KENNESAW, Georgia — Amazon’s acquisition of fabric.com just three years ago appears to be paying off and is changing the face of fabrics retailing in America today and even off shore according to fabric suppliers serving this growing e-tailer which has reported sales in the $50 million range and about 100 employees.

That annual sales figure includes quilting, apparel, home decorating, sewing, craft fabrics including basic trimming lines. The exact percentage of home fabric sales is not known but it is substantial and growing. With that growth comes some recent personnel changes Fabric.com founder Stephen Friedman, retired about one year ago as president, CEO.  He founded Phoenix Textiles Group, Inc. in 1993 as a wholesaler of apparel fabrics. In 1999 Phoenix Textiles went online to test the concept of selling cut-yardage fabrics directly to consumers and this ultimately became fabric.com. This e-tailer of fabrics blossomed into a major seller of home décor fabrics based in a 65,000 headquarters and offices just outside of Atlanta. “Fabric.com is the place to go if you sew,” the site says.  “We are the world’s leading online fabric store,” it says.

Michael Miller, a graduate of MIT, joined fabric.com in June, 2012 as general manager and director. He was unavailable for comment. He was previously the COO of Vogue International Ltd.  Ann Berry is the home décor fabric buyer and she is well received by her suppliers. E-tailers are notoriously tightlipped about information concerning their business. Even some other brick and mortar retailers like Osgood in Springfield, MA refused to share any information with F&FI about their business.

Fabric.com is not just about closeouts. Over half of the goods offered are first quality, running in line goods from converters and jobbers, a source told F&FI. The company holds an in stock position with Waverly and offers many different brands of fabrics directly to the consumer including Roc-lon®,  Marcovaldo, Softline, Swavelle/Mill Creek, Covington, Braemore, Richloom Fabric Group including Solarium® outdoor fabric; Robert Allen, Duralee and P/Kaufmann. Aside from the swatches provided for the web display, the principal lines allow fabric.com to use their brand logos on the site. It appears that the top brands are not featured by fabrics.com, except as closeouts. “Don’t tell everyone how well fabric.com is doing in the industry because they are stealing all of our business,” one jobber laughed. He had no problem doing business with fabric.com however.

“Fabric.com redefined the retail fabric business by offering in stock position on major lines and shipping to the consumer; some other e-commerce retailers only act as middlemen—they take the order and turn it over to the vendor,” one source said.

Fabric.com offers the consumer and designer alike free shipping on orders over $35, discount coupons, a return shipping service at no extra charge if the purchase is not up the customer’s liking and all purchases accrue towards points which can be traded for more merchandise—frequent shopper program—according to the website. It also gives one inch overage on all cut orders—called the generous cut program with very competitive prices, starting under $7 and as high as $33 a yard. It charges $1.75 per swatch and ships within three days, the site says. When you order, you see the exact amount of yardage in inventory and a ‘no hassle’ money-back guarantee is offered with purchase if returned within 30 days, the site says.