Update On The Blend Asset Acquisition
On my September 21, 2020 blog post called Summer Excitement, I informed my readers about my family’s purchase of the assets from Blend Fabrics and Anna Griffin. Subsequently, all the former Blend designers were transferred into FreeSpirit and now the Blend name is retired.
Today, I wanted to bring you up to speed on the progress that we have made with this acquisition and how pleased I am.
The first thing that the FreeSpirit team did, upon closing the asset purchase, was to seek out a lead stylist to work with all these new designers that were to come on board. Unfortunately, Debbie, our current lead stylist for FreeSpirit, had too much on her plate already to manage a new team of designers plus what she already had on her plate.
After a few months, we were fortunate to have found Nikita. Nikita came from another textile company and we are very happy with her progress so far. She’s been in touch with all the designers and is gradually putting together collections to be included with future releases. Each week, we have a Zoom meeting and it’s great to see where things are going with the artwork. We are excited and anxious for our customers to see all the great stuff she is putting together with the newly minted FreeSpirit designers. Stay tuned!
One of the nice things about the deal was that we received several lines that were in good order and could easily be put on color cards for our reps to start selling immediately. Those lines were Christmas and Halloween lines and included the following:
- Boolicious by Maude Asbury which ships in May.
- Fa La La also by Maude Asbury which ships in June.
- Holly Jolly by Cori Dantini that ships in June.
- Spirit of Halloween by Cori Dantini ships May.
- Spooktacular by Maude Asbury ships May.
Those were the 5 seasonal lines we introduced on the come out. More recently, we brought back another Cori Dantini favorite called Seeds. This is a very simple and popular blender that we are bringing back. We are now offering 20 colors which I believe is more than Blend offered, but in addition, we are printing Seeds in Korea using traditional printing methods i.e. not digital.
That is the crux of the update withstanding a few comments. Our customers have spoken and they are excited about all of these lines and I am not just saying that. The sales have exceeded my expectations.
I believe that customers feel that this has been a great addition to Freespirit as it has filled in some areas where FreeSpirit was lacking i.e. novelty prints. Trust me, there is a lot more to come including lots of great designers you have all learned to love when they designed for Blend. In addition, we are really excited that Anna Griffin will be designing for us too.
With that, I wanted to thank all the shop owners who have purchased these new lines from FreeSpirit. We appreciate your support. As for consumers, we will be seeking your support when these fabrics start to hit stores later in the year. Thank you in advance.
Carry on and have a great week! Be safe out there!
15 Comments
Joanne Hubbard
Thanks for the update. This is really good news and I’m thrilled for all involved – especially consumers. 🙂
Scott Fortunoff
Thanks Joanne! Hope you are safe and well.
xoxo
Scott
Scott Fortunoff
Hi Barb,
Thanks for your kind words as always. You are too sweet. Glad you are pleased with everything and we look forward to having you as a customer.
Hope to see you soon.
Regards,
Scott
Katie Wyatt
Scott, I always enjoy reading your posts … they are well thought out and full of information … plus {not to mention} provide me with my virtual fabric fix for the day.
My two favorite are Fa La La and Spooktacular {I L-O-V-E vintage looking fabric}.
Take care, be safe out there, and all the best,
Katie
Scott Fortunoff
Hi Katie,
Thanks for your nice comments. Glad you approve of the new lines and glad we are giving you your daily fix. Take care and be safe.
Scott
Helen Marie Marshall
Yayyyyyy! Love the seeds (waiting for the color choices) and especially the Christmas fa la la!
Scott Fortunoff
Hi Helen,
Here is a link to where you can see all the colors. What’s your favorite?
https://www.freespiritfabrics.com/fabric-lines/just-released/seeds/
Thanks.
Scott
Robert Raymond Tucker
Thank you for this update on current exciting news.
Scott Fortunoff
Hey Robert,
You are very welcome. Hope you enjoy the new FreeSpirit designers’ fabrics. Have a great day.
Scott
Linnea Ferguson
Those are such fun and pretty fabrics! I will be searching for them soon!!
Scott Fortunoff
Hi Linnea,
They won’t be shipping for a few months, but yes, definitely keep your eye out for it. Thanks so much!
Have a great day.
Scott
Giovonnia Vaughan
Dear Scott:
I love the new fabric line! What a sweet pattern! (Boo)
I sewed masks for people in my mom’s senior community. Now I am working on learning to sew clothes.
Happy New Year!
Giovonnia Vaughan
Scott Fortunoff
Hey Giovonnia,
It’s been a long time! How are you? I hope you are doing great. That’s awesome that you sewed masks. I guess your sewing machine is holding up. So awesome you are going to start making apparel. Good luck!
xoxo
Scott
Theresa Burton
So glad to see Spooktacular back. I have a few precious scraps of a large purchase from a few years back and Now I can restock!! I love Vintage Halloween prints and never fail to create several projects every year.
Scott Fortunoff
Hi Theresa,
We are glad too! It’s selling awesome and that’s a good thing. Can’t wait to see your projects.
Regards,
Scott