We took a visit to learn about M&S Schmalberg, a custom fabric flower manufacturer in the heart of the NYC garment district and what an incredible story they had to share.

Started by Morris and Sam in 1902, M&S has now seen four generations take ownership of the family business. Warren and his son, Adam, are now the continuing the legacy of M&S and are challenged with today’s changing manufacturing industry. However, we learned the family knows a thing or two about survival. Warren’s grandfather was a holocaust survivor and his father survived a severe gunshot wound. After hearing the history and inspiring stories of their ancestors, we have no doubt M&S will continue to innovate, adjust to the changing industry and be the go-to source for fabric flower perfection.

A few notes about M&S:

– Flowers are custom and made-to-order with a negotiable MOQ (capable of large production as well as one-of-a-kind pieces)

– Flowers can be made from any fabric from cotton to leather to satin

– All flowers are assembled by hand, ensuring the finest quality

– They have an impressive client list from St. John Knits to Marc Jacobs. You’ve probably seen their flowers before!

M&S also offers tours of their beautiful factory, so we took one!

You enter into a showroom where you are welcomed by an incredible assortment of flowers ranging in all sizes, styles and colors. This is where you can be inspired to design the perfect flower.

To create a flower, customers source the fabric and bring it to the factory. They choose a unique petal style picking from the massive assortment of dies stored at the factory.

To prep the fabric, it is starched and stretched in order to hold its mold.

The fabric is cut and molded and embossed using one of the chosen dies. Some of these molds are a century old and still being used!

Each petal is assembled delicately by hand, creating a beautiful and thoughtful end product.

You can find M&S Schmalberg at makersrow.com/m-s-schmalberg