We at Fabric Horse believe that what makes a sustainable product successful is not necessarily where you thrifted your sweaters from or what great flea market you found your buttons at but how well the design stands alone, without all of that.  If your product is truly great that will shine through.  Don’t get me wrong, the fact that it was made from recycled seat belts or rain coats or old banners is great!!  But, in our eyes, that comes second.

I started Fabric Horse as a hypothetical company back during my senior thesis in Industrial Design school at DAAP in Cincinnati.  Honestly, I never felt I fit in with the “typical” industrial designer and struggled with being classified as one since I began realizing that as a product designer, inevitably, you design landfill.  This was, of course, just before the huge green movement we are currently in and sustainable design was not yet taught at my school.  There was a point in my third year (of a five year program) that I dropped out of ID in search of something that made me feel good about what I did.  Luckily one of my favorite professors at DAAP, Dale Murray, decided to teach his first quarter of Sustainable Design only three months later.  I came back for this class alone.  That was really the first turning point in my career.

As I took off on the sustainable tip I also realized I could sew all my projects if it deemed appropriate.  Having started sewing when I was 9 years old this was already second nature for me.  Once these two angles became one in the same for me as a designer I started feeling this indescribable jolt of self expression and my projects began growing in strength.

From there I moved to Philly and immediately began embarking on the legal creation of Fabric Horse.  Having discovered R.E.Load bags when I got to town I was hired and became their first full time employee.  From there on I sewed every day all day either for them or for my own freelance jobs.  Becoming an avid urban cyclist I found many gaps in the products that were offered for our subculture so I began making the products that I, myself would want and need.  Combining recycled materials with new hardware and supplies I made the first utility belt.  From there the product line grew organically.

Feel free to read more about us.