Ode to the Haberdashery Department: Demise of the Local Haberdashery

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Of late, I’ve lamented the demise of my local haberdashery. The haberdashery department in a local store has signs up saying ‘50% off everything’. I should be rushing in with glee, but instead, I’m sad. It’s closing down. I even had a vague feeling of panic! But those last minute wants for haberdashery bits and bobs may be harder to find now. I may be reduced to waiting until something ordered online appears through the letterbox. Or, I might need to drive out of town.

Buttons, ribbons, zips, Dylon dye, needles, reels of thread, bias binding, crochet hooks, knitting needles. You name it; the haberdashery department is an emporium of useful stuff. A treasure trove for crafters with magpie-like tendencies. I’m lucky – I live close to the shops and have been able to take the spontaneous approach for so long, but the small and larger boltholes for haberdashery, fabrics and yarns have been whittled away. This winter, the sizeable furnishing fabric shop, where I bought piles of very useful curtain remnants, closed down. There goes another one.

Demise of the High Street Haberdashery

It’s a sign of the times. Businesses need turnover and perhaps there aren’t enough of us out there making, or make-do-and mending. Bricks and mortar haberdashery departments are around but are now more likely to be integrated into bigger general stores. Around me, haberdasheries of any size are to be found in Dunelm homeware stores, and Hobbycraft (in my case, part of a garden centre). Places like this around the UK are often on out of town retail parks, and not usually a walk or cycle ride away. Internet shopping too has also syphoned off much of the haberdashery trade, and has contributed towards the demise of the local haberdashery.

My latest bout of haberdashery shopping has been prompted by the making of my own wedding outfit. Because there’s a deadline (fast approaching) I’ve been tightly focused on this one project. But the trot into town for buttons, and the ‘50% OFF EVERYTHING’ sign stopped me in my tracks.

Perhaps, though, as we’re becoming more aware of the pollution and waste associated with fast fashion, we might see a glimmer of haberdashery revival. After all, these bits and bobs can be very useful for altering and updating clothes in our own wardrobe, or bought second-hand. There has also been a revival in homemade clothes, with new youngish sewists on the horizon.

I wrote about Clothes from scraps: Zero waste clothes and Plastic-free sportswear: make, mend, buy during Zero Waste Week 2018. All approaches (make, mend or buy) towards a resourceful wardrobe can be helped along with trim, new buttons, some fabric dye, or some thread to mend gaping seams. You could even say that adorning and updating your clothes (or second-hand clothes) with haberdashery, and refusing to buy new, is an act of craftivism.

What can we do?

We can get out there and buy from our local haberdashery shops. Prompts to get out there are:

• Shop your wardrobe. Ask yourself whether a little haberdashery could update your clothes
• Make your clothes. Nearly every item made from scratch needs buttons/trim/binding etc
• Encourage your non-crafting friends to join you

I’m part of a group of friends called Crafty Creatures who get together once a month at each other’s houses to craft the evening away, sup wine and munch on nibbles. Friends have said ‘It sounds fun, but I’m not very crafty’, but we say to come along anyway. We have a small contingent who aren’t very crafty but come along, absorb the atmosphere and occasionally join in when someone runs a tutorial session. Little by little they’re dipping their toes in the water.

They’re the future visitors to the haberdashery shop/store (as are their children). An environmental centre near to me is running Make Do and Mend sessions. You never know, the tide might turn….