so you can see which pieces you need, and break up into taped sections that don’t include wide swaths of blank pages, pieces you don’t need and the like. Use your common sense!
I was reluctant to buy PDF patterns because of that “print and tape together” thing. Until I found that my friendly neighborhood printer can print it on 36inch paper.
I am delighted to read that The Big Four will remain. I have used those patterns since my mother first taught me how to adjust the tension on the sewing machine.
Fabulous news for pattern companies, but where do you find them to buy? There are very few retailers that carry a full line of patterns (Walmart/Hobby Lobby only carries a limited Simplicity line) Plus the BIG 4 still need to address the issue that today’s woman is not a B-cup. Patterns need to include bodice pieces for C-D-DD that can be adjusted to fit today’s body types. If you are a plus size woman (or even just a curvy woman) you simply are not a B-cup. Children’s patterns work on bust circumference, but if you have boobs bigger than a B-cup, a circumference measurment doesn’t work. Not everypattern is suitable for a FBA (full bust adjustment) when you are a beginner sewer. And, please, please, please leave off the sizes on pattern envelopes. They don’t coincide with retail clothing sizes and are intimidating to teens that wear a size 4 in retail and a 14 iin a pattern. No middle school girl wants to think she is a 14. Body shaming, much? Keep measurments accurate and explain EASE on each pattern. Pattern companies are way behind in their thinking–back to the drawing board to satisfy today’s customers. Thank you.
You are so right. Realize that the Big 4 have used a slender woman in her 20s as the pattern model. For me they no longer worked after I had a baby which permanently enlarged my bust. I have found it easier to fit into some pdf patterns and look for the printed ones which offer different bust sizes.
Have ever tried Silhouette patterns? They have B,C, & D cup sizing.
Palmer/Pletsch has selected Butterick patterns that have instructions to help you fit your pattern to your body size.
I am thrilled to hear they will have access to the Vintage line of patterns. They are my size and my taste. I am a petite woman’s size 6 and would love to have patterns that scale to my size. Most are too large and too long. I hope they will be accurate to measurements.
once again, its mainly the women who will suffer. dressmakakers, home sewers, etc. will have no refernce if we cannot find accurate patterns. the independent producers like Marcie Tilton (she seems to have been kicked out), and others will have no place to sell their designs. we will have no recourse except to buy the illfitting, low quality ready to wear from China.
This is great news. I teach sewing and quilting at local community colleges and 2 senior centers, and not having access to suitable patterns was a real challenge and stressful for both me and my students. Hopefully, they don’t price themselves out of the market.
Is there a way to submit a specific suggestion to a responsible person at the new company? I know the suggestion that I would submit: That they create an active unit to study the sizing issue. One of several possible suggestions is that they create one set of standard measurements for A-B bra cup ladies, a second set of measurements for the C-D cup ladies, and a third set for the larger busted AND create multi-size pattern versions of each pattern (for instance sizes 8-10-12-14) in separate envelopes for each bra cup version. Myself, I would still have to length bodice, sleeves, and hems a bit but if I could get a pattern that already fit BOTH shoulders and bust it would be a big help to the rest of my fitting. Serious study of existing current body types is encouraged.
That would cost a lot of $$$.
Since this merger, which I believe will continue to provide sewers like me the continued opportunity to purchase printed patterns, I am excited and grateful that these patterns didn’t vanish forever. Looking forward to the patterns from the 60’s and 70′ especially the crafty patterns from those decades. Thank you for saving a legend.
In a few words, I am delighted, excited, grateful, and optimistic. Now 90 yrs. young I continue to sew; patterns are an integral part of sewing! Thank you. Dorothy Martin
So very true, I laughed and cried at this – so VERY happy to see patterns continue. I am dealing with the continued PTSD of Joann’s death – where to find fabric, patterns, notions and more. Thank you so much for taking this on! May pattern making have a long and prosperous life!
What does this mean for Canadian consumers? Will we be able to buy patterns? Will there be new designs? Will tariff’s apply to patterns?