We begin this episode by mentioning that Arvin was a guest on our show in October 2017, and we invite listeners to tune into that episode to learn more about the history of Shannon Fabrics.

In order to bring listeners up to date, we talk about the impact of the pandemic on Shannon Fabrics. Next we discuss the closure of Fabric.com.

Shannon Fabrics did close to 10 million dollars of business annually with Fabric.com, and was one of the site’s three largest vendors. The news of the closure came suddenly. Arvin says that Amazon announced it on a Monday to their employees, Tuesday to its vendors, and by Wednesday, the site was taken down. He explains how Shannon Fabrics recovered from that loss and what the company is doing to mitigate future risk of having a single gigantic vendor like this. On example is Cuddle Centers, which are fabric stores that carry more than 250 Shannon SKUs (250, 500 or 1,000 out of the 1,600 SKUs they offer).

We also discussed the closure of Joann. Shannon Fabrics only wholesales to independent retailers and doesn’t sell to Joann, but the closure still impacts their business. Aarvin explains what he feels went wrong and what the impact will be on the industry going forward.

Arvin emphasized that Shannon Fabrics is in the business of community and hobbies. He shares ideas for how Shannon Fabrics and other wholesale fabric companies can assist independent retailers with education.

I ask Arvin to share his perspective on the impact tariffs may have on his business. Most of their goods come from South Korea. He also explains why it’s not possible to produce their fabrics in the US.

A child’s jacket pieced with Quilting Cuddle, a new fabric from Shannon Fabrics.

Quilting Cuddle is a new substrate introduced by Shannon Fabrics at h+h americas this year. It has a lower pile than the standard Cuddle fabrics (1.5mm), little stretch, and is 45″ wide. Quilting Cuddle is meant for the front of the quilt and can be pieced. Arvin talks about how he developed this new fabric and how he thinks about innovation and developing new products

I ask Arvin about the importance of consumer education for a product that can be a challenge for consumers to adopt. He talks about developing a brand ambassador program. We also talk about trade shows and h+h americas and Quilt Market.

And, of course, I ask Arvin to recommend great stuff he’s loving right now. Arvin recommends:

• Holistic Health
• Tony Robbins 
• Keeping up with new developments in AI

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