DGA, Owner of Simplicity Sewing Patterns in Liquidation

Here’s an update on the recent bankruptcy and liquidation of IG DGA (IG Design Group Americas), the parent company that owned ALL the big sewing pattern brands in the Western world. Simplicity, New Look, Butterick, Vogue, McCalls and Burda. Let’s looks at what’s happening now and what potential lies in the future for home craft sewers.

You may have noticed over recent years, if you like browsing the sewing patterns available for sale under Simplicity, Vogue, Butterick etc. that they all have lost their unique qualities. All the great designers had gone — Vogue was particularly well known for this — and all these brands have a similar look about them. All very ho hum. Very safe. Very little that is wildly original. I personally found this to be a huge disappointment. Where did all the fun patterns go? Why would I bother to sew patterns that look like any other chainstore bought garment? It seems there is a good explanation for this dullness if DGA were in financial strife. If the new owners choose to disband the assets, it would leave a massive hole in the market.

The dullness has extended into much of Australia’s crafting supplies and even into other industries, more broadly speaking. So, let’s look at the bigger picture. If you live outside Australia, you may find this is a similar story for you as well.

Destroying The Australian Market For Craft Sewing Patterns

In Australia, the fashion industry, along with many other industries, diminished to just a trickle in the riverbed after the Australia Act 1986 came into being. From what I understand (I wasn’t in Oz at the time) this treasonous Act handed the power to run the country over to the Commonwealth of Australia Corporation which is registered to private owners (don’t ask me who) in Washington DC. We were no longer under the true Commonwealth attached to the monarchy of the United Kingdom despite voting for it in the 1999 Referendum. You might have seen our Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, after the recent elections, swearing to serve the “Commonwealth of Australia” in his oath/affirmation, not King Charles III or the Crown.

Seriously, it’s a long story which will eventually come out and not what I wanted to focus on in this article but essentially, the corporatisation of Government meant that our Government Departments were no longer “of service” to the people. Instead, they treated us as a source of income. They opened up the trading doors to countries where sweat shops were rampant. Cheap imports became hard to compete against. Large local businesses moved their manufacturing plants over to the cheaper labour countries and many small businesses simply packed up. Result? A massive loss of jobs.

Diversity In Import Sources

You would think that open trading doors would lead to a far greater choice in variety. However, the impact created the opposite effect.

The overwhelming amount of cheap fashion pouring into the country meant it was barely worth sewing at home anymore unless for special occasions. I do remember saying that to myself when I first moved to Australia around 2001. With less people sewing, many of the smaller fabric stores closed their doors and all their beautifully curated textile collections disappeared. With reduced value in our Australian dollar, the surviving fabric stores now pay through the teeth for their imports and have to pass on the costs to us, the customers. So, good quality fabrics became more expensive.

Large craft and fabric stores such as Spotlight gleefully grabbed a larger portion of the remaining market. They had the Butterick, Vogue and Simplicity sewing patterns to sell. In response, they jumped on board with importing loads of cheap, medium to low quality fabrics. As the craft sewing market dwindled further, even Spotlight began filling their stores with Homewares to compensate for the slowing of fabric sales and sewing patterns.

Vogue and Simplicity Patterns: A Future In Jeopardy?

In June, the news first hit us that the owner of all our favourite pattern brands, DGA (Design Group Americas), was going down the plughole. Shockingly, the history was revealed as to how, over the years, one after another of the big pattern companies had been quietly acquired by DGA and nothing was done by the Federal Trade Commission to prevent the monopoly from forming.

DGA filed for chapter 11 relief in the United States Bankruptcy Court in order to facilitate a court-supervised process for the sale of its assets and goodwill.

At first, we were all panicking that the whole monopoly would go and we would be struggling to fill the gap with the smaller pattern design companies. Good news though!  Hilco Capital has bought DGA. Hilco are in the UK and specialise in restructuring and refinancing other companies. They sound like the perfect company go through each section of the business finding which parts are viable to sell on to new loving, capable hands. DGA were very broad reaching in their offerings including gift packaging, party-ware, craft ribbon, stationery and homeware in addition to the sewing patterns. So, there is plenty of room for culling and, from what Craft Industry Alliance says, their ribbon manufacturing division will be one of the first to close.

We will cross our fingers and hope a sympathetic set of eyes will find a way to restructure our sewing pattern division so it can remain, not only financially viable but to bring back unique designs to inspire home crafting again.

Re-igniting The Spark Of Our Own Industries Again

I’ve been interested to watch the negotiations over international Tariffs sparked by the American President this year. Which country in the world has a leader who can negotiate with him? He has many years successful experience in negotiating to get what he wants in the past. Many of the other leaders have only been career politicians who just won’t have the same skills. They are going to need a lot of support to stand up to him and get our needs met!

With tariff wars going on – and I honestly don’t think they will last a long time – it really is the ideal opportunity for each country to start looking at what industries can be boosted within their own borders so they can be more self sustaining.

In Australia and New Zealand, we were known for massive sheep farms producing high quality wool. When I lived in New Zealand, there were about 3 million people and 80 million sheep. Consequently, when I travelled overseas, general opinion was that we must all have a few sheep in our back yards. haha. Actually, the sheep farms were just REALLY big.

Yarn for Textiles

Cotton is a relatively small industry here. Cheap imports have discouraged any growth in that area. However, one area I think has enormous potential is the hemp industry. We have the climate and the space. Hemp doesn’t need a lot of water and, literally, grows like a weed. It’s like 10 times stronger than cotton so can make garments that last much longer. There are many benefits which I’ll explore another time.

Meanwhile, perhaps we can all set our intentions for the fabric and textile industries to be sparked once again in our own countries. If Australian and New Zealand have the climate and past experience in producing wool, let’s find a way to boost that industry for local and the export markets. (Don’t forget the locals please!) With a boosted local industry, there would be so much new opportunity for textile designers to create something unique. Designs that would set us on the map and would make a great export. Now there’s an idea.

Future Technology Opportunities

Let’s come back to our sewing patterns and what may be in store in the future. I am always interested in seeing what advanced technologies are on display. I believe we are getting oh so close to a very different way of living. New technologies and free energy are just around the corner. They will benefit everyone on the planet, not like before where they were limited to either Military operations or just those who could afford it.

Perhaps the new owner will be able to harness some of these new technologies to make the Butterick, New Look, McCalls, Vogue and Simplicity sewing pattern business more viable. Let’s dream a little. Open your mind with a “can do” attitude. Your few moments of contemplation will add energy to the possibility of this coming to fruition. Say to yourself “Wouldn’t it be nice.”

Visualise the near future full of Potential!

• As new tech allows for super fast and economical deliveries around the planet (yes, it’s on the cards and sooner than you think), perhaps the new owner could offer the sewing patterns as print on demand. This cuts out the middle man and reduces expensive stock levels.
• Print on Demand would mean the CAD software could be programmed bespoke. That means, you could order your pattern online and input your body measurements. The CAD software could adjust the pattern to your measurements so there are no adjustments to be made when it arrives. How delightful!
• If the older sewing pattern brands – some of them more than 100 years old – released all their pattern archives dating back through the decades, it would give customers the opportunity to curate their own mood boards and short lists. That’s a bit like what Youtube, Spotify and Pinterest do presently. If you find someone whose boards match your own style, you could subscribe to see what new items they add or add them yourself. Let the customers do the hours of work curating the best of the best. It’s hardly “work” after all. Sounds like fun to me.
• With patterns becoming accessible, we might see a surge in home crafting. We are going to need great fabrics! Free energy is not so far away and with quick, efficient deliveries, we’ll be able to order fabrics from anywhere in the world. This means great textile designers will have the ability to reach a much greater audience. Exports would be more frequent and commerce will be on an equal playing field.

Summing up

Monopolies have proven time and time again that they do not benefit the majority in the larger scheme of things – especially when they go bloody bankrupt! I really do hope we end up with several main sewing pattern companies. They can once again hire skilled designers to make each brand unique. Then, we crafters have patterns worth buying and making. The result is a boost to their sales.

As for the advanced tech, we’ve barely scratched the surface. Let’s see where the next World Fair takes us….

Did you enjoy this article? SHARE it with your friends and discussion groups. SUBSCRIBE for more articles on crafting and wardrobe planning. BROWSE Annabelle’s knitting pattern designs.