Scarf Shop caught our eye when they first signed up and starting selling with Wazala. The clean looking website showcased the lovely handmade scarves beautifully and we quickly became big fans. Little did we know, that the woman behind the brand, Martha McQuade, works solo. Sometimes running a business involves more heart, than a big team.
We engaged with Martha this week and this is what she had to say..
Tell us about Scarf Shop and the team behind it?
Originally trained as an architect, I started working with textiles as a way of staying physically connected to materials and the making process. I was also impatient. I wanted to test out ideas about texture, color and construction and things move very slowly in the architectural world, at a much bigger scale.
I began making clothing and selling it at local shops and online. Some of my most popular items were hand dyed scarves. People started requesting certain colors or colors they had seen in the previous collections and I started thinking it would be nice to have a place where people could see all the colors together and be able to choose the size they wanted.
SCARFSHOP opened last September with 16 colors and 4 different sizes of hand dyed cotton scarves and it has been successful primarily I think, because it is just focused on this one product.
The “team” is made up of just me, although my amazing husband has been known to run to the post office and assemble hang tags in a pinch.
Take us through the process of creating your handmade scarfs.
I start by cutting the fabric to length from rolls. Next I mix all of the different dye colors I am going to use that day and then dye the fabric in small batches -2 giant scarves per batch. I usually have about 5 batches going at once. Depending on the color this takes from 1.5 to 3 hours and there are several colors that are dyed twice. Once the fabric is dyed, I rinse and dry it and then rip it lengthwise to size. Over time I have developed a way of using a minimal amount of water in the dyeing process and I have reduced the amount of water to about 1/3 of what I was using originally.
What type of fabric and dye do you use?
The original scarves are 100% cotton that is made in the US and the dye is a water based dye.
I mix all of my own colors. Before opening the shop I spent months developing the recipes for the dyes and figuring out what colors I wanted to offer. This was by far the most lengthy part of the development process, but also one of the most fun. I am currently trying to find an organic source for the fabric. This is proving difficult as the organic fabric market is quite corrupt with suppliers issuing fake certifications, etc.
In the next month or so I will be debuting a new scarf collection called COLORBLOCKS. These scarves are made from a silk and cotton blend, hand dyed in two colors each and come in a square shape, which I don’t offer in the original scarf collection.
Do you offer any custom made colors?
I offer custom colors in quantities of 6 or more scarves. This option is great for wedding parties, gift bags, etc. I also have a special color-of-the-month, where I make a limited batch of scarves in a seasonal color and offer it just for that month.
As primarily an online business, what efforts do you put in to get traffic to your online store?
My main efforts are really focused on producing a well made product and providing great customer service. I want all of my customers to love their scarves and then I figure they will tell all their friends and give them as gifts.
Other than that I think being connected to social media is extremely important when you have an online business. I have been fortunate to have several design bloggers write about the site which is really a great way to be exposed to a large amount of people who are interested in hand made things. I also use twitter to talk about shop updates, new colors, etc. Having people tweet about my scarves is really great and I’m always flattered and very thankful when that happens.
Visit the Scarf Shop to indulge in one or more of those handmade scarves.
