Fabric8 Online Fabric Shop

ABOUT US

Fabric8 is an independent, family-run business which has traded uninterrupted through boom and bust alike for over 65 years and has been bucking the current recession by offering its customers quality goods and unsurpassed service at unparalleled prices.

Shoppers in the East of England have long been aware of our presence in Head Street Colchester and Hamilton Road Felixstowe, albeit under our previous trading name of The Remnant Shop. For many years customers have regarded these stores as a ‘one stop shop’ for all their curtain, fashion and knitting supplies.

The business began in 1944: Britain was still in the grips of World War II when Mrs Betty Bamberger started trading in the Suffolk Town of Felixstowe from a corridor and stairwell selling small items of soft furnishings.

Dainty Homes, as the business was then named, expanded and prospered further with her son Colin at the helm; going on to encompass both dress fabrics, carpeting and haberdashery.

Eventually the store was split into two separate Felixstowe outlets, Saxon Upholstery which under the management of Colin’s son Clive specialized in aspects of interior design, including reproduction and antique furniture, renovations etc and The Remnant Shop which as it name implied had initially been created to sell off excesses and ends of lines. Ironically, this pragmatic enterprise was a great success and The Remnant Shop swiftly outgrew its humble origins: developing into the company’s fashion arm which supplied a vast diversity of material including dress fabrics, suitings and theatricals for all parts of the market.

The name however stuck!

In 1994 Colin’s Bamberger’s younger son Robert entered the family business. New premises were sought in the historic Essex town of Colchester and the company purchased the freehold of 12/14 Head St. In 1996 a second main branch of was opened there offering both furnishing and fashion products under one roof. Robert has been instrumental in the growth of the Colchester branch and ultimately took overall ownership of both branches of The Remnant Shop. By 2004 the umbrella company; Dainty Homes was informed by a number of its larger wholesalers that it had become the second largest independent retailer of haberdashery and fabrics in Britain.

In 2009 the Remnant Shop celebrated its 65th anniversary, later that year the business was renamed Fabric8 to better reflect the diversity of products and services available; (for whilst the company does still offer an eclectic variety of remnants and end of lines, the vast majority of its stock comprises the latest fabrics sold straight from the roll).

But what has made Fabric8 a success where other companies have failed? As Tina Gooding, manager of the Colchester branch, notes “Innovation is the key to any business; there have been many changes in the world of business since 1944. One of the strengths of our business is the specialist knowledge of our team. We can help a customer from beginning to end of a project offering advice, if required on a wide range of topics encompassing dressmaking, furnishing, craft and knitting.”

Today Fabric8 offers a comprehensive website service and eBay trading to reach customers who are unable to visit us in person. We are already selling fabric and haberdashery as far a field as America and Australia, whilst frequently managing to offer our customers products at more competitive prices then their regional suppliers!

Fabric8 customers know they can rely on us to apply our 65 years and three generations of practical experience in the fabric trade to secure the best products and services at the most competitive prices available. Nevertheless, we have no wish to rest on our laurels and we continually strive to look to the future: seeking out inspiring contemporary products, keeping abreast of the latest trends, and striving to develop new and better ways to deliver those products to you our customers.