M&S Schmalberg, "Last Man Standing"

Last week, my Study Tour class had the unique opportunity to visit Custom Fabric Flowers by M&S Schmalberg, "New York's home for artificial flowers for over 90 years."  Despite its location in the heart of the Garment District and in the hustle and bustle that is New York, upon visiting the shop, I immediately felt as though I jumped into a storybook. 

The Co-Owner, Warren Brand, is one of the most genuinely nice people I've met since arriving in the city, and is almost comparable to a jolly Santa Claus, as he is in charge of a cottage full of good-spirited, hardworking "elves."  Seriously, M&S Schmalberg's 10th floor space in a building on 39th St. is just that: cottage-like.  It consists of a small, homey showroom filled with artificial flower masterpieces, a tiny office, a small workroom space for the handful of women who contruct the flowers (one by one!), a slightly larger space for the pressing machines (which add texture to the artificial petals and leaves), and storage for the various fabrics the flowers are made from (silk, tulle, cotton, you name it).  

  

Warren Brand sitting in his showroom amongst the company's homemade flower creations

If you think about it, the concept behind M&S Schmalberg is fairytale-like--they create fabric flowers to embellish gowns, berets, home decor, theatrical displays, and more, yet keeping the company alive has proved to be anything but a fairytale.  Amidst a global marketplace where similar products can be mass-produced cheaper off-shore, other US companies similar to M&S Schmalberg have really experienced the difficulty first-hand.  In fact, they no longer exist. 

Brand compared the family-owned company's survival to surviving the Holocaust, like his father did.  It takes a lot of perseverance, optimism, and faith in the future.  What's innovative about M&S Schmalberg's approach to staying alive, apart from accumulating notable clientele (ever heard of Marc Jacobs, Betsey Johnson, and Calvin Klein, to name a few?), is that they are now taking advantage of the Internet craze and selling to edgy fashion sites like Etsy.com.

As long as companies like Chanel and Vera Wang continue to use artificial flowers on their clothing and in their magazine ads, and that extreme-flower-wearing eras like the "Carrie Bradshaw" one keep presenting themselves, I can see Brand and the rest of the M&S Schmalberg gang continue to successfully "do their thing."  They also promote their brand through social media, (everyone should go "like" them on Facebook!).  If anything, I believe M&S Schmalberg should more heavily promote themselves to fashion design students across the country who may benefit from using the company's flowers in their collections.  I would definitely recommend them...   

 

Anne Hathaway at the 2008 Academy Awards in a Marchesa gown adorned with Schmalberg's flowers