A version of this article first ran in Craft Industry Insider, our monthly newsletter for corporations and larger businesses in the crafts industry.
Another major player in the craft and gift industry is in liquidation.
Design Group Americas (DGA) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on July 3, 2025, just over a month after turnover firm Hilco Capital acquired it from U.K. parent IG Design Group plc for $1 plus 75% of proceeds from any future sales.
It seems to have been a perfect storm of declining sales combined with tariff uncertainty and bankruptcies of key retail customers, including Joann and Party City. IG said insolvencies among U.S. retailers accounted for 20% of the DGA revenue decline.
DGA is now being sold for parts, just like Joann was, by the same company that handled the Joann sale. Most of the company is for sale as a going concern, with the domestically manufactured woven ribbon products business (Offray) being wound down.
How did DGA get so big?
Design Group Americas’ origins start more than 100 years ago as a postcard manufacturer called Hy-Sil, which later expanded to gift wrap. IG Design Group plc purchased Hy-Sil in 1989, later acquiring Stephen Lawrence in 2001, Glitterwrap in 2007 and the Lang Companies in 2016 and adding them to the Design Group Americas division.
Meanwhile, CSS Industries began as a consolidation of several department stores called City Stores Co. in Philadelphia in 1923, growing through the post-war period with various retail endeavors. After a bankruptcy, the company was renamed CSS Industries in 1985 and began acquiring companies in the consumer sector. CSS expanded to gift wrap and related products with the $38 million acquisition of Paper Magic Group in 1988. CSS acquired Berwick Industries, a ribbon and bow manufacturer, in 1993, gift wrap and trim manufacturer Cleo Inc. for $133 million in 1995, and Color Clings Inc. in 1997.
The Big Four in sewing patterns — Simplicity, McCall’s, Butterick, Vogue — hold 90% of the sewing pattern market in the U.S. Butterick absorbed Vogue in 1961. McCall’s purchased Butterick in 2001 and then Kwik Sew in 2011. CSS Industries acquired McCall’s in 2016 for $14 million and then also picked up Simplicity in 2017 for $64 million. The FTC blocked Simplicity’s attempt to acquire McCall’s in 2000, because the merger would have created one company with more than 75% of the market, but seemingly didn’t bat an eye in 2017.
IG Design Group purchased CSS Industries in 2020 for £89.7 million (about $120 million), more than doubling the size of its U.S. business and entering the craft market. The purchase solidified Walmart as their biggest customer, growing to 22% of the company’s revenue from 18% the year before, and introduced Joann as a customer.
Design Group Americas saw its revenue grow by 73% after the acquisition of CSS, from $355.9 million in fiscal year 2020 to $614 million in 2021. But struggles appeared in 2022, with an operating loss blamed on freight and raw material costs alongside wage inflation for DGA. The company embarked on strategic initiatives to restore profitability for DGA in 2023, including installing new leadership, reducing head count by 100, “nearshoring” production to Mexico, and selling off its plant in Manhattan, Kansas.
But revenue declined again in 2024, and DGA closed plants in 12 more U.S. locations, reduced headcount by 200 and further outsourced production to Mexico. In 2025, revenue declined again by 12%, which DGA attributed to weaker consumer demand and customer bankruptcies during the year.
Joann reportedly accounted for more than 5% of DGA’s revenue in fiscal 2024. DGA filed a claim of $2.8 million for unpaid invoices from July through December 2024 with Joann’s bankruptcy administrator. In its 2025 financial report, IG Design Group noted an impairment of $54.2 million relating to DGA assets in light of customer bankruptcy.
What happens now?
Hilco is now selling off assets associated with the following four business segments of DGA, as described by the bankruptcy documents:
- Sewing: consists of accounts receivable, inventory, and machinery/equipment supporting the production of sewing patterns; accounts receivable and inventory related to sewing supplies and other ancillaries; and any related intellectual property including brand names, trademarks, website domain names, patents and copyrights.
- Gift: consists of accounts receivable, inventory, and machinery/equipment supporting the production of wrapping paper; accounts receivable, inventory, and machinery/equipment supporting the production of poly bows; accounts receivable and inventory related to other items, including gift bags and boxes; and any related intellectual property.
- Stationery: consists of accounts receivable and inventory related tocalendars, dated products, journals, greeting cards, other stationery, and similar products, and any related intellectual property.
- Play: consists of accounts receivable and inventory related to toys, games, arts and crafts kits, and other child-friendly products and novelties; and any related intellectual property.
In a hearing last week, representatives for DGA said that 58 parties had expressed interest and signed NDAs to inspect the financials of the assets for sale. The deadline for qualified bids is Sept. 8, with a potential auction happening Sept. 11, and new expressions of interest are welcome despite the initial deadline of July 18. DGA’s representatives said they expect a “robust competitive auction process” with multiple stalking horse bids.
While Hilco is selling assets as “going concern” sales, meaning the businesses remain in operation, DGA has commenced with layoffs across its divisions, according to information from state labor boards’WARN notices:
- 380 people are being laid off in Berwick, PA from Aug. 9
- 53 people are being laid off in Atlanta, GA from Aug. 26
- 70 people are being laid off in Hagerstown, MD from Aug. 26
- 112 people are being laid off in Batesburg-Leesville, SC from Aug. 26
- 150 are being laid off in Shorewood, IL from Aug. 26
- 80 people are being laid off in New York City from Sept. 25
That’s a total of 845 announced separations — 60% of the 1,400 employees across DGA reported at the time of the bankruptcy filing. The actual number of layoffs could be higher: WARN notices are generally required for layoffs of more than 50 workers.
IG Design Group Plc has reported a sunnier financial outlook since divesting DGA. I’ll continue to follow the bankruptcy proceedings and the sale of DGA assets and keep you updated.
Grace Dobush
Corporate News Reporter
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.
Holy you-know-what. 80 employees at Simplicity headquarters on Broadway – that’s all of them, isn’t it?
The rumor mill is awash with speculation about who may bid for the remains of Simplicity, with Burda being mentioned over and over. I do hope someone steps in to take it over, but my heart goes out to the employees who are losing their jobs.
I don’t know what percentage of the employees it is at Simplicity HQ, but this is a WARN notification from late June, which states that the effective date is Sept. 25th. It was filed before the bankruptcy filing, and may be a contingency in case there is no successful going-concern bidder for the pattern companies.
That’s a very interesting catch, Liz — I didn’t pay attention to when the WARN notices were filed, but I should have noted that!
Also it’s worth saying that the NYC location served as a headquarters for DGA’s entire craft division, so it’s not only Simplicity that was affected: https://dgamericas.com/contact/
I believe Wrights (bias tape, etc) and Boye needles were also part of the Simplicity group. Will they be sold off — or gone, also?
Yes, all of IG Design Group America’s assets are being sold off.
We are witnessing the sad end of a creative business. It will no doubt change and shift into something new as creativity always does. And, my heart goes out to all my friends and support staff at the pattern company whose lives will be changing as this process progresses.
Sympathy for the 80 employees at Simplicity who are losing their jobs. My contract with Vogue was terminated last fall without explanation, though I had been told that my patterns were selling well. Last month, I received a royalty statement for January 1 – June 30. I replied, asking when I could expect the check. I was then informed that the company is in bankruptcy and should file an electronic claim, which I did. However, the uncertainty of what will happen next is concerning, as it does not bode well for the future. A dim hope is that another entity/company will pick up the pieces and keep these companies going.
I have been watching this since inception and am very sad about it. I think it will be broken up and all the pieces sold off. I am heartbroken myself about the loss of the beauty of the gift wrapping and ribbon space. I am working hard to establish a wonderful American gift paper manufacturer. I am not certain about the ribbon side, US made.
Unfortunate. For years Vogue was THE designer brand. Then the others – Simplicity, Butterick Mccall’s seemed to just be reprinting the same patterns over and over. They’d just change the facing or lower the neckline nothing unique. I have a 35+ year collection of patterns. So big I when I was able to thrift file cabinets at goodwill I bought all the ones I could find. Before they were strewn all over the house. So they finally have a home. I have them arranged in the cabinets by dress/top, skirt and pants and finally jackets. So at least when I’m looking for something I can find it. The independent patterns have rushed in to fill the gap but I haven’t really seen anything unique or different Just some basic tops and blouses. I guess I’m glad I bought them all when I did. I know what I’m getting into when I start working with them as far as adjustments. Have traced many off to keep the original intact. But the Vogue were something special. I feel bad for the employees and for new sewers as well.
Sue, yes indeed, Vogue was very special and used high profile designers to create outstanding patterns. The ones I bought in the late 80’s, early 90’s included Belville Sassoon, Anne Klein, Yves St Laurent, Christian Lacroix, Issey Miyaki etc. They were amazing.
Burda was great in a very different way, however. Their European look did not shy away from finer details that made the clothes look like they couldn’t possibly be home made. I loved their magazines.
This is sad for so many reasons, and especially for the employees losing their jobs, benefits and health insurance. Commercial sewing patterns were a herald of the modern era. This is the death knell of the home sewing industry. I wonder if sewing machine manufacturers are concerned. Or are only quilters buying $10,000 sewing machines? Thank you again for another well-written article.
I disagree that this is the death knell of the home sewing industry. The pattern companies failed to keep up with the times, which made them vulnerable, and Joann’s bankruptcy has been a fatal or near-fatal blow. BUT almost every younger sewist I know, and an awful lot of the others, buys way more indy patterns than Big 4 patters, with the possible exception of Burda Style. And the younger sewists are unafraid to alter a pattern they already have into something completely unrecognizable, as well as use projectors or PDF patterns. Those of us who are older tend to have huge printed tissue pattern stashes.
Thanks, Grace, for keeping us up to date. We will all be very interested to see who buys the company spare parts and what they choose to do with the assets. I mentioned during the last article on this topic that there may be interesting opportunities, moving forward, to upgrade the tech and allow for more flexibility when ordering patterns. Perhaps you could even order made to measure altered patterns before they are printed.
I did some research on this and found, to my delight, that this tech already exists. If money were no object, I would love to set up a collective where freelance designers can sell their patterns all in the same format. A customer can browse the library, put in their measurements and have the pattern file printed locally = no shipping costs nor wait time.
What do you think?
Great idea Annabelle! I don’t think there are death knells lurking but opportunity for the right things moving forward. To be honest, there will be some new technologies but also the well done hand crafted space will grow. I am pretty sure American Greetings is purchasing all the assets. Barnes and Noble purchased Paper Source as well.
Michelle, do you mean hand crafted patterns or garments? Perhaps both? Frankly, I find very little is appealing in the fashion stores. The massive dump of cheap apparel imports into Australia do not support local fashion makers so everyone produces “safe” designs. zzzzzzz Let’s hope the politicians here will copy the tariff thing to start supporting local business again. The problem is we have 40 years of local business destruction which needs to be restored. It will likely be a longer restoration process than the US.
That would be a good opportunity. Depends on the styles available.
Annabelle, are you in Australia? I agree, a lot of Indie designers and growing here in the US. I feel there is space to grow even in the clothing lines. There are some great Instagram feeds like The Conservateur and others coming up. I have a lot of ideas inspired by the different vintage and new patterns as well as fashion.
Michelle, yes I am in the Land of Oz. 🙂 When a big company like this falters, there is much opportunity to fill the gap! I’d love to see your ideas. Presently I am doing hand knitting pattern design but I very much miss my sewing and would love to be involved in sewing fashion design somehow…
A quick follow up to this outstanding article from Grace, it does not seem that American Greetings is purchasing all of the assets from Design Group. I know many of us are following this closely. Unfortunately, the staff are on notice and many are already gone. As Grace mentioned, there isn’t a lot of public information available as of yet.
I am utterly fascinated by this topic, from a sociological standpoint. It seems like I am watching two entirely separate worlds living next to each other.
I sew all my clothes. I picked it up during the pandemic, like so many. My previous sewing experience was from 15 years before, and that had not gone well. Even before that, I had dabbled in it as a teen in the 90s. I remember paper patterns and hating them. They were always too large for me and it was hard to find the styles I wanted to sew. I remember brick-and-mortar fabric stores, and hating them. The people who worked there were snobby and told me the materials I was looking for did not exist.
Fast forward to 2020. Within a few weeks I discovered the vast world of indie sewing patterns and online fabric stores. I found designers that had exactly the styles I wanted, and shops that sold exactly the materials I wanted.
I have not bought any clothes for myself since then. I sew everything from underwear to outerwear, from athletic leggings to flannel shirts, I work with swim fabrics, softshell, merino jersey. I can buy patterns from all over the world, and can go from purchase to cutting the fabric in 30 minutes.
I am also part of a very inspiring global sewing community, where people connect and share on all kinds of social media platforms. They are people of all ages and styles and walks of life.
No one, literally no one I see there uses paper patterns from those old pattern companies. Most of the younger sewists haven’t even heard of them, let alone bought them. Most of the people who have used them are adamant that they are not going back.
Also, everybody buys fabric online, because there is such a huge number of specialised stores that sell high quality fabrics for specific needs, e.g. athletic fabrics, wool fabrics, everything, and obviously often significantly cheaper than a physical store with all its overhead costs.
All of this has been going on for 10 years or so. And yet, every now and then I come across a corner of the internet where a few people still obsess over these old patterns and the stores that existed 40 years ago, and seem to have completely missed out on all the new things going on.
Well said!!! I agree 100% the quality has gone down. I support the indies !!! FYI I am a baby quilt pattern designer http://www.donnawesterkamp. com
I don’t usually toot my own horn but hey indies need to unite.
In the graphic supplied, the first 2 years of the pandemic 2020-2021, saw increased profit and then plummeting thereafter. This happened to quite a few industries from what I’ve seen posted on the ‘net as far as downturns in profits year-over-year since 2022. Is this the result of poor management with companies who’ve failed/closed? Or a shift in consumer purchasing/habits after the pandemic? It’s an interesting subject from an economic standpoint.
KittyAnn, it’s a mixed situation. Joann’s thought that the Covid windfall of crafting was essentially permanent and acted accordingly. They were mismanaged for years and Covid (IMO) allowed them to survive that mismanagement longer. But the 2020/2021 nesting/crafting resurgence subsided a great deal after people weren’t cooped up and afraid of catching or spreading Covid. I knew it wouldn’t all last, so I think that companies that benefitted from it should have at least seriously considered that it wouldn’t last.
Since all of the dates mentioned in the article have passed, I’m wondering if there are any updates? Was there an auction?
The past and upcoming dates are listed on the lawyer’s website: https://cases.ra.kroll.com/DGA/#information-dates
The deadline for qualified bids is Sept. 8, with the auction happening Sept. 11.
I’m ashamed to admit that I thought it was September already! LOL! SMH.
So much for the president’s “made in America”. but his family an affpord all the $20,000 dresses. not the rest of us. Rapacious entities like the one that took over Joanns and was selling crappy notions under some bogus name at the end …AGAIN!! the main customer base is female, and these guys dont like us. we have to be dressed in burlap and rags , no shoes, and perpetually pregnant (sorry for the rant).. not politicvcally correct, but someone has to speak up or we are all lost.