Spoonflower, the world’s largest custom fabric and home decor digital marketplace, announced today that its board has chosen Michael Jones as the organization’s new Chief Executive Officer. Jones brings more than 25 years of expertise in ecommerce, marketplaces, and technology to the company. He succeeds Gart Davis, the company’s co-founder, who is stepping into the new role of Chief Operating Officer. Davis co-founded the company with Stephen Fraser. (Listen to our podcast interview with Fraser recorded at Spoonflower headquarters Durham in 2015.)
“Michael is exactly the right leader for Spoonflower’s future,” said Davis. “His strong management experience will help shape the company as we continue to accelerate growth internationally, and his strategic depth and keen understanding will catalyze Spoonflower forward as a leader in ecommerce. As COO, I look forward to working with Michael and our internal and partner teams to extend our innovative work in print and manufacturing, delivering custom-made premium products that delight our ecommerce customers with increasing efficiency, quality, and speed.”
In just over a decade, Spoonflower has disrupted the textile manufacturing industry by offering consumers and makers their choice of high-quality custom-printed fabric by the yard, featuring any design imaginable, whether their own or from independent artists across the globe. In 2016, the North Carolina-based business opened a second factory in Berlin, Germany, to better serve audiences in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
Under company president Allison Polish, who came on in 2013, the company has shifted focus away from just printed yardage for crafters and towards ready-made products such as curtains, throw pillows, wallpaper, blankets, and sheet sets for home decor. According to today’s press release, there’s been “strong demand for these newer categories” with record setting revenue in 2019.
“Spoonflower has a unique value proposition, combining print-on-demand technology with a vast independent artist Marketplace, placing it at the nexus of e-commerce, technology, and manufacturing,” said Scot Wingo, member of Spoonflower’s board of directors. “I worked alongside Michael for ten years at ChannelAdvisor and believe that he is the right person to lead Spoonflower into this new decade, given his strong command of these nuances and his customer-first philosophy.”
Michael Jones, the new CEO of Spoonflower.
Jones most recently was Chief Revenue Officer at Amplience, a London-based headless content management platform, where he was responsible for all worldwide marketing, sales, business development, customer success, and professional services. He previously held leadership positions at Anatwine – acquired by Berlin-based Zalando, RetailMeNot (acquired by Harland Clarke), eBay, and ChannelAdvisor.
“Spoonflower is one the best-kept secrets in the e-commerce industry,” said Jones. “Under the leadership of Founders Gart Davis and Stephen Fraser and President Allison Polish, Spoonflower reimagined the textile manufacturing industry and cultivated a thriving artist community to deliver unique products made with sustainable and scalable custom printing. Everyone—from artists and makers to employees and shareholders—should be excited for what’s in store for the future of our business.”
“Jones most recently was Chief Revenue Officer at Amplience, a London-based headless content management platform”…so he has absolutely no interior design experience at all is what you’re saying?
I think he has experience running companies and that’s why they hired him.
I just went back and listened to your interview of Steven Frazer. which you did several years ago. Stephen welcomed our group when I attended one of Becka Rahn’s classes at Spoonflower. I am dismayed to discover that he is no longer with the company. I am wondering what happened to him?
Yes, he moved on from Spoonflower a few years ago.
I just went on the site and it was so disappointing. I miss all the innovative designs from the past. These designs are not sophisticated.