We are very grateful for our Sponsors and Vendors who make Millinery Meetup Marketplace such a special event! Being able to see colors, touch materials and discuss with experts the best options for your designs is a unique value of the Marketplace! Here are the ones from 2024 event.
Diamond Sponsor
B Unique Millinery
BUnique Millinery is an international supplier of high-quality millinery & embellishment/trimming products with warehouses in 4 countries – Australia; United Kingdom; Canada and the USA.
As a milliner, Brenda Treasure knows that using the best quality and unique products can create some wonderful masterpieces.
Brenda connects with Milliners worldwide to understand their needs and what they are looking for to create their hats and headpieces. She then works closely with factories in Asia to design and create some unique and different supplies. This personal perspective as well as close collaboration with milliners worldwide helps Brenda to understand the demands of the market. With a shortage of Natural straw fibers in the Philippines, she has been investigating new blocking fabrics. She has set up an international project team of milliners to test drive new natural fabrics made of cork, cotton and paper. The paper has certainly outshone, with many milliners worldwide using this as a new alternative to blocking sinamay.
B Unique specializes in guipure laces, feather flowers, fine weave sinamay, pinokpok, buntal mats and our new and extensive range of paper fabrics.
Emerald Sponsors
Hat Blocks Australia
Hat Blocks Australia is a premier hat block making business with over 20 years of experience in all kinds of hat blocks imaginable! We send our hat blocks around the world.
Together Darryll (Block maker) and Renee (Boss lady) work hard to maintain our high standard of high quality and customer service.
Two highlights of our business have been our two visits to America, attending Millinery Meetup and we were thoroughly enchanted with Arrowmont we’re so looking forward to returning again in 2024 and seeing everyone’s lovely faces again!’
JudithM Millinery Supply House
Welcome Bart and Jenny Pfanenstiel, the proud owners and operators of Judith M Millinery Supply House, Formé Millinery Co, Hat Boxes USA and The Hat Shoppe. Their millinery journey began in their basement in Chicago and then moved to Kentucky in 2014. Jenny opened her first store, Formé Millinery, in February of 2014 as an outlet to create and sell her one-of-a-kind creations. From there things have sort of steamrolled and today they find themselves with three distinctly different retail locations in the Louisville area.
Judith Mishler had started Judith M in 1994 and built it into one of the most trusted and respected supply houses in the US. She offered high quality products, advice and workshops in her Lagrange, IN location. Anyone who took a class or visited knew that Judith had created a special place. Judith spent countless hours seeking out suppliers, packing orders and running every aspect of Judith M. After 27 years she was looking to retire, and she knew that Bart and Jenny could carry on her reputation. After a year of logistical complications due to Covid, Judith M was sold to Jenny and Bart in February of 2021 and moved from its home in Lagrange, IN to its new home in La Grange, KY. In addition to the location change, Judith M was also opened as a brick-and-mortar store in the historic downtown district. Judith M has always had a strong online presence, now with a retail store, milliners hat decorators and DIYer’s are able to walk into the store to see, touch and purchase the materials firsthand. Bart and Jenny have worked very hard to continue the traditions and expectations that Judith had created as well as grow the business to ensure its survival for the years to come.
In November of 2023, Bart and Jenny expanded the Judith M name and opened The Hat Shoppe in the heavy shopped area of Louisville called St Matthews. This is a hybrid concept between Judith M and Formé Millinery. First and foremost, it is a hat shop that offers a wide variety of hats for men, women and children, in addition to a hat bar and hat decorating experiences. The Hat Shoppe offers a large selection of pre-made bases and embellishments for the DIYer, derby enthusiast and hat decorator. It also offers the opportunity for new and established milliners to showcase their creations and break into the hat capital of the US. This is still a very new adventure and there will be a lot more things to come.
In 2024 Judith M will celebrate its 30th Anniversary.
https://www.judithm.com
Gold Sponsors
M&S SCHMALBERG
M&S Schmalberg is a 4th generation, family-owned company. Our artificial flowers have complemented the apparel, wedding, accessory, millinery and home furnishing industries for over 100-years. M&S Schmalberg’s custom fabric flowers are still hand-made in New York City. We have been featured in The New York Times, Women’s Wear Daily, Wall Street Journal, Vogue and on the runway all over the world.
Using the same vintage manufacturing process since 1916, we can provide exquisite quality and a level of artisanal customization that cannot be matched. Some of our vintage flower molds date back to the turn of the century. Styles can be fabricated in any material; including natural silks, synthetic polyester, real leather and suede, cotton, velvet, felt, velour, and even exotic snake and alligator skins. As a garment district factory, we are capable of producing large production orders of bulk artificial flowers as well as special one-of-a-kind couture pieces.
Our family business was first started by brothers Morris and Sam Schmalberg in 1916. Their nephew, Harold began working at the factory at the age of 17. Harold was a holocaust survivor who lost his family in the war. He was able to contact his American relatives, Morris and Sam, who helped him move to New York. In time, Harold learned about the family business and eventually inherited M&S Schmalberg.
Warren Brand, current President of M&S Schmalberg has been making fake flowers for over 40 years. His sister Debra Brand joined the fabric flower business shortly after. As Harold got older and eventually passed away, the two of them took on more responsibility. In 2008, Warren’s son Adam joined the company, making it a 4th generation family business.
Carriage Sponsor
Zoya Egan
Fashion at the Races is the leader in enticing Americans back to the excitement of horse racing. Framed by the amazing fashions that influence enthusiasts from around the globe, Fashion at the Races believes everyone should witness the speed and the beauty of the horses while mingling with the society that can only be found at the track. It’s time for a new generation of spectators to enjoy the magic.
“Details make perfection, and perfection is not a detail” ~ Leonardo da Vinci
This is the philosophy that energizes Zoya in everything she does. A passionate follower of both fashion and racing, Zoya founded Zoya Egan Millinery to bring those quality details to the forefront. She perfected her craft under the eye of influencers and instructors from all over the world. Zoya believes that “hats aren’t an afterthought – they can make or break a look – and this makes them such an integral part of racing fashion.” Fashion is in Zoya’s blood. Her mother was a renowned private seamstress in her native Russia. Zoya learned the craft of sewing and design from her mother, who also instilled in her a passion for elegance and timeless fashion.
Stiffener Bar
CdiC Supplies
Carina Marcon
Carina has been the founder and creative mind behind the Belgian brand Cap’a di Carina. As a milliner herself, she was always on the lookout for better products to make her hats, and when the time was right, she seized an opportunity to preserve a century-old recipe of stiffeners. After modernizing and improving the production line CdiC Supplies offers a full variety of specialized textile stiffeners for Millinery, Textiles, Leather and Lace. She is looking for a distributor in the States, but you can always order from the website.
We are thrilled to offer MMU students the opportunity to try this amazing variety at the Stiffener Bar!
Vendors
Lisa Farrell
Lisa Farrell has worn many hats in her long professional life.
Her career credits range from millinery to management to retail sales of women’s apparel and accessories for the home.
In 2000, she opened her own millinery atelier which included a wall featuring the sculptural beauty of her collection of over 400 vintage hat blocks. As a milliner, she continues to design inspired one-of-a-kind fashion pieces intended to be worn and admired.
Lisa will be bringing many of her vintage hat blocks to MMU Marketplace 2024.
Brim blocks, crown blocks and unusual puzzle blocks will all be available for purchase.
All unique and interesting shapes that will inspire the imagination of any milliner
Karen Morris Millinery
Karen Morris is an internationally acclaimed hat designer and milliner. She started her line, Karen Morris Millinery, in 2011. Karen studied millinery under famous milliners Edwina Ibbotson (London), Judy Bentinck (London), Jan Wutkowski (North Carolina) and Lina Stein (Ireland).
In her travels, she visits many exotic destinations and sources amazing materials. She will share some of her new and innovative materials at the booth in MMU Marketplace! Come check out pin-able fabric mannequins, bendy plastic and exotic ostrich fringes!
