American Crafts to Produce Studio Calico Lines

American Crafts announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Studio Calico to manufacture, sell and distribute Studio Calico's popular line of scrapbooking products.

Studio Calico was founded as a kit club in 2007 by April Foster. The company began manufacturing and wholesaling their own product lines in 2009. Both the kit club and wholesale product lines have become successes with consumers, rapidly growing the start-up company into a major player in the industry. Products such as Mister Huey's color mist, Fabrips, and Wood Veneers have made Studio Calico not only a bestseller but a trendsetter during the company's short life. The company's designs are arguably responsible for igniting the passion for wood grain texture that is currently over taking the industry, for one.

American Crafts is based in Orem, Utah and has been making scrapbooking products since the early 1990's. The company is known for products such as its Thicker line of alphabet stickers, pens, albums, and paper collections. In 2009, American Crafts purchased the Pebbles line of products, and they also launched a signature line of products by Amy Tangerine at CHA Summer 2011.

While both companies are known for their graphic design style, Studio Calico's interpretation tends to be slightly distressed with muted colors, where American Crafts' designs are very clear and bold with bright colors.

Under the agreement with American Crafts, Studio Calico will continue to design and promote product under Foster's ownership and direction. Foster will continue to direct the "look and feel" of Studio Calico as in the past. American Crafts will handle the manufacturing, marketing, wholesaling, and distributing of that product. Effective immediately, retailers wishing to order Studio Calico products can do so through American Crafts, and Studio Calico product will be shipped from American Crafts' warehouse in Orem, Utah.

American Crafts President Jeff Mitchell explained in the announcement why American Crafts is partnering with Studio Calico:

Studio Calico products have a distinct style to them that have quickly captured crafter’s attention. American Crafts looks forward to producing, selling and marketing even more great Studio Calico-brand products for years to come.

American Crafts acquired the Pebbles brand two years ago, and we’ve worked hard during that time to further expand our American Crafts’ product offerings, too. We think that Studio Calico’s products have a boutique feel with general appeal and that adding them to our mix allows us to serve customers even better.

Foster, for her part, describes the arrangement as the next progression in Studio Calico's development:

We started Studio Calico to deliver fresh products to customers by way of our kit club, which we’ll keep doing. Recently, we started manufacturing our own products to provide more options. This partnership with American Crafts takes that to another level – it’s exciting to think that more people than ever will come to know our brand.

The operations of the Studio Calico kit club will continue to be run independently by Foster, and are not affected by the licensing agreement for wholesale products with American Crafts.

This arrangement follows on the heels of similar decisions in the industry made by Cosmo Cricket to join the Advantus family for manufacturing assistance, and by Sassafras to discontinue manufacturing products in favor of licensing designs.