#1: A warm hello, deadstock for 1, WDTW & a personal vendetta
Hi friends,
This first newsletter feels a bit like a timid shout into a vast, dark www.wilderness. Just a few minutes ago, I hit "pause" on MatchpointFabric.com, and I've been sitting here in silence, grappling with the audible whoosh left by a business I built over three years just ... ceasing to exist.
And that's why I'm so thankful you're here. And you, whoever you are!, are what I will miss the most about running a small business. I'd come to realize that selling stuff, "sustainable" as it was, just wasn't it for me. (I know that's how the economy works! It's just not how I work!) But I had a visceral fear of losing touch with you all, hence the knee-jerk reaction to start a newsletter without ... any real plan.
So! Here we are! I have a few useful bits and bobs floating around my brain, thoughts about sourcing and substrates and style hacks, and I want to share as much as I can with you before it all ends up wherever my birth certificate is.
Who knows what this is, or what it will become, but I am so happy to be sharing this cozy corner of your inbox, for however long you'll have me.
xx,
M
A few tips I wish someone had told me when I was starting out, shared humbly:
1. Plenty of the fabric you buy may already be deadstock, even if it isn't labeled as such
Here's why: fabric mills have MASSIVE minimums (we're talking well upwards of 1000 yards). Most fabric stores can't make these, so are sourcing their stock from two primary sources; jobbers and converters. Converters make the minimum orders from mills, then store the stock in their warehouses, selling at minimums of about 20 yards to fabric stores and designers. Jobbers play a similar role, but they purchase large lots of leftover fabric from mill runs, TV/movie sets and other productions — and that's how we get deadstock fabric. They generally pay a good price but have to take everything — making the assumption that there'll be some hidden gems amongst the blah that make their investment worth it. (The Storage Wars of the fashion industry!) It’s worth an email or inquiry to your friendly local fabric store owner to see if there are any hidden deadstock finds amongst their stock, or what percentage of their stock is jobber-procured!
2. Use keywords
Deadstock can also be called offcuts, end-of-roll/roll end, overstock or surplus and inputting one or a combination of these keywords into Google, Etsy or eBay can often net some great results. If you're not too troubled by a slightly-askew print or incorrectly-dyed piece, searching for "seconds" or "second quality" will dig up some cheaper deadstock that isn't quite 100%.
3. Designer Dos & Don'ts
Fabric listed as "ex designer", "designer" or with a designer's name attached is usually true "end of roll" deadstock. But not always! Here's where it can get a bit sticky: it's often cheaper for a mill to keep producing a designer's requested fabric after the run is completed, selling it at a reduced price to jobbers afterwards. So while it is more sustainable than, say, setting up a new production run from scratch, it's not always truly "leftover" fabric. Not all fabric stores will be able to trace their deadstock back to the mill-of-origin, but it's worth an email! (Ask if the deadstock is "end of the roll"/"offcut" or if it's a "second run".) While not always a sure bet, if a store has tons and tons of yardage in the same print or same colour, it's likely that it's a second run, while just the odd roll or two suggests that it's true deadstock.
4. Look locally
From personal experience, small designers are often looking to unload their unwanted yardage (especially if you're able to buy over ten yards!). Keep your eyes open for studio and sample sales as well — along with samples, designers will often have yardage for sale that isn't always advertised.
A few trusted deadstock sellers (without minimum yardage requirements!) :
-Mood Fabrics
-Metro Fabrics
-Fabric Mart
-Elliott Berman
-Nick of Time Textiles (with a good selection of cheaper "seconds")
-Fabric Fabric (most of the pieces listed on their website are newly-milled, but they may be able to send you deadstock swatches from their warehouse if you email!)
Why Does This Work (WDTW)?
*(A series where I try to figure out why outfits that I think look really really good ARE really really good.)
photographed by Acielle / Style du Monde
1. Scale: Flight suits can feel like a lot of look, and it's often tempting to scale back on the other pieces. But I say, match the drama! The big, chunky teddy coat was the right choice here — its modern shape keeps the flight suit far from costume territory — while the belt bag is almost ironically miniature; a delightful and quaint punctuation mark on a large-scale look.
2. Texture: The shiny black elements (boots & belt bag) work in wonderful opposition with the coat. I've always struggled with keeping teddy coats out of bathrobe territory, and this may just be the ticket.
3. Colour: It may have been temping here to go all tonal with a pair of matching brown boots, but the pops of black in the undershirt, bag and shoes were an inspired choice — all working overtime to keep the vintage-inspired coat and flight suit firmly in the 21st-century.
4. Details: I love the bunching that happens when big pants are stuffed into tall boots; it suggests a certain "running out of the door"ness that I can't get enough of.
Currently Reading: Fake Silk
I don't have many enemies, but the greenwashing of rayon, viscose and bamboo viscose is definitely in the running. If you've been around for a minute you've heard this one, so skip ahead. But carbon disulfide, a prerequisite in viscose production, is highly neurotoxic and has ravaged the health of textile workers and the air, water and soil quality of surrounding communities for a CENTURY.
I've been making my way through Fake Silk, a truly exhaustive and rightfully angry tome by Paul David Blanc about rayon's brutal history. It's quite academic (25 pages of notes and I'm only five chapters in!) and my pandemic-weary brain hasn't been fully up to the task, but I promise I'll share a comprehensive book review once I'm finished. I recommend it, if you can find a copy (a few friends have lucked out at their local library).
A few key quotes in the meantime:
"A new synthetic textile industry, unprecedented in human history, sought to accomplish nothing less than taking cellulose, the abundant vegetable building block of every stalk and trunk, and transforming it into man-made silk. Noble man would be able to accomplish what heretofore had been the purview of the lowly caterpillar or the lurking spider."
"As I dug deeper into the story of viscose, one question that I was forced to consider over and over again was this: when a new technology leads to disease or even death, how high does the body count have to be before any protective steps are taken?"
"Besides frank insanity, poisoning can be manifested in subtler personality changes. Carbon disulfide causes toxic degenerative brain disease and acts by damaging the sensory capacity of nerves (including those responsible for vision). After years of exposure, even more insidious carbon disulfide damage appears through increased risk of heart disease and stroke."
Thank you so much for sticking around! I know inbox space is at a high premium, so I don't take your eyeballs lightly. This newsletter is and will always be completely free, but if you would like to show your support you can buy me a coffee or share on social (with infinite karmic thanks from me) :).