Setting The Record Straight Again: And No FreeSpirit Is NOT Going Out Of Business

March 27, 2023 /

Ever since I started this new series of Setting the Record Straight, just about every week I have something new to write about. It’s as if people are just starting stupid rumors and lies so I have something to blog about. Well, don’t worry as I have plenty to write about so please just stop spreading lies and rumors.

With that, this week, I got an email with the subject line: Rumor? In my experience, that has never been a good subject line. Anyway, as I dug into the email from my rep who received it, this is what I see:

I just heard an ugly rumor that FreeSpirit is going out of business. Is that true?

My rep replied, “That would be a huge surprise to me. I have not heard anything like that and business is great.”

The customer replied, “Isn’t that odd!”

At which point, the rep asked, “Where did you hear that?”

The customer replied, “Someone working at a Texas shop said their store owner called their rep and confirmed it, but didn’t confirm the rep’s name and May would be the last delivery.”

In the meantime, I am trying to figure out why this rumor would even be going around. The best that I could come up with had to do with the FreeSpirit website.

We have two websites for each of our companies. One is a Sandbox site where we do testing of new programming. This is where we sync from our inventory system and then move data over to the live site. With that, a rogue developer was ‘cleaning up’ what he thought was the Sandbox site when he was actually deleting stuff on the live site. That is the best I could come up with why this happened.

In any case, this is all nonsense. Our business and all of our companies are healthy. Neither FREESPIRIT NOR ANY OF THE JAFTEX COMPANIES ARE GOING OUT OF BUSINESS. Therefore, if you hear any nonsense like this, please shut it down and bring it to my attention or at least ask some questions before contributing to misinformation being spread. Another suggestion would be not to believe everything you hear and to question what doesn’t seem believable.

With all that being said, a couple of days later, the rep wrote me another email. This is what he said. “The rumor came from a 2018 post.” That happened to be the year we brought FreeSpirit. OYE! Welcome to my world!


8 Comments

  • Pamela Meyers Arbour

    March 29, 2023 at 7:08 am

    It does seem that they are making rumors to keep feeding your new topic! When I saw the title about keeping the record straight, I wondered why it was becoming a series! LOL Now I know. It seems that is was very wise for you to include regular customers like me in your emails. I am glad you did because it seems the customers can generate the rumors really fast and they can also help you set the record straight!

    Thanks.

  • Carole Kurth

    March 28, 2023 at 7:41 pm

    Glad you have a sense of humor! Things like this really wear on a company and its employees.
    Hang in there! We quilters & sewists can’t get along without our Free Spirit ‘fix!’

  • Joan Dinneen

    March 28, 2023 at 6:51 pm

    Love your blogs and FB posts. Also, you produce GREAT fabric!

    Forever a FreeSpirit supporter and fan!!

  • Kathleen Francour

    March 28, 2023 at 4:26 pm

    Hi Scott, I would add; Question Everything!!! It is a sad fact that we can’t trust anything without double-checking the source and the source’s source! UGH! It’s frustrating for everyone. I can’t imagine how much harder it is for any business to constantly police rumors and misinformation that can harm their business and brand.
    Another job description for you, Scott. FIREMAN! Keep putting out those fires! All your efforts are most appreciated!