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By Danika Herrick on March 8, 2024
By Courtney Napier on February 12, 2024
By Arlette Hawkins on January 12, 2024
With Jane Sandor, Director, Category Management & Merchandising
The day your Spoonflower order of fabric, wallpaper, or home decor arrives in the mail is a special day. As you’re holding your new custom-printed treasure in your hands, you may know the name of the artist who created it, but there are many other individuals who’ve played a role in crafting that product that you might be less aware of. As part of our commitment to the Fashion Revolution movement to create a safer, more transparent textile supply chain, we’re shining a light on some of those individuals today.
As a conscious consumer, we know it’s important for you to not just feel proud of the products you bring into your home, but to hold the companies you support and their supply chain partners accountable. To support this goal, we’re sitting down with Spoonflower’s Director of Category Management & Merchandising, Jane Sandor, to learn more about the “state of things” as they are currently across our manufacturing chain, get a peek inside some of the factories where our products are produced, and find out where we aim to be in the future as we continue to improve our practices. All signs in this post are courtesy of the folks from Fashion Revolution.
Jane: My role at Spoonflower is to source, develop, and launch new products while keeping the Durham factory in stock of raw materials (wallpaper and fabric). I like to think of my job as the person responsible for sourcing the best canvas to showcase designer’s art. I love seeing the way designs come to life on different types of fabric and home decor products. My background is in apparel design and development with a passion for textiles.
Spoonflower takes a global approach to sourcing fabrics and wallpaper raw materials. We partner with a network of 15+ suppliers that manufacture products in North America, Europe, and Asia.
Many home decor products are made right where the fabric is printed in our Fort Mill, South Carolina, and Tempe, Arizona, facilities. We also work with other production facilities in the US.
The safety and health of our employees and the environment are top of mind at our facilities. Our facilities have industry-leading safety programs focused on creating an injury-free workplace monitored through regular safety and hazard auditing and reporting. We also take efforts to support employees through parental leave programs that go beyond compliance, access to learning & development programs, and competitive wages. In addition to our workers, we take efforts to minimize our environmental impact through reuse and recycling of our waste, and efficiency improvements to minimize energy and emissions. This is part of being a responsible company and leaving a positive impact on the communities our workers are going home to.
The newest Spoonflower manufacturing facility for fabric and home decor is part of the Shutterfly factory in Tempe, Arizona. This facility is a VPP (Voluntary Protection Program) Star Site, which is an OSHA Program that recognizes manufacturing facilities that are going above and beyond to keep their employees healthy and safe. Tempe received VPP in 2019 and is proud to have been recertified for another 5-years in 2022.
Spoonflower is continually in pursuit of certifications for raw materials. Stay tuned for an update. We know many of the raw materials that we use are Oeko-Tex certified along with the inks used. We are in the final steps to claim Oeko-Tex certification on printed products which includes extensive lab testing and documentation of the supply chain starting at the fiber level.
By prioritizing things like fostering relationships with reliable manufacturing partners and investing in high-quality printers and machinery that help us stay efficient, we’re able to keep our turnaround times competitively low in comparison to other print-on-demand textile companies. We take pride in our ability to keep turn times at around one week or less, while still maintaining safe, comfortable, and equitable workspaces for factory workers all across our supply chain.
Did you know that all products at Spoonflower have a slightly different manufacturing process, and thus different turnaround times? We provide as much transparency as possible for how long it will take to process the specific types of products in your order (fabric, wallpaper or home decor) so you have more visibility into when you’ll receive your custom-printed products. Learn more about our turnaround times on our website in the Help section.
We always think of our customers first. Our number one goal is to offer consistent product quality, and that starts with raw materials. Anytime we consider making a change to our supply chain, extensive product testing is done in order to mitigate any risk of quality change. We lean into the strong relationships we have built over the years with key suppliers. Rather than continually chasing the lowest-priced products, we prioritize consistent quality. This has proven to the be right direction as supply chains are still stressed.
We continue to deeply understand our global supply chain and aim to make this process as transparent as possible. Manufacturing of fabric is a long process prior to arriving at Spoonflower. We aim to not only understand where we are purchasing fabric from, but where fabric was finished, knit, or woven, where the fiber came from. These are values at Spoonflower and we want to share these same values with our community.
I started making my own clothes and patterns in high school, which lead to my background in apparel design. My heart has always had a special place for textiles and I find myself lucky to work with them every day. When not at work you can find me playing disc golf, trying and brewing new beer, and digging in the garden. I live in Chapel Hill with my husband, 3 yr old son, and two dogs.
When she’s not immersed in all-things content in her role at Spoonflower, Theresa currently spends evenings pursuing her Master’s degree at UNC Chapel Hill. She also makes time to watch and paint birds, sew her own clothes, garden, and eat pasta as often as possible in her home city of Durham, NC.
4 comments
Thank you to all who work for Spoonflower! You’re awesome, and l love the fabrics!
I love your products. Our daughter is a musician both instrumental and vocal. It has been our tradition that on special days i.e. holidays, birthdays, during or at end of college semesters I make a cloth napkin with that theme. Jazz, opera, cello, bassoon etc. Spoonflower is my place to find these unique genres. And she loves them! Do you have Cello patterned without the chin rest since there is not a chin rest on the cello?
Thank you and your artists for sharing your talents!! You all are AMAZING! Diana & Nick parents of our musician ????
Hi Diana!
And thanks for sharing your wonderful tradition, and your daughter sure sounds talented!
As a matter of fact, we do have cello themed fabric, which you can see right here: https://www.spoonflower.com/en/shop/cello. Hope that helps!
Best,
Betsy
Spoonflower
This is absolutely wonderful to see! I appreciate the diversity in the folks that help make my fabric purchase a reality. I’ve loved the unique designs that I can get at Spoonflower and supporting the artists and now I have even more reasons to love it. Thank you for being conscious stewards while doing the work that you do.
Thanks for sharing that you loved this post, Yadira!
We love sharing the great work our teammates do behind the scenes to help all our wonderful artists’ designs come to life! 🙂
Best,
Betsy
Spoonflower
This is an absolutely wonderful blog to see! I LOVE spoon flower and all the creativity I can find and make with the capabilities. I have just started making m y own clothes (again ) because i can’t find commercially what i want. Spooonflower helps me do that! I love seeing the behind the scenes and the people who work on all of this. Hello to all of you and thank you!
Hi Deborah!
So glad to hear that you’re able to find what you want at Spoonflower and enjoy seeing the faces of our talented teammates too! They are a vital part of making the magic happen!
And best of luck on your sewing journey revisited, making your own clothes is a great way to create just what you want in your wardrobe!
Best,
Betsy
Spoonflower
I appreciate the facts that your factories where the cloth is produced in China meet safety standards, but I am still concerned about where the cotton fiber itself is produced, and by whom. I have heard a lot of reports from many different news outlets about China’s treatment of the Uigars, a Muslim ethnic minority who grow and pick the cotton used in 1/5th of the world’s cotton fabric supply. I have been shying away from cotton fabric that comes from China for this reason, which has been tough on me, since cotton fabric is one of my main supplies for many items I make. I know my impact isn’t significant enough to make much difference, but it is something I am committed to. I don’t mean to be negative, but in the quest for transparency, I am respectfully asking about this.
Hi P.B.,
Thank you for your message. We take seriously our obligation to responsibly source raw goods and products for our customers. We comply with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), other U.S. forced labor laws and regulations, and local country regulations that may apply to the materials or components sold, exported, or shipped on behalf of Shutterfly, LLC. We also require that our supply network certify compliance with all applicable laws and treaties. This certification requires supply chain due diligence to ensure that all parties involved in the sourcing and production of the goods sold on behalf of Shutterfly, LLC do not use any form of forced labor at any stage of the production process.
Best,
Betsy
Spoonflower
Hi Spoonflower!
I have been a customer for about 15 years. So I’ve watched you grow through the years & now worldwide! I am just so proud of this company for several reasons. The priorities that the founders set are obvious…taking care of employees & working sustainably! And inviting worldwide artists. Fascinating!!
I sewed everything as a teen in the 1960’s & headed to college wishing there was a curriculum for my love of fabrics & patterns. I would have loved to have been employed somewhere at Spoonflower, especially Berlin!
When I first found Spoonflower I spent hours studying the graphic designers & loved reading the titles of their works. It was like visiting a famous art gallery in Europe!
I befriended one of your designers & have gotten to know her. She designed a special fabric for me!!
I’ve sewed many lovely things through the years . And those little white packages that come are like Christmas!! My husband even gets excited…
“You got a Spoonflower!”
So congratulations & thank you for giving me a behind the scenes view of your wonderful employee’s & the state of the art facilities!! Now I can picture the process of where that white package comes from.
Sincerely & best wishes for good health , happiness , & success!
~ Jamie
Jamie, thank you so much for taking the time to share this beautiful comment. It means a lot to us that you’ve stuck around all of these years, we’re honored to have you as part of our community! And how wonderful that you’ve even made friends and collaborated with your fellow artists, that makes me truly happy to hear. Cheers! – Theresa
Good article on sustainability with your company. However, I am dismayed each time I get a fat quarter (roughly 18×22″) to use for small projects. There is so much wastage with the edges of what has been printed, and it’s largely unusable. Unless you want to make a fabric art piece on how much is thrown away. Please reconsider how much of a selvage is needed for printing and what we, the consumer, do with your product once it leaves your facility.
Hi Nari, thanks for this comment, I can certainly understand the frustration. To provide some context, the unprinted area (selvage) around the design is necessary for our team to help feed the fabric into the digital printers, so I’m afraid it is unavoidable when ordering on a fat quarter. Believe me, we hate seeing waste, too, here at Spoonflower, and always try to come up with creative ways to inspire our community to recycle scraps. Here are a few of my favorite tutorials for what to do with your selvage scraps:
https://blog.spoonflower.com/2016/04/how-to-make-a-crocheted-rag-rug-using-fabric-scraps/
https://blog.spoonflower.com/2022/03/diy-yarn/
https://blog.spoonflower.com/2016/06/diy-scrap-fabric-necklace/
I hope this helps!
Warmly,
Theresa
Great article! It’s important to know where the supplies come from, and that quality is more important than the price. I appreciate that and so do my customers! Thanks for filling in the blanks on parts of the business we don’t always know about!
~Micaela
Thanks for your comment, Micaela! I’m so glad you enjoyed this post and appreciate you taking the time to let us know. 🙂 I completely agree it’s so important to keep in mind those individuals who’ve had a hand in creating the products we love.
Warmly,
Theresa