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Rare Look Inside M&S Schmalberg, NYC’s Last Custom Fabric Flower Factory
28th February 2020 @ 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
What do Rihanna, Anne Hathaway, Reese Witherspoon, and Crazy Rich Asians all have in common? Tucked away on the 7th floor of a building in the heart of the New York City Garment Center is a century-old business that has created fabric flowers for everyone including A-list celebrities and film & television productions. Now’s your chance to visit the historic facility where they’re all made, one individual flower at a time.
Join New York Adventure Club for a private exploration of M&S Schmalberg, a fourth-generation family-owned business in Manhattan’s Garment District that has been hand-making custom fabric flowers for over 100 years.
Led by one of the company owners, our unique experience with the last custom flower maker in New York City will include:
- An overview of the artificial flora industry, and how fast fashion and offshoring have affected the niche fashion craft
- The history of M&S Schmalberg, from brothers Morris and Sam Schmalberg starting the business in 1916, to becoming the premier fabric flower makers for top fashion designers including Oscar de la Renta, Ralph Lauren, and Marc Jacobs
- A private tour of the historic factory to see the fabric flower process from beginning to end — from cutting out the fabrics in a myriad of different designs, to hand assembling petals into tulips, carnations, or other varieties
- A live demonstration by the company’s veteran artisans of the century-old cutting machines and custom-made hydraulic presses still in operation
Afterward, you’ll have the opportunity to shop for your own custom-made M&S Schmalberg fabric flowers (at a steep discount), and even go home with a stylish piece of history!
Click here to read a featured article of M&S Schmalberg in The New York Times!
Click here to see pictures from one of our last visits to M&S Schmalberg!
See you there!