AccuQuilt, maker of the GO! cutting machines, has been acquired by a private equity firm. WILsquare Capital, a St. Louis-based firm, announced the acquisition of AccuQuilt’s parent company, TekBrands, late last week. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
AccuQuilt was co-founded by Steve and Lynette Nabity in 1990 in Omaha, Nebraska. Following the transaction, Steve Nabity will continue to serve on the company’s board. In 2019, the company’s president, Greg Gaggini, left to become an executive coach.
“The leadership team and I are pleased to partner with WILsquare,” said Mary Kay O’Connor-Wente, CEO of TekBrands. “We immediately knew they were the best partner to take us into the next level of growth. The culture and values of WILsquare fit perfectly with TekBrands, and we are excited about their commitment to support the future growth of the business.”
The company’s AccuQuilt and AccuCut brands offer quilting and crafting enthusiasts faster, safer and more accurate solutions for cutting fabric and paper materials used in a wide range of creative projects. The company’s MemoryStitch brand offers quilting services that convert customer-provided tee-shirts and fabrics into custom finished quilts.
“The Midwestern values and distinct culture of continuous improvement at TekBrands resonate strongly with us,” said Andrew Scharf, Director at WILsquare Capital. “We look forward to preserving and expanding upon the legacy that Steve and the management team have built over more than three decades.”
In the AccuQuilt and Beyond Faceboook group, AccuQuilt customers expressed mixed feelings about the announcement. Several worried that the sale would have a similar outcome to online class platform Craftsy’s sale to NBCUniversal, while others hoped that customer service would improve under the new owners.
We don’t want it to change. We are unhappy with the change I point value. We are also worried that the price and quality of our dues will change. We don’t want to loose our main girls. Pam and Erica are what keeps us coming back every Tuesday and Wednesday.
We would like to see more fun sales and more creative die’s.
Very bad customer service I have been trying to put in an order since December!! Call on the phone no return calls no help at all for questions on a large order. Very frustrating!
I am curious. What country is the dies and cutters manufactured in?
The dies are made in China. It is in small print on the packaging.
As far as I am aware the dies are made in China. I hope that is of help from a fellow crafter in England UK.
I received an order from accucut, one of the items received was the wrong item. I have sent emails, filled out customer forms from their web site and phoned, leaving several messages over more than a week….have received absolutely no response…..I find this unacceptable.. has anyone been able to contact them and if so how? Thanks
If you have a cc purchase directly with Accuquilt, please beware that they put a hold on your cc for purchase amount, then when they ship they charge your card. 7 days later, my temp hold / pending amount is still there. The lady I spoke with said it is up to my cc company on when they remove it. Never have I seen this. I do not have use of these funds until this is dropped off. 6/4 hold that is still on as of 6/11. I have never seen this on my cc.
Hopefully this will make Accuquilt cheaper for those who do not live in the United States. Accuquilt Australia has been operating on its own agenda and not passing any of the same sales offered to USA customers . It is very unfair and not good practice especially given there is a rival company in Australia taking market share
It is called capitalism. You could say the same about a brand of butter, a brand of milk, or a brand of bread.
It is also about economics. They offer free shipping at a price point, and I have shipped to Australia, (and it is outrageous), and the vendor essentially ends up practically giving the product away because of the shipping costs. (reality)
People need to look at the big picture. Some people are so focused on their own part of the world, they forget about the rest
We need to know about the Australian company!! They need competition here in the USA!!
The rival company is a retired couple in Victoria who make custom dies in their garage. Blue Wren is not a large scale operation. I don’t think they think in terms of market share. The people are friendly and the quality is very good. Most of their designs are different and their layouts are novel. I have some for designs that Accuquilt did not offer. Shipping from Australia is darn expense. There is plenty of room for other companies in other countries. Basic geometric shapes are basic. A triangle is a Triangle. The more people who are cutting, the more dies everyone will sell. The rising tide lists all boats.
Hoping with the transition, more new dies will be forthcoming, especially BOB dies as they are so convenient. Also the price needs to seriously come down and shipping also. Look at all the sales made recently when the prices were reasonable and with free shipping in the USA. Many, many more people would purchase this product if the prices were more reasonable.
What name do we look up on web! Hopefully a better lower price!
I am new to AccuQuilt….
Will this ” buy out / merge ” effect any if our future purchase of DIES …. Will they end up increasing in pricing of the dies ?
Lord, I hope not. They’re already ridiculously priced as it is! I managed to get some dies during the recent sale. I needed to replace one of my strip dies, and picked up some others I had on my wish list. Cost a small fortune, even with the sale, but I just can’t cut as accurately anymore. Nerve damage and age have taken their toll.
I just ordered a straight cut multi card die from Accucut, and the die I received had wonky corners. On two of the dies ( there are 8 card cuts on the die) This would not fly with my customers ordering cards and would be a waste of paper for me, so I asked for a replacement. The response was that the dies are made by hand and should be expected to be accurate and they didn’t know that I would be happy with a replacement.
I have been purchasing dies from them for over 20 years, and never had a response like this when the dies were clearly faulty.
I suspected that Steve Nabity no longer owned the company.
Their customer service is horrible now, and no one ever answers the phone.
I had no idea they were made in China now. That explains everything.
The sentence should have read… “the response was that the dies were made by hand and should NOT be expected to be accurate…”
Isn’t their whole BRAND about making accurate cuts??? ACCUrate cuts?? That would have sent me over the edge.
Oh yes it will…..I ordered 2 dies at about the time this sale was happening….wish I had known.
The dies were supposedly delivered before Christmas, but I never got them. Repeated attempts to get a replacement shipment or refund have been met with…..nothing….. no response from Accuquilt at all except to tell me to get a police report, which I did.
But they can set up their automated sales pitches to get to me every day or so.
Wish I had never gotten involved.
I have ordered twice since the buyout, the first time they didn’t tell me that one of the dies was on backorder and they canceled my whole order. My second order is taking a lot longer to fill than they used to. Usually they would do them within a day now it’s taking longer. I hope they don’t cancel this order too.
Lets hope the new direction will be to do drop shipments in Canada make shipping affordable!
I sincerely hope that the new owners recognize the contributions of all the employees to the brand, in addition to recognizing the extensive customer base. Moving all operations off shore, would severe the vision (design, training, and product history/skill development history) from a dedicated and knowledgeable group that all share the love of quilting to people who do not necessarily possess or appreciate the quilting skills. They would need to start at ground zero and you will loose money. Please remember that there has been a resurgence of younger people wanting to acquire a traditional skill, in particular during the pandemic. Quilts of any size are a valuable, tangible art form in a largely digital age. They capture the visual history of the moment in a way that provides comfort. I have taught more than a hundred young people to cut with my dies, piece accurately, and finish a quilt. A large part of their success is using my Accuquilt die cutter. What you may not realize is that about a third of my kids are boys. Some students have been able to afford their own cutters. Some buy a special die and use my Studio cutter. Yes, younger people need an affordable price point or someone willing to share. Your market is waiting to see what will happen next. We are not little old ladies, we are vibrant artists, we are all races, all ages, and both sexes. Please remember what happened to the successful Boston-based Craftsy when it was acquired by NBC/Blueprint. Don’t let that happen to Accuquilt/Accucut. Thank you
I hope the new company will have better rates for shipping to Canada, $102.00 to ship one little die to Canada is absolutley ridiculous, that’s my biggest reason that I will not purchase anything from accuquilt!
I hope the new company that bought Accuquilt keeps Pam and Erica and others as they are so essential to the product. I hope the quality of craftsmanship continues and hope we can continue to get free patterns, free shipping occasionally as the dies are expensive and can’t constantly buy buy buy all the time. However, I do like every die I see and want them but I try to pace myself in purchases. I hope they continue after the pandemic to have the accuquilt cutting specialist have classes at quilt stores in all states as that is how I really learned about accuquilt and it is so nice to talk to someone in person. I am hoping good things happen and nothing interferes with the craftsmanship of the product and the idea that Accuquilt stands behind its product if there is a problem. I had a problem with my machine backing out the go big really big dies and determined it was a sensor and replaced my go big machine after I paid the repair fee even though my machine was a couple of years old. The go big is expensive and I was so glad to know they stand behind their products and use my machine at my home every day.
We are all concerned. Many of us were loyal members of Craftsy. When. Bluprint took over…gone were the beautiful fabrics, the kits that I was addicted to. The lovely thread and the notions. Gone. We were all worried about our classes. . So far we can see them. .Craftsy was associated with Accuquilt.
I speak for many of us. We are worried. I don’t want to be disappointed again.
Bluprint ruined Craftsy! I used to buy a lot of supplies through them, and the kits for some of the classes. Then, suddenly, their supplies started dwindling, and the name brand fabric manufacturers started disappearing in favor of “Boundless”. It ruined everything. Then they switched back to the Craftsy name again, but I haven’t gone back. My direct experience with a buyout of the company I worked for, was absolutely horrible. The family type atmosphere and familiar leaders’ faces disappeared. It started with the hiring of a new CEO, who ended up breaking up the company and selling our division off. That’s what he does. At any rate, 3 years later and people are still leaving in droves worldwide. I hope they don’t ruin AccuQuilt 😫
so answere our question p lease. Will the name stay the same? I really enjoy it due to wrist injury not be able to cut now.Just was wonddering.
We don’t have access to that information since we’re not affiliated with AcccuQuilt.
I really love the Accuquilt system. I think it is the best way to cut accurately and quickly. I hope that the new company will make some improvements. I would like to see more pattern support. I should be able to pick up a quilt magazine, see a quilt I like, and have a ready reference on how to cut it with Accuquilt. Today I take the pattern and redraw it in EQ8 to try and create an accuquilt cuttable block/quilt. They need more designers thinking about cutting with Accuquilt when they design quilts. More support in EQ 8 would also be great – today I have to figure out what accuquilt die I could use. A module added to EQ8 that provided that would be great . There are far more blocks that can be created with the Qube system than the 216 that they currently show in their brochures – why wouldn’t they keep adding ?? And designs using shapes from BOB dies for other applications are only coming from the user community as far as I can see.
It would be nice if prices were a little more reasonable- now I simply won’t buy a die until it is on sale for 30-40% off. I would also like to see them think more in terms of those of us who already are heavily invested – BOGO sales aren’t great when you already have most of the dies. Same for bundles – I have all the strip dies, I have all the on point setting triangles, I have a ton of mats. Maybe special discounts based on how many dies you own.
I would also like to see more real education and training – I get a little tired of the infomercial approach of most of the videos. These days I mostly watch them to see what the folks in the user community come up with. Documentation and packaging could also use a re-look. I shouldn’t have to draw 1/4″ cutting lines on every die. I shouldn’t have to label the die myself with strip size to cut, the shape number, which Qube it belongs to and what the cut and finished sizes are. The labels they currently use are incomplete and often come off or get distorted with use. And can someone tell me why in a Western company they put the critical info on the upper right edge of the packaging?? Who organizes from right to left?? I currently have to relabel every die so that the critical info is on the edge that I can read when they are lined up on a shelf. Also with all of the users who have taken the time to create foam templates why haven’t they taken the hint and made them available?? They would be easy and relatively cheap to mfg and far more accurate. End users shouldn’t have to produce their own tools to use the product. I think a set of foam template should come with every die.(labeled of course)
I have mixed feelings about the transition. We have a good product right now and I want to build on it in the future. With the new company I hope that we will have the same or even better choices in dies and machines. This is one of those “if it isn’t broken don’t fix it” kind of feelings
With the transition to the new company it seems that every single day the sale is different. It has really become so much of a game. I purchased a number of dies in December that had I just picked the right day would have saved me $30. Given these are already a huge investment that $30 makes a difference. Most retail stores have a policy where if you purchase something and it goes on sale for a better price within 30 days they will refund the difference. Even if that difference was only in points on my account I would be thrilled and it would make me want to buy something more. I hope the new owners just start pricing these reasonably and only have occasional sales and frankly the sales should not be every single day and changing. Just this week there was buy one get one 80% off and the very next day it was buy one get one 90% off. That is just ridiculous and playing games with the customers. As a result and because I have so many dies I haven’t used yet, I won’t be buying anything else for quite some time. If ever. I do appreciate the free shipping days and hope that part remains.
You might want to talk with Greg Gaggini former CEO, he really knew how to run Accuquilt/accu-cut. I waited to give your new team a chance and it’s really not the same. Best wishes, but you might want to bring him back to consult.
I appreciate the free shipping days. I really hate that u can’t get a person on the phone and customer service is not good at all. I think u should bring Gregg Gaggini back former ceo who really knows how to run Accuquilt or at least get his advise as a consultant as to how to run the company so quilters are happy
Why all the personnel changes / departures? Yes, associate turnover does happen however some of the people who recently ‘disappeared’ eg, ‘Brock’, ‘Emily’ were on-camera contributors as well.
As a customer who’s invested several thousand dollars on the cutters & dies, I am yet to be impressed by the private equity purchase. Private equity’s focus is shareholder value ie ‘the bottom line’, NOT customer value. Product quality matters. Treating associates AND retailers with professionalism, dignity, & respect matters. You can do better Accuquilt.