Designing quilting cottons is a significant status symbol in the sewing world, and for good reason. Fabric is beautiful. It’s the raw material that draws many of us into sewing in the first place. The chance to design your own collection, to sew with it and see other people sewing with it, is a wonderful and exciting opportunity. And, like writing a book, having your own fabric line is a sign that you’ve made it in this industry.
Is designing fabric lucrative, though? Exactly how much do designers earn from a fabric collection?
The value of designing fabric isn’t only monetary, of course. Showing your line in a booth at Quilt Market can lead to other great things like teaching gigs, magazine features, book deals, and further licensing opportunities. Clearly there are big benefits beyond just getting a check.
But what about the check?
I spent last week talking with fabric designers trying to find some answers. I spoke with six designers who work with six different major fabric companies. These designers shared specific information with me about their contracts and wages, and gave me permission to include that information here with the understanding that they would remain anonymous. It’s not my intention to point fingers at or call out any one company or person and I hope you’ll show that same respect in the comments and social shares of this post.
So let’s start at the beginning. When a designer signs a licensing contract with a fabric company there’s no upfront payment or advance against future royalties. There is no money at the start. The designer works on the collection for a few months with the goal of having it ready to show to buyers at Quilt Market in either May or October. The designer’s income will come through royalties earned on each yard sold. Royalties are paid out a few weeks after each fiscal quarter comes to a close.
So, if a designer signs the licensing contract in November and debuts the collection in May at Quilt Market, the first possible payment will go out in October. This means it’s 11 months or so before a designer gets any compensation for the collection. All of the work is done up front and, as we’ll see, there are no guarantees.
How much do designer’s earn per yard sold?
Each fabric company has a slightly different royalty arrangement with its designers, but there does seem to be an industry average. Most designers earn about 5% of the wholesale price per yard of fabric sold. If the suggested retail price of a yard of fabric is $11.12 the wholesale price is $5.56 and the designer earns .28 per yard sold.
The big question is how many yards will sell?
There’s no way to know for sure. There are a number of variables at work that can give you a clue, but we’re talking about predicting the future and that’s impossible. This is the gamble.
A big factor, though, is distribution. Fabric companies with strong distribution channels sell more yardage to more stores and therefore their designers earn more royalties than those working with fabric companies with weaker distribution channels.
A second variable is reprints. Some fabric companies will only print a collection once, while others will reprint the same collection for several seasons. If a fabric is reprinted the designer has the opportunity to continue to earn on that collection. Once it’s out of print, the earning potential disappears. In some cases whether a collection is reprinted is determined by the popularity of that collection. A designers with a large, devoted following may have a better chance at having their line reprinted than a designer with no online presence.
Once the royalty payments begin to come in, on average a new designer with a sizable online following putting out a first collection might earn between $2,000-$4,000 in total on that collection. A seasoned designer with multiple collections and a devoted following who works with a company with strong distribution can expect to earn more like $8,000 in total per collection.
Even if you’re very successful at designing fabric, the money earned from a single collection isn’t going to be enough to sustain you. It’s got to be coupled with other sources of income, whether that’s multiple collections, other licensing deals for stationary or books, designing sewing patterns, writing craft books, teaching online and in person, selling blog ads or ebooks, etc. A mix of these things can add up to a sustainable business.
(Creating an exclusive collection for JoAnn’s is another way to make being a fabric designer financially viable as a business. Come back on Friday for an in-depth look at what those deals consist of.)
And that leads us to questions about expectations.
The more I talked to each designer the more I realized that while most of them were earning about the same amount of money for each collection, the fabric companies they were working with had vastly different expectations for what a designer would do to market their fabric. This is where their experiences diverge.
A huge proportion of fabric buying and selling takes place at Quilt Market where a bare minimum booth consisting of a single table and no walls costs $2,000. A nicely appointed booth, plus airfare, hotel, and meals for four days costs at least $3,000. Quilt Market is not optional. Fabric has to be shown to retailers at the show, but how it gets there and who foots the bill varies tremendously.
Who pays?
To give you a sense of the range, I’ll take you through four different companies’ approaches.
Company #1 pays for each of their designers to have their own booths. Not only that, this company pays airfare, hotel, supplies, and expenses for the trip. A designer at Company #1 told me, “I refuse to attend Quilt Market unless my fabric company covers my hotel and flight costs. They also pay for the booth and supplies. Many companies do not do this,” she said. “That’s crazy when you are making such a small amount of money.”
Company #2 shows all of their collections in a the company booth, but suggests that designers attend the show and be in the company booth to talk about their designs. They don’t require it, though, nor do they pay for travel, hotel, or meals.
Company #3 encourages their new designers to have their own booths, but doesn’t pay for the booth, travel, hotel, or expenses.
Company #4 tells new designers that they will not print their fabric unless the designer funds their own booth at Quilt Market. “We were told that unless we would pay to have a booth, they would not put out the fabric,” a designer at Company #4 said. This company demands that new designers have a booth, but doesn’t fund anything.
Is the collection guaranteed to be printed?
In some cases fabric that is shown at Quilt Market is not guaranteed to be printed. Again, companies vary on this issue.
Some companies bring strike-offs to Quilt Market (strike-offs are test samples printed on fabric) while others bring paper samples, and this seems to make difference as to the level of committment the company has to actually printing the fabrics.
For example, Company #2 brings paper samples to Quilt Market and uses sales numbers generated at the show to judge whether a collection, or particular prints within a collection, are worth printing. If not enough orders are placed, the fabric doesn’t get printed. When you work with one of these companies part or all of your collection can be cancelled before going into production and the designer earns nothing.
A word about autonomy
Some fabric companies are very hands off with their designers. Others exert control over the colors and style of the artwork. While still others exert control over their designers’ behavior, both online and off, at Quilt Market and back home.
Company #4 dictates what a new designer can share on Instagram while attending Quilt Market, and how often they can share it. While at Market they ask their new designers not to photograph fabrics from other companies to post on social media and request that their new designers not take and post photos with designers from other companies. This company also asks their designers to only sew with that company’s fabrics going forward for all projects. This company also frowns upon their new designers displaying print patterns in their booths because they see print patterns as detracting from the main product at hand: the new fabric line.
Remember that a new designer is likely to make somewhere between $2,000-$4,000 on a first collection. Being required to fund a booth means that it’s very possible for a first time designer to end up spending more than they make. Without the ability to also market self-published print patterns, the designer loses out on the opportunity to earn any income at the show.
+++++
Wanting something very badly, and then finally having it offered to you, is a vulnerable position to be in. It’s easy to feel like you have to accept whatever is being offered or the offer will be rescinded. And perhaps that happens in some cases, although I’ve found that asking informed questions almost never means you lose out on a business opportunity. Most of the time, the opposite is true. Asking informed questions gains you respect. But you have to be able to evaluate the quality of the offer being presented and you can only do that if you know what other offers look like.
I believe that open sharing of information benefits everyone. Aspiring designers know ahead of time what to expect from this potential income stream, current designers know what they’re taking on, and consumers understand the role that a fabric collection plays in a designer’s overall business strategy.
In a royalty situation the popularity of the collection determines the designer’s compensation. This set up can make designers sensitive to talk even to one another about how much they’re earning and what’s being asked of them. But it’s when we set ego aside and talk to one another about money and contracts and expectations that we become powerful.
As one designer I spoke with emphatically told me, “I would love for designers to get together and insist that the booth and travel costs be covered. Maybe there won’t be as many of us at Quilt Market, but we’ll know if our company values our presence for marketing.” This kind of alliance can only happen when we speak up.
Sounds very similar to book royalties.
True, however when it comes to publishers, etc., in the book industry we have a very good source called absolutewrite.com/forums where one has access to a Bewares subforum that outs all of the bad publishers and agents! No such thing exists, that I know of, in the art and licensing world.
So fascinating! This is definitely something I’ve been curious about. Thanks for looking into it!
This sounds a lot like the world of craft books. Thanks for doing all this research and presenting your findings so well, Abby.
Such great info! I love learning about stuff like this. I think it can help keep a person grounded too. Some of us may look at being a fabric designer as this lofty, wonderful, thing and that of course it will make us lots of money. I knew that wasn’t the reality of it, thanks for your great research.
Thank you Abby. This was a real eye opener.
Thank you so much for this post, Abby. It’s tremendously helpful to have this kind of information when making decisions about which opportunities are worth pursuing. Thanks for asking the types of questions (and publishing the answers!) that most of us are curious about but many of us are hesitant to ask!
What a wealth of info in this post! And it confirms my decision not to get into fabric design. . .
My thoughts exactly. After taking the first of a notorious series of surface design online courses, I did some more research into this topic, and got a strong gut feeling something wasn’t right… This just confirms it all, and I’m glad I didn’t continue to pursue this. It makes me really sad that the designers I love aren’t getting paid appropriately.
Fascinating read. Thank you for presenting this information.
Thank you so much for asking the questions so many of us would love to ask but don’t get the chance to. Quite enlightening, and something consider, not only for opportunity but from a consumers perspective also.
Very informative. While I never thought you could make a living just designing fabric, I would have never guessed that designers make that little. Thank you so much for writing and researching this post.
Great article! I’d also encourage designers to consider each contract negotiable! It never hurts to ask.
Thanks Abby, I love your approach on all the subjects you research. Great to have your honesty. This information surely makes it easier to define a direction to aim for.
great article! This earnings disparity can have a negative impact on the industry. One of the most popular designer (her out of print lines can fetch as much as $200 a yard on the ‘destash-market’) sites this as the reason for putting out very few new lines of fabric.
Thank you for this hard hitting investigative piece. You are shining a light on a part of the industry that needs more transparency. Good for you.
I am puzzled at why an industry based on creativity seems to value the creative work of artists so little, in terms of remuneration. You seem to suggest that it does because it always has and because it can. Maybe it is time for the creative individuals who make the work to take a stand. Perhaps their voice is best heard by insisting on their own terms and by only working with companies who will pay a fair wage.
Very interesting, 22 years ago I went to school to become a textile designer, I worked in the industry for about 4 years, in house for 2, freelance for 2. In house was a basic salary. Btw, this was for the wholesale market, ie. our fabrics were going to clothing manufactures – not the home sewer. No matter how well the designs sold – the only one to make more money was the salesman not the designer.
Then I worked freelance, painting hundreds of designs and only selling a few.
It is interesting to see how the OTC (over the counter – quilting and home sewing) has come to work with textile designers the way the craft industry does. The textile industry may project glamour to the end consumer – but there is no glamour when working with this industry – a lot of hard drudge work. If one can patch together enough components , it can be satisfying, but clearly one has to be willing to work very very hard.
I’m not sorry to be the end user of all this wonderful creativity and to no longer be in the industry.
Hi Leah,
Thank you for your industry insider perspective. So was there a time when over the counter fabrics for quilting and home sewing weren’t designed by named designers? In other words, did it used to be that you would purchase quilting cottons and know from the selvedge that they were made by a particular fabric company, but not by a particular designer? I didn’t realize that this “designer as brand” phenomenon was new in the quilting world. I wonder when it first came on the scene, and who was the first brand name designer? Anyone know?
Abby, exactly – the textile designer was completely anonymous, and in most of the industry today still is. Years ago I interviewed with Alexander Henry Fabrics but didn’t get the job. I happen to know the family that owns the company – it is really a family run business, Dad is responsible for marketing, another son is in charge of the wear house and shipping and then third son and daughter are responsible for all the designs. They may have one additional designer as well.
Denyse Schmidt, Anna Maria Horner and Amy Butler broke in with their own designs and then spoon flower has opened the field to many newcomers.
Of course the companies like having a large stable of freelancers they can work with. Not all lines will sell, but with social media – it is easier to get the word out.
The wholesale companies rely heavily on design houses and reps that come by with massive portfolios of croques – artwork on paper. If they find something they like, they will then have the in- house design team flesh it out into a full line. Those people are simply paid a salary.
Supply and demand, the more designers are clamoring for lines – the more the fabric companies can call the shots. I think RJR loved the fact that Cotton and Steel came to them, but from what I hear, those women are working super duper hard at marketing as well as designing, I haven’t seen RJR doing much publicity – although I have to believe that they paid for Quilt market, but not for magazine ads – Cotton and Steel are doing most of the marketing through social media themselves.
As a long-time quilter, I remember when V.I.P. and Cranston were popular quilting cottonss. Then came Hoffman California, and South Seas Imports. The first designer I remember was Debbie Mumm. I don’t recall any designers before then, though there may have been
Jean you are correct, and I actually worked for the company that produced her fabric, She was one of the first designers to have her name on the selvedge. That is because she had built up quite a design business and the fabric was the final part of it.
Btw, my friend works for Hello Kitty, she deals with all the many licenses they approve. Hello Kitty doesn’t manufacture anything on their own, they somehow created a design idea that people really like, so my friend negotiates with multiple companies for them to have the right to use the image on their product – from Stride Rite shoes, to fabric, to clothes to dishes to many other items as well.
Joan Kessler was a popular selvage name in the 80s, too.
I have been quilting about 20 years and I think this whole ‘designer’ fabric thing is relatively new. About 10 – 15 years ago there were designers like Mary Engelbreit, Debbie Mumm, Thimbleberries.
From memory, Amy Butler, Denyse Schmit and the like certainly paved the way (perhaps Free Spirit Fabrics were ahead of their time in this regard).
Selvages featuring all the information are only a relatively new thing. Look back to the 1990s and you will find little printings on the edge of the fabric (not even the full selvedge width), that might have the Company name and 100% cotton – that’s about it.
In the late 1970’s, early 1980’s Jeffrey Gutcheon had a named quilt fabric collection. I believe Jinny Beyer’s first collections for RJR came out in the 1980s — definitely around in the 1990s. Those are early names that pop into my head.
I have been designing fabrics for 30 years. In the 1980’s & early 90’s I made $20000 or more a year. Then everybody got into the business and the pie is sliced so thin that no one can make a living anymore. The pattern business is the same. Quilt market is so expensive now that I only go when it is within driving distance or my current fabric company pays for some of the expenses. Doing a booth is not an option anymore. I think that the quilting industry has lost a lot of creativity because of the expense of advertising and trade shows in big cities.
I have been quilting since 1997 and only in the past five years have I been aware of designers and developed “favorite designers” which, incidentally, has greatly increased my fabric purchases. I think a lot of it has to do with quilting blogs and online marketing.
Heather Bailey was one of the first designers to have her name printed on the selvage. According to a lecture she gave at Sewing Summit. Prior to that you may have seen a company name on the selvage but you would have never seen the designers name. I think it’s good progress that we now know who is doing the designing. Now we just need to have fair pay.
I was going to say this exact thing, I remember her talk very well.
Heather Bailey can’t seriously be that self-centered can she??? I suppose she could simply be oblivious about fabric industry history. Whichever, her claim to be the first designer on the selvedge is easily disproved. Here is an article about her very first line with Free Spirit, in which she herself says she didn’t even BEGIN DESIGNING fabrics until the fall of 2005. Free Spirit carried that line in 2006. There were MANY designers who came before her (some more than a decade before).
http://quiltersbuzz.com/post-69/
I too heard Heather Bailey say that, but even her Mother-in-law Elinor Peace Bailey had a fabric line before her that had Elinor’s name attached to it… (& I recall Debbie Mumm, etc.)
I thought market booths were 1200, not 2000….
$1200 for an empty 10′ x 10′ piece of concrete. Seriously… just a piece of concrete taped out.
All poles, drapes, lighting, carpet, electricity, tables, TRASH CANS, chairs, etc are an added cost. A basic 10′ x 10′ with poles and drapes is about $2000. Corners are at least $600 more. Every little bit adds up… which is why you might see posts of me on buses in cities far, far away with IKEA bags taped to tables being dragged along behind me
This is typical tradeshow cost though, not exclusive to this industry by any means. When I had a children’s clothing line the booths at a very nice show in New York were $5000 for the standard required hardwall setup. That is when I learned all my tricks of packing folding furniture in suitcases.
These are the costs of doing business. One thing I think people forget when being asked to design fabric… it’s a business. While our art has to stand up for itself, being an artist alone doesn’t pay the bills. Being a business person does.
I hit send too soon. I’m so glad you write posts like this! Well done.
Great article. I’m am truly surprised how little they make. They must really have a passion for their work.
Thank you for doing this reporting and for continuing to be a voice of truth and an advocate for creative businesses. It’s a valuable service.
This article is so helpful, thank you!
Thank you for asking these questions Abby! A fabric line is on my bucket list, but it’s so hard to find any real information out there. I’m thankful these designers trust you with their information. A lot of the things you shared would be really important questions for me to ask up front, as my primary pursuit is still raising my children. Being required to go to quilt market would be a stretch at this season of life.
I’m not surprised by the amount the designers make. I had read an estimate of $2500 per line from another source, which seems in line with the numbers you quoted. People do the creative work because they love it, not because it’s a particularly lucrative career choice.
I would guess that part of the reason they make so little is because most of the fabric consumers are just looking for a good deal. There are a few that really appreciate the art and quality of designer fabric, but most of my friends are speechless when I tell them cost of materials that goes into one bag or one quilt. They want the budget fabric and aren’t willing to pay more.
I am curious…are the design studios the ones making the money? Or does most of their profit go to manufacturing and operational costs? Is there really any more to pay the designers, or are they getting a fair cut based on all of the other costs associated with producing the fabric?
Hi Sara,
When I researched this post I did ask around to see if I could figure out how much it costs the fabric company to produce a yard of printed quilting cotton. I wasn’t able to find the answer at this time. The designers I spoke with about it said that they weren’t privy to that information, although some expressed a wish that they were.
Contact the textile dept. at Iowa State University, they will have the numbers. That said in 2003/04 it was something like 75 cents per yard start to finish for the fabric, then there’s all the extra costs of shipping to distribution centers, the stores, etc., as someone else stated earlier the people who make the most money in the fabric business are the sales people.
Nowadays some of the cotton prints and batiks cost around $2.50 yd. depending on where they are printed. Fabrics printed in China and India cost less. The shipping is what has caused the price to increase so much. Most of our fabrics are printed in Korea, now.
I did look into this question, but wasn’t able to find an answer in time for this post. I’m not sure if a fabric company would be willing to share real numbers with me when it comes to cost of producing a yard of fabric and what their profits are. That’s inside information that no designer seemed to be privy to and that I certainly am not, either. Perhaps in the future I’ll connect with the right contact and be able to provide more information in answer to that question.
Thanks for sharing that Abby! I know you always research very thoroughly. Maybe someone will share some insight later on .
Hi,
Thanks for such an interesting post! Is there any way you can share who the companies are that you have mentioned in your article? It would be very useful for a designer looking for a company to license their patterns to be able to use this information to help determine who you are interested in working with.
Your comment about sharing information being beneficial to all designers is also right on – it is by sharing this sort of information that all of us can stick together and be able to make a decent amount of money for all the work it takes to create a collection.
Thanks so much!
Julie
Hi Julie,
I’m so glad you found this post helpful. I am going to honor my promise to the designers I spoke with to keep them and the companies they work with entirely anonymous. Researching and writing investigative pieces like this one is what I love to do most and if I don’t honor my promises completely I won’t be able to do it anymore. You’re not alone in asking for specifics, but this is what I hold fast to. I hope you understand.
Hi Abby,
While I certainly understand your need for confidentiality for the designers, I wish there was some way to find out what companies are reputable without anyone breeching an agreement. It would be nice if the companies made their terms public – then again, there are so many designers willing to work for little or nothing just for the opportunity that I suppose it wouldn’t make much of a difference. In the not so distant past, a designer could make a good living by licensing their work to various companies and markets – as you have mentioned, a designer must work in several areas in order to pay the bills. I am both curious and concerned with what is happening in our industry.
Thanks again for a well written and researched article with lots of food for thought!
You could write a future article about each company and what their requirements are to become a designer for each company without outing the designers. This could be an interview style article with each company giving their designer requirements, etc., since most do not list them on their websites.
I’m not sure the fabric companies would be so forthcoming with that information, but thank you for the suggestion.
If you follow market photos and look to see which designers are there and which ones have booths, it’s easy to guess who company A is.
Very interesting and also what I suspected. I’m so very curious to know who company #4 is.
Me too !! I think I have an idea though…
Sara, in response to your question:I am curious…are the design studios the ones making the money? Or does most of their profit go to manufacturing and operational costs? Is there really any more to pay the designers, or are they getting a fair cut based on all of the other costs associated with producing the fabric?
The ones who make the most money are the salesmen. Lest you think – but that’s not fair. Let me explain something about sales (my husband is 100% commission sales – although in a very different industry). Rule of thumb, talk to 10 people make one sale – and that is if you are good at what you do. My guess is that the salesmen are probably on 100% commission or 20% salary and 80% commission, so they are out there fighting hard for every yard they sell. I think the companies that demand the same of their freelance textile designers are basically saying – on top of designing – you must also sell – sell – sell. Selling is very hard, which is why if you look at any statistics of sales forces – the turnover is tremendous – it’s the hardy few who thrive and make a lot of money.
Thanks for sharing that!
Salesmen in this industry make 100% commission. And they make less than 10% of the sale price of the fabric. So, I’d say about 50 cents or less / yard.
Thanks for these details, Brenda.
Just to clarify for people – when a sales person makes 100% commission, that means their income is ALL commission. They do not earn a salary, many of them have no benefits, and they have to pay all their expenses (travel is the biggie here) themselves before they ever see a dime. It’s a hard – and stressful – way to earn a living.
FYI……
Fabric sales people work for multiple companies. They receive 2-3 times what the designer makes. They show everyone’s fabric in a single sales call to a store. Many no longer travel to smaller stores – they get credit for orders entered by the store owner online. I know many more fabric salespeople with six figure incomes and almost no fabric designers with that kind of earnings. When the company only shows the designs on paper, everyone is harmed. From the designer who earns no money to the store who made commitments to buy that fabric and now has to find a replacement to fill the shelves, to the sales people who get no commission.
The fabric company is putting much of the financial risk outside the company.
Debra,
I’d love to talk with a fabric salesman about the ins and outs of their job. I wonder if you, or any other reader, might be able to put me in touch with one?
Fabric sales reps are not making the big bucks. Yes, they CAN make a living, but that’s spending every day on the road meeting with clients. Brenda and Wendi Gratz are correct. SOME sales reps do work for multiple companies, which can help. However, some fabric companies limit their sales reps to selling only their lines. The commission rate can be slightly over 10%, or as low as about 6% – no expenses are included – no gas, no hotels, no food. Reps are also expected to make samples to show the shops and the fabrics and time to make these samples are at the rep’s expense. Small shops don’t have large budgets, so an order of 10-20 bolts would net a sales rep $5-$8 per bolt and they don’t receive their commission until the fabric has shipped to the shop – which could be several months away. Working with the shop owners can be very rewarding, but no one is getting rich selling the fabrics for the manufacturers.
“Getting Rich” is a relative term… So that aside… The point is that fabric designers get anywhere from 10% to 40% of what sales reps get per yard. Most fabric designers are exclusive to one company and sales reps often carry multiple fabric lines as well as notions or accessories. Having been in the business for more than 20 years, I can easily say that generally speaking … Reps have a higher lifestyle than fabric designers in quilting.
One of my goals in writing this piece was to see fabric design as one piece in a larger puzzle for quilters. Designing fabric along with having a larger surface design portfolio, or releasing patterns and teaching, or monetizing a blog, etc. can, all together, create a really nice business. Designing fabric alone is rarely the ticket to profitability.
Hi Abby, I think your post on fabric designers was really well done! I think its great when artists learn to network and share so that we can all learn, I find some artists are open and many are not. I have been designing fabric since around 2008 and also license my artwork for product. I would like to add to your article by stating that I understand the artists need to stay anonymous as many of the contracts state you are not allowed to discuss payment details with other designers! Making a living by designing is both challenging and hard work but it can also be rewarding, and if you are with the right company, profitable. I know of companies still only paying 10 cents a yard to their designers, and they don’t know that isn’t the going rate. I also design patterns and when at market I am selling the patterns as well as showing my fabric lines. I know so many designers who have been so excited by the fact that their art was now a fabric line that they gladly pay to do their own booths at market to promote the line, only to find that it is not sustainable and they didn’t make any money. The glam part of saying your a designer quickly disappears when the checks don’t show much, if any, profit. Its true, you need to be smart, ask questions and find the right fit along with having some other revenue streams. Designing fabric can be lots of fun, good money and lead to other things if you remember its a business and approach it wisely. The fabric companies are always approaching it from the business side since they are not emotionally attached to the artwork like the artist. Fabric lines do need to be worth taking into production since the fabric company is the one paying to produce the goods. The artists should also look for a company that fits their style. Thanks for your post, it is good to be informed and educated !! I wish I had read this before I started!
GREAT information, Abby. I always wondered about this. I look forward to your next post regarding fabric designed for Joann’s. It seems there are very few attractive prints for garment sewing. There seems to be a need for that in the market. Thank you for all you do. I appreciate you very much.
You’re welcome. Just to be clear, the post on Friday will be about designers who create exclusive collections of quilting cottons for JoAnn’s.
Sorry, I have to respond to – “People do the creative work because they love it, not because it’s a particularly lucrative career choice.”
We’ve all heard this statement before way too many times. It’s a meme that needs to die. It reflects an attitude that then becomes self-fulfilling. Just because an artist loves doing creative work doesn’t mean that art buyers should be able to pay them less than what their contribution to a product is worth.
Abby, Thank you for investigating this subject. This article has been very helpful.
I agree with you! I wasn’t implying that artists and designers shouldn’t be paid well. It’s just that most of the time they aren’t… but they continue to do what they love.
Agreed! I hate the idea that having a passion for somethings means you should be willing to be paid less to do it, especially if you do it well!
Thanks for another thought-provoking post, Abby. I would never have guessed that there were no upfront payments and that royalties were so low. I’m struggling with the thought that I might spend $100 on fabric for a quilt (say 10 yards) and only $3 of those proceeds go to the designer. Aside from the recipient of gifts I might make, the designer and their design is really the reason for me buying a yard of fabric!
I appreciate all of your research. I agree with those who said writing a craft/sewing book yields similar results. I wish it were more lucrative for all of us to share our talents because we all have bills to pay. Somebody must be making some money in all of this (I’d be curious to find out where it all goes).
Thank you! I create fabric designs , have printed a few /on sites/and this was very interesting to me. It is kind of expected and unexpected at the same time. Thank you for bring it together and sharing real designers/companies facts!
Spoonflower, Spoonflower, Spoonflower. That’s all I have to say!
I love Spoonflower. I am very addicted to designing. I know I will never have a career designing, but it is nice to have a hobby that does pay a little. My sister is selling through Spoonflower also, she is a better artist than I am and doing well; it is better than any of the fine art endeavors she has done over the years. Now I can see why even those designers who have made a name for themselves and have designs on Spoonflower, continue to do so. Spoonflower fabric is more expensive than the average fabric company fabric in the US, but the prices compare closely to what is paid in some countries.
For any one trying to break into designing, Spoonflower is a good place to start. For the cost of proofs ($5 for one, but collections figure at about $1.50/proof) you can offer a design for sale. Proofs also give you a fabric sample to show to others. There is a Flickr group for Spoonflower designers and a private Face Book group. This blog post has been shared in both groups.
Abby, thank you for sharing this information. Even though the company names can’t be given out, designers can go into licencing and freelance work with more information about what to expect. Conditions of employment can’t change without knowledge. This information will help designers know what questions to ask of the fabric companies, before signing a contract.
May I ask what the royalties on spoonflower sales are after you have your collections/fabrics for sale?
Spoonflower pays 10% of the regular price to the designers for sales of any of their designs. Spoonflower still does it even when they offer a sale or even when they offer free swatches. Designers get 10% off their own designs.
I’d love to be a part of the Facebook group for Spoonflower designers – how can I get invited? Thanks in advance!
If you put “Spoonflower Fans” into the Facebook search bar you’ll find it.
The group is an open group and you just join. There haven’t needed to be rules as yet. It is still a fairly small group. Post what you are designing, ask questions, even show what you are making and selling.
A great, informative article. Something to add – many artists who license their work also work with agents, who take a cut of the artist’s royalties (usually 50%) because that’s how they get paid for representing the artist, handling the contracts, etc. So in your example of the $0.28/yard royalty, an artist would split that with their agent, further reducing the artist’s profit.
That’s a great point, Holly. Thank you.
Thank you for asking the questions…what an eye-opening read!
I have a few friends who are fabric designers and I was shocked when I found out how little they earn. Especially when you consider the huge amount of work they put into marketing it. It is very like writing a craft book, if you actually costed out what you got paid for each hour of work you put into writing it, editing it, promoting it etc I think it would make you cry!
It is a shame that creative work is so undervalued, why should we work so hard and get paid so little? Is it that there is not much money to be made at all in this industry, or are the big companies making the money and passing very little onto the designers? I did once want my own fabric collection but having just written a book and realised how much work and time goes into the marketing it’s put me off pursuing the fabric design idea.
It seems like most area of this industry you have to have several strings to your bow. You need to have several different incomes to make up one salary.
And on the consumer end we want nice but super cheap fabric. It’s great if we can find $5 a yard fabric, it feels like a score. Yet I’m sure that lessens a designers income and perhaps ability to produce future lines. Are we as consumers willing to pay what some thing is worth?
What the end consumer is actually willing to pay definitely plays in to this cycle, Jeifner.
Though what a fabric shop sells a yard for doesn’t directly impact how much the designer has been paid per yard on a collection that has already been ordered by shops, it will certainly affect how much they may make in future collections if a fabric or collection from that designer wasn’t profitable for the fabric shop.
The cycle in this industry is so tightly woven, from designer to manufacturer to retailer to consumer — and back again.
Wow! What an informative article!!! I can almost guess the company that pays for their designers to be there!!
And they are one of my favorites .
This is truly mind boggling. It seems the value of artistic work is low right through the ranks – from design of the fabric to the completion of quilts/articles. I’m frustrated for the designers and want to boot company #4 in the butt!
I am so thankful for this great article. I am one of the new comers to the market and this article is such a jewel piece. Thank you very much!
I know that the salesmen that come to my door are not paid that well. They are lucky to get 10% of their wholesale sales and then they have all their expenses of being on the road. Most get about 6-7%.
Very interesting read, after watching all the goings on at market from afar. Thanks for keeping it anonymous; I’d never buy from Company #4 again if you’d named names!
Ditto. I vote with my pocket book and I would only support the companies that support their designers. Let company #4 face the economic consequences of their own practices — perhaps they would be forced to change. But if they remain anonymous, their poor model is protected.
Keeping the companies anonymous is also protecting the designer though. If Abby published the names, that designer might get their contract yanked. Even if that didn’t happen, it would still negatively impact the designer through sales. Either way, it would bite them in the butt, which would seriously suck.
Wow. An eye opener. Thanks for your work on this article.
What a timely post – I am just about to return to university in Australia to study computer based design – giving me options in fabric design, licensing and website development. What your post really highlighted for me is … If you are designing fabric to make money your in the wrong industry. That being said – thank you for the excellent and extremely helpful information, and thank you to the designers for sharing. I was also curious to wonder if the designers get 5% of the Australian wholesale price (around about $11 per metre)?
Doubt we would get as much in Australia. The USA market gets considerably more for book design, about double the amount.
Great article. Answered many of my own questions as to starting a fabric line of my own. Thanks!
Wow. A real eye-opener for sure. I remember when Melody Miller wrote her farewell post and thinking it sounded awful and stressful. She designed some of my favorite fabrics and it saddened me that she wasn’t compensated appropriately. But now she has Cotton and Steele! So she made it work for her. Let’s hope you shining the light on this will help others to be fairly compensated as well.
The Cotton and Steel gals are working very very hard. RJR prints the fabric but I think they are responsible about getting the word out. The difference is, there are 9 of them working and supporting each other – which I think makes all the difference in the world.
They do work really hard, but there are only 5 of them, not 9.
Someone asked about what it costs to make fabric. Since we closed all the American Fabric plants, all the fabric is printed overseas – 100 yard rolls shipped to USA, then put on bolts, then shipped to distributors then shipped to stores, who need to double the price. Now, when the printing proofs are made to check colors, the fabric samples have to go to USA from overseas for approval, another cost. And the cotton has to be made into bleached white fabric. The shipping companies make a lot of money on fabric!
Think of all the shipping costs. And how many yards are really printed for a fabric line – perhaps a few thousand? Some shops just take a 10 yard small bolt, or a 15 yard bolt. My neck of the woods doesn’t have many fabric stores left, and they all carry different fabrics, so if 100 stores picked up a fabric, that is 1000 to 1500 yards. A fabric line might have 10-30 different fabrics, and many stores will only take a few fabrics or colorways of the line. And a store needs to sell each bolt within a couple of months – standard retail is you need to turn over inventory, the faster the better, but you can’t stay in business keeping your inventory.
With so many different lines coming out every Market, is it any wonder that no designer is making a lot of money? My local quilt shop just mentioned that it is quite a bit cheaper to pick up the no name blenders than to get the designer blenders for a line. Most people don’t buy 50 or 100 yards at a time, so a shop needs to cut a lot of 1/2 yd and 1 yd cuts (more FQs) in order just to pay the heat, rent, and staff – and perhaps the interest on the money borrowed to pay for the fabric bolts? And so many people want to go to the big box stores to buy their fabric, and not pay the $12 a yard.
It’s only if there are a lot of fabric horders will all this fabric sell.
What an amazing article. I have been building my own line on Spoonflower for four years. If you are lucky, you can make more, sometimes much more through them with little cost or effort. And you are not at the whims of others. I had often wondered what the designers made through companies. This article has shown me I am already living the dream. Thank you!
Thanks for this very interesting article. It saddens me to see an industry which relies so heavily on women to make a profit, treats its employees (designers, yes, they are mainly women) so poorly. Somebody is making money thats for sure! Its a wonder the business continues as shop owners are paying themselves and designers have to sell at least 4 yards to make a buck! So where is all that money going to when we buy that fabric! Spoonflower sells cotton fabric for $17 a yard. Thats only $4 to 5 more than these large companies! Hmmm….I look forward to reading your article about Joann’s and the designer.
Colleen, did you mean to say that shop owners are NOT paying themselves? Statistically, 30% of the industry shop owners do not take any pay from their shop.
A well-known quilter once mentioned to her class that she had just found out that one of her lines was going out of print. I can’t remember the details, but I seem to recall her saying that “going out of print” did not necessarily mean that the line was no longer going to be printed and sold, only that the names of the designer and the line would no longer appear on the selvedge – oh, and she would no longer receive any royalties, of course. I cannot recall whether “out of print” print runs would be on lower quality greige goods, or whether the company name would be “stricken from the record”, as well.
I’m wondering whether this would be in any way a typical arrangement. In this particular case, I can imagine a special arrangement having been made, since the designer’s name was widely known and respected, but for a beginning designer it would seem to almost certainly invite abuse.
hmmmm that’s interesting and something to have in the contract when signing a licensing deal with a manufacturer as they could run that out of print print indefinitely ultimately making millions from said print all the while leaving the designer high and dry.
Hi, thanks for your very informative article. Over here in New Zealand we pay $32 – $35 per meter in the local retail shops. This makes quilting a craft only for the very devoted. Thus making it hard to expand the industry within a small country. With the internet now having a major impact as we realize we can obtain fabrics & books direct from overseas at a more realistic and sustainable price by cutting out the wholesaler importing. Unfortunately it is resulting in quilt shops closing. I would love to get into designing. This article does give a realistic view point to consider. Thank you.
I was thinking the person who said people don’t want to spend $12/m didn’t know how good they have it.
Around $28 seems to be about standard here in Wellington for the fancier fabrics, but you can definitely find craft cottons for less if you know where to look. I’m not a quilter, but am happy to use what I can find that’s around $8-16. I have managed to only buy locally since I started my business, so it is possible.
But I do too hear the siren call of Spoonflower. I’d love to use self-designed fabrics for my products, and the prices are completely reasonable compared to local ones.
Fabulous article! Thank you so much for sharing this information. I understand much more and it will help me to support designers I really appreciate. And if I ever have the opportunity to design fabrics I will be informed and able to get the best deal for myself!
Very informative.. quite the reality check! thank you for doing such thorough and honest research!
All this only makes me more grateful for the wonderful people who share their talents by designing, and yes I believe share is the appropriate word. If they only did it for money we wouldn’t be lucky enough to have the wonderful diverse choices we do have. Thank you for sharing this Abby. Creative people really do work for the love of it much of the time.
Thank you for this interesting article and valuable information !
Very sad, very true and not even the full horror.
Artists who design fabric lines are often cheated or duped as well. The big fabric company have the means to outlast the pocket depth of the singular artist. Even “the truth” does not win when $ is involved. There are so many fiber artists wanting to design that it further makes possible the “abuse” of artists by unethical big fabric companies.
The first fabric company that cheated me was for 15k… Loads to me as an artist, peanuts to amost any business person when compareing the risk and profit. My lawyer said, even though our case claim of theft was obvious… only the lawyers would ultimately make money from a lawsuit. He said… “walk away”.
That was my smallest loss to fabric thieves, there have been enough others to mean I can not retire.
Fiber artists rarely speak about their getting cheated… It is risky to tempt a lawsuit that you do not have money to defend, even though you are right, and stand on truth.
I have been designing fabric professionally for almost 30 years. Everyone thinks they want my life… If they knew, most would change their minds.
Michael, it pains me to read this from you, one of the great legends in fabric design. I’m sorry you’ve had such bad experiences. And I’m grateful that you and your wife have invested in the lives and livelihoods of the craftsmen who actually produce the batiks. I believe you’ve made the world a better place.
Michael,
The same thing happened to me. One company for $5000 another for $10000 . I got a $ 500 settlement for the last one which only covered my job interview trip.
Virginia Robertson
What a fantastic article. Thanks for bringing up this topic.
As a shop owner I have the privilege to know quite a few designers, along with many others along the supply chain. I can’t think of anyone in the industry who is really making a big living (and that is all relative too, isn’t it?) except maybe the owners of some fabric companies.
The designers work even harder than we know, and once they come up with their designs, they then work with the fabric companies and the printers overseas to get their fabric colors just right. Samples fly back and forth. There are so many other people involved and everyone needs to get paid in their respective jobs. The printers, packers, shippers, warehouses, customer service people…. When it gets to the sales people, they have to work large territories for 100% commission. Their travel expenses to visit the buyers are their own. And the sales reps don’t get paid (and I am sure others don’t either) until the shops pay their bills.
We work in this industry because it is a wonderful, pleasant, creative industry to work in. I enjoy everyone I meet along the way – designers, teachers, reps, customer service people and most importantly the end users – my customers. I can’t think of many other industries as great as ours.
Thanks for the dialogue everyone.
Well said, Johanna. And thanks to Abby for the nice article.
It is no secret that designers are not well paid, and that they work very hard. I do it because I love it. There is nothing wrong with that! I feel very blessed to be a part of this wonderful industry and to know the fabulous people I know. Keep in mind that this IS a business, and it has to be profitable for companies to take part in it. I have found that I have to have my hands in many parts of this business to make it work, and they all compliment each other, so it turns out to be a win-win situation. The more fabric I sell, the more patterns I sell or more visits to my website, etc.
Enjoying what I do has helped my business to grow.
I should also say that in my experience, I don’t think that the fabric houses are trying to “take advantage of ” the designers. There are a lot of people who need to be paid out of that one pie, and I am grateful for my slice. So many of the comments here express shock and dismay at how little is made by the designers. But it IS a business. And it has to be profitable in order to stay in business. Designers are not forced to sign these contracts.
I have been designing for over 7 years, have attended 17 Markets, and have never been paid to do so. It has been to my advantage to pay my own way–it makes me work hard and find ways be profitable. I don’t expect others to want my business to succeed as much as I do, so I am my own best marketer. In the end, we benefit each other by promoting each other.
Sure, there are times that I wish my fabric company would accept ALL of my designs to print. But you have to realize the risk they are taking on the chance that my collection will sell. They are putting up a large amount of money, time and resources to do this. I am grateful for the scrutiny they give me that makes me better– and hopefully makes more money for all of us.
Whining gets you nowhere–get in there and make it work!
Thank you so much for your perspective, it is refreshing to see your work ethic. To be fair, in any business it’s people like you who succeed. Trying to ‘punish’ companies for practices one doesn’t like doesn’t do anyone any good. The option isn’t that the company changes, it’s that they go out of business.
Amen to that Jill! You are your best asset!
“Whining gets you nowhere – get in there and make it work!”
I love this, Jill! You can’t control others around you, but you certainly can control yourself and how you respond to the world.
Abby,
Thank you for all the hard work and research you’ve put into this article! It is truly an eye opening, and perhaps, shocking. I am just amazed fabric company #4 is still alive, and have designers working for them! I think their policy is ridiculous! I just hope this article will open some people’s eyes, and they will seek a different company next time they want to have their fabrics printed.
Great article. I’ve been very lucky when wearing my designer hat. It’s been 20 years. The money isn’t great, but as only one of many income streams, it’s been just fine. I haven’t experienced the downsides.
Btw I think the first quilter/ designer i was aware of was Jinny Beyer in the 1980s.
Marsha, I always give you Credit when iI make and show’n’tell a quilt from one of your designs
This article is an eye opener indeed to the not so lucrative behind the scenes world of quilting.
Thanks for a great and informative post. I’ve worked in the industry for almost 10 years but wasn’t aware until now of how designers were (or were not) compensated. I have a new respect for them!
Thank you for this eye opening article! I’ve got a Craft Gossip post scheduled for later this morning that links to it:
http://sewing.craftgossip.com/how-much-do-fabric-designers-earn/2014/11/04/
–Anne
Hi Anne,
Thank you so much for sharing my post on CraftGossip. I really appreciate it!
Thank you, Abby, for writing this. I knew nothing about the fabric industry, and your article makes me want to be viciously loyal to any designer I love, and there are quite a few. When I’m sewing with their fabric, I often think about their lives, their children, and how they make ends meet. From their blogs and social media, I have some kind of idea what their life is like and how they live. After reading your article, I will savor every bit of fabric I use and I will be grateful to the designer for spending her (rarely a man for me) time and energy, working tirelessly to create designs I love. Quilting gives so much joy to so many, whether the quilter or the ones lucky enough to receive a quilt as a gift. I wish I could change this inequality to make sure designers got a much bigger percentage of the money made from a collection, but in the meantime, I’ll be a little more generous in my fabric buying and not hold back when I’m trying to decide if I really need as much as I want.
Great post and discussion! I, like many, dream of authoring a book or designing a line of fabric but I know it would be a “bucket list” item more than a revenue stream.
This was a very good article. We all wonder sometimes what it would be like to work for different companies, and this certainly speaks to what to look for and what to cross out in a contract! Very informative article!
We have designed fabric for three different companies. Although much of what you’ve written is consistent with our experience there are other issues that are worth mentioning. The first is legal. The biggest mistake we ever made was working with a company that told us they would give us a contract but demanded designs first saying they needed the designs in order to put the contract together. For two years this very large company promised that a contract was coming and then said after they had our artwork that they only work “with a handshake.” I know many people who design for this company and work without contracts. It is extremely foolish to not have a written agreement. We trusted and we got burned.
Also many companies resell now and do their print runs based on preorders. Some pay by the yards sold and others pay by how much is printed.
I would disagree with the comment that ” QuiltMarket is not optional.” It’s absolutely optional unless your contract states otherwise. Most designers don’t have booths in fact. It’s the designers who have more to market than just fabric who find it worthwhile to have booths. As is the case with books, there’s an expectation that you get a fabric deal because you already have a business with a following. Most companies see you as a partner and expect that you will be marketing your work as much as they will. I know of one designer whose company pays all of her Market expenses but she make 25% less than the going rate for royalties. I’d rather have a higher royalty rate and pay my own way. I think aspiring designers need to realize that it’s not a matter of “asking Daddy for money for market.” It’s a matter of running your own business successfully enough that fabric companies will pay you what you’re worth because you have a record of being a profitable designer.
Thank you, Weeks, for sharing your experience with us. This is incredibly valuable.
Weeks, when you say they asked for the files, what form did they request? Were they digital illustrator/photoshop files or were they printouts? A lot of companies seem to request quality printouts when considering submissions. Where exactly would you draw the line between normal requests (pre-contract) and red flags?
This is brilliant, Abby. Thank you for it!
I think this is actually different from the standard practice of book publishers. First, I’ve never heard of a publisher not offering an advance against royalties (or, in the case of a book packager, a flat fee for services). The size of an advance can vary dramatically by publisher, author, and project, but the advance is always there. And that means a book author is getting paid from the outset; it’s fairly standard for part of the advance to be released on signing of contract.
It’s been a few years since I’ve been writing craft books and attending trade shows, but none of my publishers ever required me to go, and I was never expected to have a booth. If I was going to a trade show, they wouldn’t pay, but they’d welcome me at their booth and possibly arrange for a signing. So I’d be welcome to do business with them, and with their blessing, but I’d never be *required*.
It sounds like unless a fabric designer has their own business that will benefit from them having a fabric line, it’s a pretty dicey business climate for them. Yikes!
There are two prominent craft publishers who don’t offer their new authors advances. I’ve spoken with many authors who’ve worked with each of these publishers and they often were totally unaware that they should expect an advance. So a segment of craft book authors are not receiving any payment up front.
Whoa. I stand corrected. And disappointed.
There’s been quite a lot written in the design community about the ills of working on spec, which is kind of what these scenarios describe.
Either with books or fabric, it strikes me as profoundly unfair to authors and designers.
Also, you mention *new* authors, and this post is about new designers. Is there some sort of thinking going on that there’s more risk in working with someone new, so not paying them fairly is in some way justified?
New author here super interested in your comment about advances. None! My first and probably only book was published by a well known publisher in the quilting industry. It’s all a gamble. You work a year to 18 months on hope! There is no knowledge of what to expect unless there is a published author secret society. You sign a contract and can’t really guesstimate royalties because you have no clue if the book will sell or languish in a warehouse. You spend $$$$ to create a book (fabric, unless a fabric company is supplying you fabric which I was not, batting, thread and other supplies, quilting fees if you don’t quilt yourself, shipping costs, as well as other expenses incurred that you learn of later) at 8% royalty on wholesale you may never recover the expenses. How a book is promoted can be key, especially if you’re new or unfamiliar to the quilting world. Although not required to attend quilt market to promote your book it’s encouraged and in my opinion good business sense. I even “suffered” through a Schoolhouse session with negligible attendance! However you do incur those expenses of attending Quilt Market as well so in the end you could dig a big hole, jump in, and cover yourself up. As I said, a gamble. Not an easy industry to break in to whether you’re a fabric designer, pattern designer or want to write a book. I’ve been told this by a fabric company as well as a huge distributor. It’s a companies business to court “new” folks to keep their businesses alive and turning out new products. Nearly anyone can publish patterns, books and design fabric but with the glut of it all in the industry it’s not as easy to do well. My idea was different yet well received by the publisher. Later on, after quilt market and the dismal first royalty check, I was told it was “niche” book and those typically don’t sell as well. It was never a dream to write a book but an opportunity that knocked on my blog door and I was hoping to share my passion for what I do and the materials I work with. Knowledge is key and it would be lovely to have all of the knowledge whatever medium we choose to work in be it authoring a book, designing fabric, pattern distribution/publication. The publisher was wonderful to work with so my overall experience was very positive. Thanks for the enlightening article and discussion/comments.
Wow! Abby this definitely was an eye opener, thanks for sharing. I was just having a conversation about this today, inquiring minds DO want to know!
For those that hype Spoonflower, I must caution. Their fabrics ar not dye based but ink based….meaning that the design “sits” on top of the substrate and never really penetrates. This means the fabrics do not wash anywhere close to as well as dyed fabrics. Fading is so bad I fear with several washings the print might disappear altogether. Don’t get me wrong, I love the possibilities Spoonflower offers, but for the money one would spend the quality of a quilt would be severely compromised.
Ellen, you do have a point there about how most of the natural fabrics from Spoonflower wash. Some of Spoonflower’s polyester fabrics hold the ink much better, but that isn’t a help for quilts. There was a Flickr post years ago where someone did some testing. The pigmented inks were very resistant to light fading. I have fabric samples all over my sewing room/studio and I haven’t noticed fading. Most people don’t wash quilts a lot and light is often the biggest reason for fading. I myself have only used a little of my Spoonflower fabric in quilts and since I gave them away, I don’t know how they have done.
I’m not sure I would use the cottons for clothing. But they would be great for wall hangings where light resistance would be a good thing.
And this is why it kills me when people have “destashes” and charge three or four times the value of the fabric because it’s hard to find and/or out of print. The designer doesn’t see a penny of that inflated price and the person selling is gaining for themselves because of that designer’s talent and popularity. I refuse to buy at those inflated prices and I think we all should refuse to buy.
Interesting read Abby! It’s funny that I know who Company #4 is just by reading this and knowing a few friends who design for them.
It’s not the glamorous and lucrative business that some folks think it is to be a fabric designer. But, I’m not sure there is really anyone in the whole chain of fabric that is really getting rich. So many people need to make a living from the fabric. Printers, designers, wholesalers, fabric reps, shop owners and ALL the people who get paid to work for those people.
I see the money that the designers make as one piece of the puzzle. To truly make a living, it helps to have book deals, patterns, thread boxes and teaching.
When the economy is weak, no one makes a lot. The companies have to take in account all the expenses and balance it with what people will pay for their fabric. Fabric prices in the US do run lower that many countries. I have quilting friends around the world. Australia, Canada and the UK are three places I know of that are higher.
I too knew who #4 was immediately, and the others I have very educated guesses too…
Very informative! I wish I knew which fabric companies support their designers (help out with costs at Market) and which do not. I would totally go out of my way to buy fabric from the former fabric companies and not from the later. I also work in a quilt shop and I think the owner would also be more likely to support the former fabric companies when ordering for the store.
The one up side of designers paying their own way is the company can’t tell them how they can or can’t promote their designs.
Wow, so much to digest here, I feel like I need an Alka-Seltzer! Thanks for doing the research and putting all this info out there for enquiring minds. And thanks to the designers who shared their info. I’m sure many fabric companies will be reading this article. So I challenge them to give us a general breakdown of the cost of a yard of fabric. I’m guessing that it’s probably not quite as lucrative as we might imagine. Making a profit in this economy is tough for all, especially given how we all clamber for discounts, freebies and give-aways online. I find fabric quite pricey, especially up here in Canada, and yet despite that my stash overfloweth! I own way more than I could ever realistically sew. Am I an generous supporter of fabric designers? Or a just fabric glutton, squeezing profits by seeking out sales at the expense of quilt store owners, and possibly fabric designers and manufacturers? If I /we all bought less fabric for more $ per yard, would the designers then be fairly compensated? Or do we need to keep hoarding to keep the whole crazy designer fabric market afloat? As both a consumer and a designer I’d like to find the balance.
Absolutely fascinating article and research. Thank you so much for posting this.
This is a real eye opener. My mum and I have been buying fabric to make bags and other stuff to sell but it never occurred to us that designer is getting only 2.5% of retail price. I have only self-published 1 book myself so I also didn’t know that publishing is similar to that.
I’m an in-house textile designer at a big/famous quilting fabric company (not #4). There are many more costs to creating a fabric line then shipping/printing costs. I sit in a big room with numerous talented computer artists. We are all paid a decent salary. We create concepts, layouts and counter-sketches from other fabric designers art. We often totally re-create the art so it is ready for printing. We put the designs into repeat, create color-stories, make selvages, pitch-color, examine strike-offs and re-pitch, examine-re-strike-offs and re-pitch again and approve shipping samples. This process can take months. A fabric designer might create a cute frog sitting on a lily-pad but we do everything else to get that frog printed on the fabric.
Maria, I did what you are doing 20 years ago, just as computers were entering the scene. Boy could I do a mean repeat – all by hand. Good for you for working hard, although your name never shows up on the selvedge, you take a concept and turn it into fabric.
Hi Abby – As always an awesome blog post. I have often thought it would be cool to have my own fabric line. I write knitting and embroidery and decorating books, have had several different handknitting yarn lines over the years, have an online shop, publish handknitting and embroidery patterns, teach (sometimes although I should do it more) and do a bunch of other things to make money so that I can keep my creativity flowing. I was hoping that the fabric gigs would be different from the yarn stuff but thanks to you, I now know that it is all similar.
A friend once told me that if you are going to complain about what you are doing, then just stop doing it. She was right. It is all a lot of hard work which I do not think onlookers realize. I do not think most “normal” people with jobs would never work as hard as designers do with so little financial reward. I have also been on the other side working for a handknit yarn company and as Maria says above, there is so much more to getting a product out there than anyone could ever imagine. In my old corporate job, I did all the things I have to do now but the good thing about working there was that I had colleagues to make it all more bearable and less lonely than doing it all myself. And I had health insurance!
You have definitely hit a nerve with this post and I thank you for bringing the reality of it all to the public. We all just have to keep our nose to the grindstone and not worry about becoming millionaires because it most likely is not going to happen. Stitch on!
I am friends with a lucrative fabric designer who has been designing for about 10 yrs. She has made it part of her contract to have an advance for several years now. It’s all in what you ask for and get in writing!
thanks for the research. an eye-opener.
Thankyou so much for enlightening us all.
I will be staunchly faithful to my favourites in future!
Abby I’d love #2 manufacturer to be named.
I love reading the responses but really wanted my say
Thankyou Amanda
I cannot imagine living off of a fabric line. I do believe most artist who design quilting cottons do so because they love it and love quilting. This industry is an amazing thing to be a part of. As an artist, the only real risk we absorb is time and effort, fabric companies have a lot of upfront costs that hinge on assuming what might sell. That said, artists need to be creative with diversifying how they earn a living wage. Although I do not (as fabric design is not my bread and butter), I do know a few designers who purchase their own fabric to sell by the yard in their online shops or in person at lectures and trunk shows. Buying from them directly is another way to fuel their income and although that may not be the most convenient thing to do, it is more supportive of the artist.
Goodness, I had no idea about almost all of this. I’d never given it a thought. Seems a terrible deal if you earn so little and then have to pay out so much to promote your product which might in the end get cancelled earning you nothing at all!
Thanks for providing this very important insight behind the scenes of the fabric world.
Wow! Fantastic post as always. Now I’d love to see a similar one for book publishing
Several people have suggested this. It’s something I’m thinking about.
Great article! Thanks so much for writing this and help others like me (home sewers and their DH) understand that fabric designers are far cry from being glamorous.
My sister and cousin sister worked as graphic desingers for magazines, book publishing company, advertisements etc. Not always easy getting designs that sell for the salary they get end of the month. They both actually had to supplement their monthly income with free lancing design work for others. Now my sister is still in the design business but cousin doing events.
To fabric designers (seasoned and new) kudos to you for bringing fresh designs into our quilt, bags etc!
Thank you so much for the clear and orderly laying out of the info. The ensuing comments from other professionals are so interesting and helpful also.
I’m so glad to hear that, Nancy.
Thanks! Information is power!
A lot of the points you made in this post are on target, but there is just as much generalizing.. In an industry based on royalties, volume will always be king.
There are a handful of designers that make nice livings designing fabric. I hope this post doesn’t scare young entrepreneurs away from chasing their dream of making a living while designing fabric because it is possible.
It’s a very interesting article. As always, the artist is the one less valued (not only speaking about the money) in this kind of bussiness. It’s actually really sad.
Great post!
Very, very, very good and helpful information!
This information is very helpful Abby. I was pretty close in my best guess about how much is made. It surprises me that the royalty is so little and it makes sense that someone with a strong blog following would be “chosen” to be a designer by a fabric company because they are more likely to have a successful line. I have a friend who is a fabric designer and she works full time outside of the fabric and quilting world. I know she struggles to divide her time between the full time job that pays the bills and her passion for design. She’s very talented and it’s been nice to see her fabric lines gaining attention. Also, it helps to know that fabrics can be printed or “rejected” based on sales. So if we see something in a post about Quilt Market that we love, all of us in the “outside” world should shout to our local quilt shops (or even the online ones) to buy the line! I can’t wait to read your article about designing for JoAnn’s.
I t really only makes sense to shout out about a fabric line if you are really interested in buying it. If people say they like a line and encourage local shops to buy it and then no one buys it, the local shop loses money.
Thanks for the great article. Keep up the great work. We, consumers, need to become better informed!
I have always wondered about this. Thanks so much for covering this.
Was a real eye opener and thank you for sharing this information. I went to the quilt show in Houston and was sorely disappointed that the “designers” were already gone when the show opened to the public. Now I completely understand why…so I say BOOO to the cheap companies. The general public would like to “see” the potential fabric lines coming…even if we aren’t allowed to purchase. I for one was looking forward to seeing if not meeting alot of the new designers. I say you guys/girls should join forces. ..if not for your talents the companies wouldn’t have fab fabrics for us to buy
Quilt Market is to the trade only. Afterwards there is a quilt show that is one of the biggest and most well-attended in the world. They market for each show is different, and the goals are very different.
Interesting article, and obviously a topic that sits close to my heart.
Fabric design and manufacturing is a business like anything else, and in our industry there are many forms of payment. My first company paid a generous royalty, but didn’t produce a large volume of fabric. While I didn’t make a lot of money, I was paid in reputation and experience. I then used that reputation and experience to make an important career move. At that point, I knew what I had to offer and how much money I wanted to make. I spoke to as many companies as possible, asking every question I could think of about how they engaged with their designers, how much they paid, how much fabric they produced per collection, how often they reprinted their best-selling collections, how many collections they printed per year for each designer, etc. Part of “being taken advantage of” is not asking questions, setting standards, or having boundaries. From the manufacturer’s perspective, it’s very easy to lose money on a fabric collection, ending up with the majority still sitting in your warehouse. The best relationship between manufacturer and artist are when both can bring a good deal to the table.
By the way, most companies I spoke to did *not* pay 5%.
However, I brought a solid plan to RJR, asked for what I needed, and created a fair and fulfilling situation for myself and our four other Cotton+Steel designers. I work way more hours now, but this is my job that I love. We have a completely symbiotic relationship with RJR; we couldn’t do what we’re doing without their guidance, enthusiasm and support. They couldn’t do it without our vision, talent, and creativity. Rick, the CEO of RJR, and I speak several times every day- we are operating a business together, and are driven and committed to our success.
One thing that’s worth mentioning here is the amount of hours you put in as a fabric designer – it differs widely from person to person (as does the pay). It’s not a bad gig to make, for example, $8K a year for 8-12 weeks of work (done from home, on your own schedule). I’m sure every designer works differently, but it would be extremely unusual for a designer to spend months of 40-hour-per-week work to produce a single collection. For me, before c+s, it was always a 4-6 week push on the designs, and then a few weeks to prepare for market. That can be a nice supplemental income. It’s up to each designer to judge if they’re getting what they need out of the arrangement. I, personally, wanted this to be my full-time career, so now it is.
Last thing: I think the most financially successful fabric designers operate as business-owners first, fabric designers second. Tula Pink once told me that when she put her business hat on, everything changed for her. At that time, I thought, “do I even have a business hat??” I genuinely wasn’t sure. Turns out, I had one all along.
Thank you, Melody, for sharing a little bit about the background of your partnership with RJR. It’s truly unique and, I think, really exciting as a new model for fabric designers.
Great article, Abby, as usual! Reading the comments so far, It seems clear that few people understand the business side of the art world. When you decide to sell your art, for most artists I believe this is the hardest thing to do. We generally are not sales people, and have no idea what it takes to market anything. I know for myself, if I had to make a living selling, I would starve. There is no guarantee that you will be successful, just because you are talented, skillful, and create beautiful things. We are romantics that think our work and what went into it should speak for itself.
If you want to make it a business than you need to invest in business skills. We live under capitalism, it seems many artists wish it were socialism. Textile companies, like any other business, weigh risks, opportunities, return on investments, etc. Remember, it’s whatever the market will bear….and there is a lot of competition. I completely agree that you need some business savvy in order to be successful.
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Thanks so much for your well-reported post Abby! I feel you’re doing our community a real service through this journalism!
After reading through the comments, it occurs to me that this isn’t so much a matter of greedy fabric companies, but of an ineffective supply chain. The pie is being sliced too thin, a pie that is kept to a certain size based in what we’re willing to pay. Between the designer, the manufacturer (which has been moved overseas in order to keep costs low- which means someone is being paid much too little to work in the factories), the salesperson, the fabric company’s profits (they DO need a profit in irser to keep investing in the product) and the barely hanging-on shop owners… There are so many ways out $12/yard is being diced.
This doesn’t mean that it’s fair or good for a fabric designer to be paid so little for her work (and I’ve advised several of my clients to negotiate the contract and/or walk away), only that we need, as business women who are solely responsible for choosing sustainablity in our own businesses (and that’ll look different for everyone), to find other options.
In the same way that writing became more profitable for authors via self-publishing (both books and via the myriad opportunities blogging opened up), my hope is that surface pattern design can become more profitable as we seek other distribution methods. (Several have mentioned Spoonflower, and I love it, but we need more than one option to really see things change)
I don’t have any answers, but I have hope this conversation will spark some changes and inventiveness (and more informed decision making within the current set if options!!)
Wow. Doesn’t sound much better than the glue dots deal…
Abby, thanks again for an amazingly informative post. It’s so very difficult to find this sort of information as a beginner and you just keep posting these gems!
Abby, THANK YOU for demystifying this. I’ve often wondered about the ins and outs of fabric design and now I have some definitive answers. Sharing knowledge like this empowers everyone. And unfortunately fabric design seems similar to the craft book game? Someone is making a lot of money and someone is doing a lot of work, but they don’t seem to be the same person.
Thank you for this informative and extremely eye opening post. Would they treat men in this way???????
There are a few men who design quilting cottons. I imagine that their contracts are the same. I do want to delve into gender and the fabric industry at some future point, though.
Thank you so much for sharing this information. I am fairly new to this industry as a pattern designer. My background is apparel design working for large corporations such as Nordstrom and Union Bay.
I find it fascinating that fabric designers are paid so little. At the corporate design companies, textile designers were paid well as well as myself but we did not have our name on the work. It seems that the big difference is the ownership and growing your brand and name. I have designed projects for books and magazines but it is not for the $ but rather to market my company and get my name out there.
This is a great post. I worked as an interior designer for a little over a decade and found that, in local chapters of professional associations, we were all very tight-lipped about how we charged for our services and the deals we had with our suppliers, because of that perception that everyone in the room was a direct competitor. It wasn’t until I attended an international home furnishings show in Paris that I was finally able to talk about compensation strategies with other U.S. designers over drinks, because we were from all different parts of the U.S. and since we were operating in different regional markets, we didn’t think of one another as competitors. It was really eye opening, and I left that conversation wishing that there was more standardization and sharing of pricing strategies between local designers, since we ended up undercutting one another and letting clients and suppliers play us off one another, reducing the potential earnings of all of us. It sounds like that is what is happening with fabric designers as well, with the difference that there are only so many fabric companies out there and they wield an enormous amount of power. The idea that a fabric designer would be obligated to spend more on Market than he or she made on the fabric line is appalling — and did I read correctly that it’s possible for a new designer to spend months working on a fabric collection, then spend the money traveling to Market to promote the line, but then the fabric company decides not to print it and the designer doesn’t make ANY money?! I hate to say it, but this kind of exploitive situation is why labor organized into unions.
What a great post Abby! I’ve often wondered, and now I know. It would certainly take a lot of thoughtful discussion before jumping in (and hopefully, you’d be signed with the “right” company).
This is such an important read! and so eye-opening. Thank you!
Thanks for a very interesting article. As a quilter for almost 30 years, I’ve seen a lot of changes as this industry has grown … from limited calicos and cottons, to the amazing selections of fabric, patterns, books, notions and accessories we have today. The first named designers I recall were Debbie Mumm and Jinny Beyer in the 1980s. As a quilt shop manager and teacher in years past, I was familiar with how much of the industry operates, but I am truly surprised at how little the designers receive today for their creativity and hard work. This is a multi- billion dollar business … and it certainly seems the designers who energize it should be better compensated for their work, and expenses. Perhaps it is truly a case today of just too many slices of the pie. Guess I may have to cross fabric designer off my bucket list !!
Love this article. I have recently made the decision to submit some of my own art work to fabric companies with the hope that it gets licensed. I think I will have to do this in addition to other venues of course. Thanks for the informative article.
You’re welcome, Rosalina, and best of luck!
Abby,
Thanks so much for this valuable information. I am one of those emerging designers, and your article helps me manage my expectations. Thank you.
I’m so glad to hear that, Sony.
Thanks for sharing this Abby. I agree that Designers and Artists (in-house & freelance) should definitely get together and stand up! After all, without these designers/artists, these companies have nothing because they rely so heavily on artwork being used for their products. And while I do understand that the companies pay for advertising their own products and for the production part, it would still make a world of difference if they sold their products without any prints/patterns or some kind of artwork on them. People wouldn’t be inspired to buy bland, blank products.
I guess I would have to come to my own conclusions but after reading the blog and comments, I’m not that excited about entering the field of fabric design, as I was before. However, I still am interested in surface design and using these designs to make things and create. It is said that artists are not being treated fairly in terms of pay and even recognition. So far I’m a transitioning professional…..from teaching (computer applications) to artist and both of these entities pay little to the people who enact them and both offer much to the human soul and life. Very sad…..but because I am an artist and I love creating, I will find a way to pursue what I love and make money too.
Thanks so much Abbey for this article. I will admit, I was one of those people looking at fabric design as glamorous and wealth producing. Thanks for the wake-up call. I needed this information and research.
Hi Renee,
I’m glad this post was helpful to you. I think if designing fabric is part of a larger portfolio of surface design it can be great. It might not pay incredibly well for most people, but it almost always takes multiple sources of income for an artist to really make a living and designing fabric can be a solid income source. If you know you’d love doing it, don’t give up!
I know that this is a few years after this article was published, but maybe I misunderstand.
According to what was said, the average designer makes between 2-4K on a “line” of fabric.
Let me see if I understand that right. If they make $4,000 on a line of 20 different fabrics (many “jelly rolls” have that many different fabrics in them) that would indicate that that designer sold 14,286 yards of her line of fabric at the rate of $.28/yard royalty. If there are 20 different fabrics in her line, that would indicate that they would sell an average of ONLY 714 yards of each of their fabrics in their line. How is this possible?
Would a company go to the bother of printing a fabric if they were only going to sell 714 yards of it? – that is only 47 15 yard bolts or about 89 8 yard bolts. Am I figuring this wrong? I would think the set up and shipping and all that would be too expensive for this small of a run.
I know this is in 2018 and you wrote this in 2014. Have I made a mistake in my calculations?
Some lines have more than 20 prints, and some have as little as 12 or fewer. The .28 cent per yard royalty is actually quite generous. One major company offers designers .10 per yard. As far as the totals sold per print, I really don’t have specific information about this, but I’ll continue to ask. I know there’s a 3,000 yard minimum per print, 1,000 yards per colorway, so if the company is only selling 714 yards of a colorway that is pretty close to selling out.
Thank you for this article. It has give a lot of incite into the fashion design industry. I am in the process of designing my own collection of fabric to make specialty pillows for children, and which company is best to get the productions printed? I have thought about selling some of the designs and wondered about the royalties and pay. This answered all the questions! Thanks you again!!
I have dabbled in the arts – not a Picasso by any means, but I do have a watercolor I created 15 years or so- others have suggesteed I should look into getting the watercolor painting turned into a fabric. I have been told it would be a great fabric print for women’s PJ’s, purse liners, cosmetic bags, etc. The watercolor is more of a graphic arts print, so to speak…the painting is a graphic design of different types of perfume bottles. The matting I designed using “stick on” lettering of names of perfumes. I would like to tweek the print to have the lettering intertwined with the perfume bottles. That all said, I have the painting, and have no idea where, or how to start to get the watercolor turned into a fabric design.
I have been dabbling with surface pattern design for about 9 years at Spoonflower (self taught). It is possible, but probably a lot of work. You might not be able to use actual perfume names, those trademarks would be owned by the perfume companies and that could even be the case for the bottles, too. You might want to talk to someone knowledgeable about these things. You would definitely need permission and probably a licence from any company if you were using their logos in the work. When I paint something to use for a fabric design, I often paint individual motifs that I can combine and rearrange in a digital image so that I can make a continuous pattern.
Not every image posted to a Print On Demand site will sell (my rate of sales is about 10 %). The simpler project for art like your might be to use it for tea towels and such where a placement print is fine; it would just need to be the right proportions and size. That is fairly minimum work. Photos of art normally need some clean up because the paper for a water color will appear gray, unless it is a professional photo with great lighting. Sometimes a high resolution scan can be better.
Occasionally I have managed to use the seamless tile feature on GIMP to make a repeat, but most have been photos of outdoor scenes or an abstract painting. Most of these were made that way from photo collages that were made to look like paintings. https://www.spoonflower.com/designs?utf8=%E2%9C%93&look=three&number=24&view=263686
If the placement print sold, then go for some continuous designs. If you are familiar with any design software, start experimenting or start learning to use one.
I am new to spoonflower and I just ordered 30 proofs. I was wondering how much I can make from those
It is anyone’s guess. I have been on Spoonflower for years and have never made $100 in a year. I am self taught and knew nothing about digital designing when I started. But that being said, talented designers make enough to pay some of their bills. If you can fill a niche and have a popular style you may do OK. I have close to 500 designs and I have found that about 10% have ever sold even a swatch. You may want to sell on some of the other print on demand platforms. I haven’t done much of that. Your comment just appeared in my email today; that is strange.
Glad this topic is beginning to be talked about. The situation varies greatly with the company and artist/designers savy or lack thereof. I personally know of many designers who have been cheated, but talking about it is dangerous, so we do not share info, and other designers fall into similar traps or situations because we keep our mouths shut out of fear.
First let me say that a contract is very important, it potentially controls the entire business relationship and profitability for the designer… However… A good contract, as well as a bad contract, is much like marriage. The contract can say one thing while reality can be quite different. Companies do not have to honor contracts, and it is more often whether the artist has the ability to enforce the contract. Do you have enough $ to chase them? Do they have loopholes to sneak through?
In general, in our quilt industry designers are not well paid. I make this comparison from statistics from the Graphics Artists Guild Handbook for pricing… compared to other fabric areas… quilters and quilt fabric designers are near the bottom of the pay scale.
The next largest aspect is designers lack of registering copyrights or understanding the true meaning of terminologies.
Having copyrights properly registered with the US gov in the correct time frame can easily make the difference between success and failure.
Numerous copyright lawyers I have spoken with do not actually understand the real boundaries in this regard! You must! You must register every unique design either before or within 90 days of publication. doing this gives you a very different level of potential when designs are copied or infringed upon..
A big issue is… what does publication mean? If I send designs to the fabric company, then wait until they discuss, write an order or whatever before registering the copyright I might loose my best asset. Publication is not when it shows up in the stores! or hits the presses. If I need to register 90 days before publication to get the maximum of my ownership rights.. I better understand what publication means in court… Publication is the day I send my art to a company or individual with the ability, or potential to publish and mass market my work… So If I send my stuff out, and do not register quickly, I could believe I’m safe, but in reality NO!
Many art directors I have spoken with do not understand the legal side of copyrights. They often quote a 20% difference rule…. there is no such rule!
Is it derivative or a copy or not!
Some try to use this 20% idea, but in legal terms it is a fallacy.
There are a few very good companies to work for IMHO, mostly average and some very bad or thieves… like a bell curve.
It is not a totally warm fuzzy industry.. It is an industry like most, motivated by profits. We feel all fuzzy as consumers, but beyond the consumer side it is mostly just another industry. No insult intended, just trying to wipe away some of the phony info from reality.
This a tiny bit of what I have learned in the business over the past 25 years.
If it weren’t an industry, we the end user wouldn’t have any of your wonderful products. I don’t think the textile industry is any better or worse than others, it simply is an industry trying to make money.
Very interesting. I had an art teacher who would periodically send in all his work to the library of congress and have it officially copyrighted. Just in case.
Wow! That sounds pretty depressing.
As far as copyright, do you think a designer should also register his/her designs that are posted on the online retails such as society6, etc? Or just posted the designs (not purchased/ not contracted) on his/her own website?
We register copyrights every 2 weeks in our studio.
Registering copyrights with the copyright office increases your range of rights and options as compared to not registering and just claiming ownership and authenticity. We register 20 designs every 2 weeks at Lunn Fabrics. Over the 30 years we have been designing we still get ripped off… Unfortunately our legal system is skewed to supporting big corporations tith deep pockets and artists regularly get trampled by the money aspect of chasing infringers.
On a second topic… fabric designers in the quilt world make a reasonable living designing fabric if they also teach, design patterns, have a big blog following, and publish books. Certainly volume drives the $ equation. I have sold high volumes of fabric for 10+ years. I average more than a million yards per year and I will still say it is a mediocre living without the add onns I listed above.