Skip to main content

At Fabric Mart: A Brief History


This is a SPECIAL post, written by Robert Richin, 
the owner of Fabric Mart!

The store front from when our current location in Sinking Spring, PA was just opened and the store front today.

It is so easy to shop on the Fabric Mart website-- a few clicks of the mouse and in a few days a box of beautiful fabrics arrive at your door. But how did this business start?


Fabric Mart was started in July 1977 by Robert Richin. Robert learned about fabrics from his father, Sidney Richin, who was a women's clothing manufacturer and retailer. Robert would scour the factory floors of top designers to find the fabrics he needed to fill his stores. 

Robert's first store was a 2000 square-foot building, located in Manheim, Pennsylvania. The fabrics came in on rolls and were folded into remnants. Theses fabrics were displayed on tables and hung on hangers. After 10 years of opening his first store, he opened seven more stores located in Pennsylvania and Maryland. The stores featured fabrics from leading designers and manufacturers such as Jonathan Logan, Butte Knit, Leslie Fay, John Meyer, Jones New York, plus many more. 

During the 1990's, he started a swatch club where customers received monthly swatch mailings containing about 30-40 different fabrics.
Inside the store while it was being remodeled to be filled with the latest fashion fabrics.
The store is still filled with great finds! A good value for a good price! 

About 12 years ago, they decided to start a website, FABRICMARTFABRICS.COM. Instead of sending out a general mailing of swatches, the website gave customers the ability to display 1000's of items and present them to a larger customer base. 

What is FABRICMARTFABRICS.COM all about?
1) It's about providing customers with a large selection of quality fabrics at incredible prices.
2) It's about having a website that adds new fabrics everyday.
3) It's about having Super Sales, Clearance Sales and $1.00 Blowouts!
4) It's about having an exciting and fun website.
5) It's about having a site that customers want to check out every day.
6) It's about picking the best fabrics from dozens of sources and bringing them to you, the customer.
7) It's about having the best pictures online.
8) It's about having the best people cutting and packing the orders.
9) It's about shipping the orders within 24 hours.
10) It's about having the best customer service.
11) It's about having employees that care and enjoy what they are doing.
12) IT'S ABOUT EXCEEDING THE CUSTOMER'S EXPECTATIONS!

The cutting counter and store being prepared.
Today we have a computer inside of the store for customers to use to shop our online store, in store.
This makes it easy for customers to look up fabric prices, content, uses, and feel the material while browsing the fabric from the website so they can purchase it right at our location when they visit us.  
Want to know more? Just ask and we will answer!
Email us at fabricmartblog [at!] gmail.com with your questions.
We will compile your questions into one blog post,
so don't forget to keep checking back as you wait to view our tips and tutorials!

Comments

  1. Do you still sale Jonathan Logan butte knit fabric? If so what colors and how would I go about purchasing?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm sorry, they are no longer in business and unfortunately I don't know exactly what the fabric was like to give you a substitution.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Thanks for leaving a comment! All comments are reviewed before posting to help us eliminate spam. Your comment will be posted within 24 hours.

Popular Posts You Might Like

Made By A Fabricista: A Tipsy Martini Transitional Three Piece Look

Hello Sewing Friends! It’s Sharon with Sharon Sews with my latest Fabricista make – a three-piece set I can wear as the weather transitions to fall here in Texas. It may look like a summer outfit but there will days filled with sunshine and high temps well into November.  At first glance it looks like a nice, lightweight jacket, top and pants. But look closer – it’s sewn from the designer Tipsy Martini cotton sateen that was originally used by the designer for a pajama set. Now I could have sewn myself a pair of pajamas using the Closet Core Carolyn Pajama pattern (available at Fabric Mart)  and replicated the designer pajamas.  But if I had gone that route the only ones who would have seen this adorable kitschy fabric would be my family.  This print is much too cute to hide out at home.  This Tipsy Martini cotton sateen fabric was lovely to sew. I used black thread, an 80/12 universal needle, and Palmer/Pletsch Perfect Fuse Medium interfacing (link here). Note that this is a rayon fu

Made By A Fabricista: Hooray for Cozy Fall Sews!

Greetings, all! I am in such high spirits with the best-of-all-seasons just beginning and change is finally in the air. I always rejoice when the sweatiest time of the year passes and we can all take a deep breath and gear up for cozier times.  Neighborhood Patterns is a new-to-me designer, and I came across them on Instagram in late summer and fell in love with the Plain Jane Skirt. This is such a simple A-line skirt, but with nice details like large inseam pockets and an optional drawstring, and though I’m sure I could draft this style myself, the appeal of having it all done for me was too tempting to pass up. A sew such as this is a lovely palate-cleanser and this was the first project I sewed after returning from a cross-country trip. Perfect! The gorgeous plaid flannel is exactly what I want to be wearing in the fall. The fabric is SO soft and a pleasure to snuggle up in. Because flannel does not have much body and is prone to stretching or shifting with all its mechanical give,

Help Our Buyers Shop!

  Comment on this post with what you are looking for right now and our buyers will seek it out!  I am craving wool gabardines and ponte knits in fun autumn colors. What about you?