Only Quilts Inc., the company that runs Quilt Market and Festival, knows the exact numbers of attendees. My impression is guess work. I think the numbers are up! A little, but up. Fall Market wasn't as packed as in (some of) the best days, but more shops came out and were motivated to see and hear what is new than last year. More international people flew in as well with the Covid travel restrictions lifted. Quite often did I hear that a shop was at market for the first time in 4 years. Attendance was steady.

To me, the most positive point of this Market was the fact that more fabric companies were attending. "We are back"! Many, as they told me themselves, decided later or even very last minute to attend, but Robert Kaufman, Michael Miller, P&B , Hoffman...they were back! That was a wonderful thing to witness, even though because of this last minute choice, their presentation was a little minimal compared to companies who are clearly planning displays long time in advance. Companies like Moda, Riley Blake, Free Spirit and Benartex have a Market vision. You can just see they were committed to Market at an earlier point. Moda created a labyrinth of little corners where the creative juices would come to you from every angle. Like a good shop. Not a single designer could show a quilt straight, but all the angled displays were creative use of space. It showed enthusiasm, energy and variety. Riley Blake had beautiful displays showing the many sides of the company and every table still has some incredible chocolate treats to sweeten up potential buyers. That is such a sweet gesture and I know they must go through a ton of chocolates!

FreeSpirit saw some of its designers in big booths making it clear that they are leaders in the modern and artful fabric. Benartex showed in crisp and clear sections the many quilting styles they cover. Congratulations to these winners!

All this is not only showing at Market. It is also showing on social media, where everyone can see the fun and boring. (To me boring is where a booth has a few (empty) tables for sales reps to work at and behind the tables a quilt hanging. That set-up is killing cute pictures). An investment in Market presence is no longer seen only by Market attendees. It goes to every corner in the world where quilters live. Moda, Riley Blake, Free Spirit and Benartex make displays that work for them on all the videos, You Tube postings, photo shots that everyone seems to need to make. You can photograph, shoot everything in the fight for your social popularity, but these companies are really using the photographer/shooter for their marketing just as much. 

I asked one big fabric company if they believed that purple was the color to watch....their booth was mostly purple. "Oh no, we didn't even think about color. This is just to give you an idea what you can do with a bundle and this is the one we used." You are a fabric company. Aren't you about selling fabrics? Why don't you think about color? Shop owners know what they can do with a bundle. Things like that. Marketing flaws that won't happen to the marketing savvy companies. Now it wouldn't stop me from buying from this company because I know and love its fabric: they make every color of the world, even tons of different purples! But a new shop is getting introduced to a very, very little part of a fabric company if they show themselves so minimal. This "purple" face they gave themselves without thinking is on social media.... that's all we see of everything they do ...A company can hurt itself so quickly. I wish I could protect them because they work hard, are the nicest people and make beautiful fabrics. They just think so little about presentation and outreach. A booth in 2023 can't look the same as one in 2013. Too much has changed to keep that concept the same.

Marketing has become so, so important and companies not investing in marketing are falling behind or at least missing an opportunity to shine. There were quite some companies that made this mistake and there were some in the middle doing ok. All this will make Moda, FreeSpirit, Riley Blake and Benartex social media winners and that has nothing to do with the content of their collections, but everything with their presentations. Gorgeous fabrics were also in the least attractive booths, but it requires a more in depth approach from potential buyers.

Another really important phenomenon is the growing presence of affiliate marketing. There are more and more people who make it their business promoting someone else's product/work, especially on YouTube and Facebook. Every time you click on their links and decide to buy something, the affiliate marketeer gets a certain percentage of the selling price. Many of these media people were at Market. It is not only big brother watching you. The people you follow are watching every click you make and the more "likes" they have, the stronger their business is. I spoke to several of them and oh my, it is just amazing how that works and what they know. Many manufacturers of tools and fabrics alike are using them and even the bigger online shops are working with affiliate marketing providers. It is becoming harder for smaller shops to exist, especially if they are trying to do the same thing as the bigger players. They can't compete that way, they have to become more creative in other ways. And there is a need for something else: how many the same kind of interviews and pictures does a customer want to see? Sometimes, the public is already tired of a collection, before it arrives in a shop because it has been on social media everywhere!

I also know that some much smaller and younger companies decided not too come back after last year. With the new H&H Market in the Spring, a market also for quilting, but even more so for knitting and other textile crafts... they believe to find a better audience there. I understand, but given the fact that so many quilt shops were back for the first time in 4 years... Market last year, the first one after 3 years of Covid, could have been a little misleading. We don't know it all in advance. I think most fabric companies will do H&H in the Spring and Houston in the Fall. I heard a pattern designer not going back to H&H as she needs a bigger quilt shop audience. For sure 2 quilt markets per year is too much, but maybe one quilt market and one craft market makes sense?

There was very, very little new at Market from a fabric or pattern company point of view.

Katia Fabric is new for the US and found an umbrella with Northcott Fabrics, just like Figo. Katia is originally from Spain and it will bring a new concept of "fabric and patterns all in one company" to the market. Sewing garments, home decor, quilting, trying to cover it all. It was an interesting discussion and often my European roots make it so much easier to understand where they are coming from and what they are trying to accomplish in the US. Knowing that Figo after 5 years has really found a modern voice in the industry, puts Katia on my watchlist.

There were very few new pattern booths, if any. I had seen them all before. It is hard to get surprised by patterns as everything is so intensely on social media, long before Market. Still, market has a function as I was pointing out some newer trends to on old colleague shop owner with whom it was fun to chat. You can only see this when you see the repeat in many booths. To me, Market is by far the best place to see the industry, although not the only place as a lot is not present or shown. Market introduces you to old and new people in the industry, which is so important in staying up to date or finding new opportunities. Many are friends, but even more are business relations. All those happy faces on social media...some have never met each other before but look like best buddies. Especially at this Market, the desire for attention was so in your face. Things have really, really changed as a few years ago, pictures were not even allowed. You saw signs of camera's with an X. It is not a matter of good or bad, it is the reality of every business these days. But I think it it wise to know when you see all this at home that sometimes it is pure marketing: Business, money, buy me!

That is not said Market doesn't have warm personal relations: years of working together create friendships, care and many are really happy to see each other without a need to share this on social media.

I'm not sure Sample Spree is any longer worth the entrance fee. This cash and carry market was originally meant for shops to buy fabrics and patterns earlier so that they could make a shop sample and have it ready by the time the fabric would arrive. The cash and carry Market is getting smaller and smaller, with only Moda as the attraction. That booth is so packed, it's unbelievable. Shops are like piranhas around the tables, packed with fat quarter bundles, and they are paying an higher than regular wholesale price for it. Nobody is checking the price, they just grab. They grab so much, they couldn't even make it all in samples! I find that emotional response so amazing for a business. Moda has always done a gangbusters business there, fully feeding the enthusiasm of shop owners/designers of being at Market.

There is very few fabric left available at Sample Spree. Most well known fabric companies, except some Asian companies, have given up on Sample Spree. That gives younger companies a chance to shine and get some welcome cash to recover Market attendance cost. I love what Poppie Cotton did for Sample Spree. They created a beautiful red bag with colorful flowers and all Market long you could see these happy flowers dancing around. Excellent advertising!  I now know Poppie Cotton. It shows you there is room for new, creative thinking, and some of their fabric will show up in my "collage small" packages as I just want to support them (yes, I bought fabric!).

So much to share... these are just a few of my personal thoughts on the business side! More about Market in later blogs and in my lecture about trends in color and design. Houston 2023 was good!!