Scrubs manufacturer, Sassy Scrubs, made the decision to sell fabric directly to its customers several months ago. Recently, the Penn Yan, New York (Finger Lakes Region) based e-tailer of custom made nursing scrubs revamped their website to now allow for the direct purchase of their extensive fabric selection.
“With 1,400 fabrics from which to choose,” Company President, Karen Bradley explains, “we certainly have something for everyone – both in the medical scrubs they order and in the fabric they can now purchase.” Bradley has seen the interest in Sassy Scrubs fabric grow substantially in recent months. “We have regularly received requests from quilters and home sewers asking to be allowed to purchase our fabrics, instead of our medical scrubs, or in addition to our scrubs”, she states. Lately, the requests increased to several times a week. “We knew there was a market out there, so we altered our site to make direct fabric sales possible”, Bradley explains.
The fabrics in Sassy Scrubs inventory are chosen for their ease of care and wear-ability as their primary purpose is to be used for custom made medical scrubs. The Company’s internet customers visit their website at www.sassyscrubs.com to choose their favorite fabrics and garment options. They can then build an order for their hospital and nursing scrub uniforms to be custom made just for them. Orders are cut directly from the fabric bolt or roll and sewn just as the customer ordered them. Bradley, and Sassy Scrubs, knows this appeal crosses over to quilters and home sewers for the same reasons. “The fabrics are beautiful, durable, desirable, and very collectible for those who know and love fabrics”, she says.Since the majority of the Company’s fabrics are 100% cotton prints featuring novelty themes such as motorcycles, pets, wildlife, and tropical florals, their extensive inventory of scrubs fabrics has attracted quilters around the world. “This is still a growing market,” declares Bradley and she “suspects that the flagging economy is prompting more people to steer away from high-cost, pricier crafts and turn (or return) to sewing and quilting at home as a way to economize.” Bradley states “Sewing is a practical art, which brings the satisfaction of creating something worthwhile, and often beautifully artistic, for the sewer’s family and home, without breaking the budget.”
Sassy Scrubs completed the updates to their website one recent afternoon and received their first direct fabric order that evening. “I just had to cut the fabric for that customer myself” grins Bradley. But knowing the time and knowledge invested in the process by Jody Earle, the Company’s IT Manager, she then took the package of fabric into Earle’s office. “I had to let her touch it, so she could see the end result”, says Bradley. “It’s been a joint effort, here, to bring this ability to purchase fabric directly to our customers, and it’s a decision which has been met positively, by our staff and by our customers, as well.”
Source: Company Release, Penn Yan, NY, July 22, 2009
