September 10, 2020
(Charlotte, NC) . . . Today, the Jaftex Corporation announced an agreement in principle to acquire the assets of Blend Fabrics LLC, a licensing division of Anna Griffin Inc. Jaftex, a 90-year-old, fourth generation, family owned business is home to several well-known fabric companies including Henry Glass Fabrics, Studioe Fabrics, The Blank Quilting Corp., Fabric Editions, 3 Wishes, A.E. Nathan Co., Inc. and FreeSpirit Fabrics which was acquired in 2018.
The plan under the ownership of Robert, Greg and Scott Fortunoff is to integrate the vision of Blend’s owners, Anna Griffin and Joe Spiegelberg, into a designer-driven portfolio under the FreeSpirit brand. Blend’s collective of artists, with their unique, trend-right approach, is the perfect complement to FreeSpirit, adding a mixture of styles to its current offering of well-respected designers.
“The team at Blend has built a first-class organization by bringing together a stable of well-known licensed artists from various mediums,” says Scott Fortunoff, President of Jaftex. “When Anna presented the opportunity to us, we knew right away that FreeSpirit was the perfect home for her vision to be nurtured and to continue its growth trajectory.”
Blend, a division with Anna Griffin Inc. for over 9-years, reaches new product categories meant to diversify the retailer’s offering by tapping the pulse of today’s maker. The organization’s offerings tell an inspiring story with an all-encompassing approach to design, color, scale and commercial appeal.
“We set out to celebrate the talents of our artistic friends and, throughout this journey, we successfully manufactured and sold hundreds of fashion forward fabrics around the world,” says Griffin and Spiegelberg. “Now, it’s time to take our work to the next level and we are thrilled to entrust our vision with Scott and FreeSpirit Fabrics.”
About Jaftex Corporation:
Jaftex Corporation is a 90-year-old, 4th generation, family owned business, based out of New York City. Jaftex has several well-known brands under its umbrella that include FreeSpirit Fabrics, Henry Glass Fabrics, Studioe Fabrics, The Blank Quilting Corp., A.E. Nathan Co., Inc., Fabric Editions and 3 Wishes. All of the companies under the Jaftex umbrella were acquired over the last 45 years.
About Blend Fabrics, LLC:
Blend, a licensing division of Anna Griffin Inc.,is a high-end textile design company that supplies fabrics and licensed designs to major retailers, independent retailers and e-commerce retailers worldwide.
About FreeSpirit:
FreeSpirit Fabrics is one of the leading suppliers of high-quality quilting fabrics and well known in the textile industry for its creative and unique fabric designs as well as talented and trend-setting artists. FreeSpirit offers retail stores some of the finest fabrics in the market that inspire sewing creativity and speaks to a new generation of sewing enthusiasts.
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Contact:
Jaftex:
Scott Fortunoff, scott@jaftex.com scott@jaftex.com, (971) 751-5487
FreeSpirit:
Nancy L. Jewell, njewell@freespiritfabrics.com, (440) 525-1548