A Kickstarter campaign for textile company WOVNS has met and surpassed its fund-raising goal with less than two weeks left.
WOVNS was created by twin sisters, Chelsea and Dena Molnar, in 2014. It makes small-batch, custom jacquard-woven fabric. Customers can upload their own digital designs, and WOVNS can manufacture the custom fabric in sizes as small as one yard.
“We saw a big problem for independent designers having access to production,” said Dena Molnar. Normally, a custom design requires an order of hundreds of yards, but WOVNS can deliver smaller quantities. “This is especially helpful if you only need a sample,” she added. However, Molnar said they can easily scale up an order if a large quantity is needed.
The company uses industry-standard looms, but their method of file aggregation is proprietary and allows for the loom to combine many design files into a single production run. Once the run is produced, WOVNS cuts the individual designs and ships them to the customers. For now the turnaround time varies between two to four weeks, but the partners are hoping to improve the production time.
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“We think our ultimate customer is evolving,” said Dena Molnar. “Right now, it’s the architecture and interior textile world, but I could see apparel designers coming to us for jackets, ponchos and throws.” It’s the heaviness of the fabric that makes it ideal for the industrial world at this time.
The fabric costs customers $45 a yard and comes in two weights. Talma is a rayon and cotton product, while Divan is a cotton, polyester and rayon blend fabric. Designers work with a color palette that is provided. The fabric is also manufactured in the U.S.
WOVNS turned to Kickstarter in order to raise funds for the company’s web site improvements and toward product fulfillment. It’s also had the benefit of raising the company’s visibility. While custom printed textiles are available in the market, WOVNS is the first custom woven fabric.
The twin sisters both have design backgrounds. Dena, who lives in San Francisco, has a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and a master’s in technology from Harvard. Chelsea lives in Maui; she also graduated from RISD, but she has an architectural and interior-design background.
“We will be fully live after the Kickstarter fulfillment,” said Dena Molnar.