House of Fabrics Inc history

Founded in 1957, Hancock Fabrics developed the concept of a total fabric retailer.

House of Fabrics grew steadily and became a public company in 1965.

In fact, the industry actually shrank since 1976 if inflation was taken into account.

Despite these changing conditions, 70 percent of House of Fabrics’ sales came from fabric for garments in 1978.

Sales in 1985, for example, totaled $281.6 million, with $18.6 million in net earnings.

In 1988, fabric retailing was a $3.5 billion industry that experienced zero growth in 12 years.

By December 1991, however, House of Fabrics began a serious decline.

Though the acquisition contributed to some of the costs, House of Fabrics’ expenses also rose from financing its superstores and from the implementation of a new inventory tracking system. Its short-term debt increased by $31 million, and—though stock prices recovered to $14 per share in September 1992—earnings dropped from $0.40 per share to $0.16.

In 1993, House of Fabrics was forced to close 110 underperforming mall stores in order to maintain its larger freestanding and strip center stores.

In January and February 1994, House of Fabrics struggled just to pay its bills, and fiscal 1994 recorded a loss of $29.3 million for the retailer.

In April 1996, House of Fabrics closed another 86 underperforming stores.

Stella McCartney’s 2011 collection included a silk-linen blend blazer and Valentino had a cotton/linen dress.

April 3, 2015 - 4:52 am Hi, thank you for sharing the history of linen.