Field Trips are Fun!

I grew up in Chicago. A big city with lots of cool things to do. One of my favorite memories of school was the field trips. A paper bag lunch in one hand and a permission slip in the other, I was always ready to go. I can tell you lots of stories of the cool places I went to during my school days in Chicago.

These school memories have been flooding me this past week, because last week I went on a field trip. My friend Ami Simms visited North Carolina last week and we planned a visit to Spoonflower while she was here. Spoonflower is an Internet-based business that prints fabric on demand. The Spoonflower community (some 70,000 individuals)  create their own designs, upload them to Spoonflower and “wa-la” in a week or so they can have their designs printed on fabric delivered to their door. Amazing!

Rolls of fabric waiting for printing

If you’re not so talented, you’re in luck! Many of the highly creative members of the Spoonflower community offer their designs for sale on Spoonflower’s public marketplace. The marketplace offers the largest collection of independent fabric designers in the world. And to think that this company was only founded 2 years ago, talk about a success story.

Machines print fabric on-demand

Ami and I were able to tour the Spoonflower facilities housed in a former sock mill in Mebane, NC. We were greeted by the lovely Kim Fraser, who inspired her husband, Stephen, to start this business in May 2008. As someone who loves those “how’s it made”  TV shows, I was in my glory.

Heated rollers set the designs into fabric

I was fascinated by the machines and the simple complexity of Spoonflower’s operation. I was overwhelmed by the colorful designs being printed before my eyes on rolls and rolls of fabric. I was in fiber-licious heaven looking at and touching the diversity of fabrics that Spoonflower offers for their on-demand printing. I was inspired to design things that could be printed at Spoonflower.

Printed fabric cut, folded, and prepped for shipping

Above all, I was impressed with Stephen and Kim and their dedicated crew. Spoonflower is American ingenuity in action. This is someone taking an idea, running with it, and succeeding in difficult economic times. It is wonderful to see a company who is helping pave the way to bring the textile industries back to North Carolina.  I am inspired in more ways than one. I guess that’s why field trips are fun.