Who Is Scott Fortunoff and Why Should I care?

Last year soon after the wholesale Fall Quilt Market, there was an "earthquake" in the quilt world.  What we all thought was one of the most successful fabric manufacturing company, Free Spirit, was closing their doors. How could this happen we all wondered?  They were home to some of the most popular fabric designers - Tula Pink, Kaffe Fassett, Amy Buttler and on and on.  Not only were we surprised, but so were the designers themselves.  

Social media was a buzz as we waited to see what would happen to these talented designers.  Where would they land?  Would they each negotiate new contracts with other fabric companies?  And then, in the blink of an eye, Jaftex (owner of e Studio Fabrics, Henry Glass and others) swooped in and bought Free Spirit.  There are very few details as to the why and how, but Jaftex is doing everything in their power to deliver the fabric that was ordered by shops at Market as promptly as they can.

The face of Jaftex is Scott Fortunoff.  

Why should we care?  

Scott is Co-President of Free Spirit and is front and center and trying to be transparent and to start the #sew revolution.  It's his effort to strengthen the fabric industry.   He has a blog called

 "Tales of a Fourth Generation Textile Executive" and a facebook page.  He has frequent FB live events where he shows what it looks like behind the scenes of the fabric industry and what fabric we can expect to find in our local quilt shops. 

He has been visiting quilt shops for #sewdays, for Q&A's, along with giveaways.  He has even learned a little bit about sewing. Here he is visiting Ladyfingers and Gail Kessler.

The most impressive step he has taken is to give away sewing machines!!!  He wants to engage the young and make quilting available to those in need.  You can e-mail him if you are in  need of a machine or if you know of someone who does.  Over 100 lucky people have been gifted with a  new machine from him so far. What generosity!

I am very impressed with Scott.  We need someone like him who has the energy, enthusiasm and status to help our industry grow.  He is definitely worth watching on social media.  Maybe you can win something during his FB live broadcasts  or watch to see if he is coming to a quilt shop near you.

Let's support him!