High-Tech Sewing at Vecchiarelli Store
The annual customer appreciation day sale at Vecchiarelli Bros. sewing supplies store is not for the faint-of-heart. This year’s event took place on Dec. 10, and by late afternoon, more than 3,100 had filed into the small store at 15th Street and Broadway in the Los Angeles Fashion District. There were lines outside, and security guards had been hired to manage the frenzy.
The 70-year-old landmark retailer sells dress forms, pattern paper, sewing equipment and a large assortment of sewing notions. The annual sale is a muchanticipated event for the region’s fashion-college students, who come by the busload to take advantage of the price cuts.
“We had every fashion school you can think of come down,” said store co-owner Joe Vecchiarelli. Among them were Los Angeles Trade-Technical College; Brooks College; the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising; Chaffey College; Pasadena, El Camino and Long Beach city colleges; Cal State Northridge; and American InterContinental University.
The crowds provided some indication that interest in fashion careers is still hopping at the higher-education level. Although pattern-making notions and dress forms were on shoppers’ lists, there was also interest in big-ticket technology items.
New York–based Consew used the event to introduce a new computerized embroidery system, a portable machine with a computer console that allows users to import virtually any design from any source and stitch it out in minutes.
The 180-pound machine features a 12- thread system and flat frame, used to embroider anything from hats to T-shirts to leather.
Consew President Murray Feit said advancing technology and affordable equipment have broken down the barriers to owning and operating machinery.
“You go to contractors now and you’re seeing three- and four-month backlogs,” he said. “Why wait? People are going into it on their own now.”
Consew’s C1201 system can function at a speed of 1,000 stitches per minute. The machine carries a price tag of $12,000, but users can lease it as well. Monogrammed hats can take minutes. More intricate patterns, such as an 18-inch, multicolored artwork emblem, can take up to four hours per item, though most users have simpler needs, Feit said.
Consew is opening up its business to the apparel industry as demand grows for embroidery on premium and regular denim, along with hot bohemian trends and steady activewear and sportswear business.
“We’re seeing people come in with no experience to start their own businesses,” Feit said. “Embroidery is an art and there are lots of advantages over silk screening and prints.”
The addition of the machine is another step in Vecchiarelli’s plan to show the latest in technology as schools add more technology into their curricula. —Robert McAllister
