As a sewing enthusiast, the other day I went to buy some new patterns. Flipping through the catalogue pages reminded me of all the times I’d spent doing the exact same thing with my grandma or with my friends. My nostalgia was interrupted by the staff member who sadly told me to grab all and any that I liked – that earlier last month, something quietly significant had happened to our world of sewing.
These patterns were no longer going to be available.
Likely forever.
Until very recently, the legacy big 4 pattern companies (McCalls, Butterick, Simplicity, & Vogue) were owned by IG Design Group Americas. But triggered with the sudden closing of all Joann’s May 31, 2025 1, their major retail partner, combined with the impact of US tariffs (over 50% of the patterns are made in China) IG sold its US division, which included these historic pattern brands, to Hilco Capital, a liquidation firm, for $1 upfront and 75% of any future proceeds 2.
The result is more than just the loss of a sewers resource – it signals the possible demise of an entire ecosystem.
Why does this matter to Canadian manufacturers?
The unravelling of this legacy industry offers a sobering lesson: when a supply chain becomes too centralized, dependent, or cost-driven, recovery after a disruption may not be possible. In other words – a single thread snaps and the whole pattern collapses.
The sewing pattern business was more than just a DIY industry. It was a cornerstone of North American homes with skills passed down through generations. However, in just a few short months not only access to product has been lost but also the physical infrastructure to print, distribute, and preserve the library of content has been lost – spelling the end of the entire product completely.
The common thread here for manufacturing in any sector is the cautionary tale of how vulnerable key parts of a supply chain are especially when different pressures intersect simultaneously. Even cultural legacy cornerstones can vanish with surprisingly little resistance when a supply chain ecosystem falters.
Unfortunately, this is not an isolated story. The same storm of tariffs, shifting demand, consolidation and supply chain collapse have and are affecting other areas of Canadian manufacturing. For one, today we are seeing a similar story play out in the Canadian paper industry 3,4,5,6.
These aren’t just industry stories – they are warnings. When niche ecosystems unravel, they rarely return. Not because demand disappears – but because the infrastructure and the incentives shift for good.
Whether it’s patterns or paper – once the supply chain resets around something else, it takes an extraordinary effort and market shift to rebuild it. That’s the real fragility of the supply chain – resilience is not built into it. It’s not one decision – it’s multiple responses to shifts in the marketplace aggregated over time. Each small change seems recoverable. Together they aren’t.
- https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/24/business/joann-stores-closing.html?unlocked_article_code=1.U08.lrB9.CrfF5OLW7Xzz&smid=url-share
- https://craftindustryalliance.org/parent-company-of-the-big-4-sewing-pattern-brands-sold-to-a-liquidator/
- https://www.domtar.com/making-the-case-for-domestic-paper/
- https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/pulp-and-paper-tariffs-northern-ontario-1.7475151
- https://www.cjr.org/analysis/tariffs-canada-newsprint.php
- https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-canadas-corrugated-industry-works-to-untangle-from-us-as-tariffs-loom/
