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September 2023 by Brooke Qualman
Such a great gem for fabric shopping! And there’s so much variety. I made an appointment online to shop before coming. Make sure to read their directions on how to get there before going.They sell fabric by the yard, scrap fabric for $5/pound, salvageable clothing for $5/pound, and lots of notions. By the yard fabric is sorted by type. Scrap fabric is sorted by color. There’s lots of bins with buttons and elastic. I got loads of elastic for $1/yard.Scraps ranged in sizes, most were about a yard (not full width) from what I could see, but I found some that were 2-3 yards as well. Lots of leather/fur pieces too! The clothing is all damaged but can be mended or repurposed. Some have markings. I picked up some madewell dresses/rompers to repurpose into shorts and a J crew dress to use for quilting.This is a must go if you’re into upcycling or making your own clothes! Once I sew through my stash, I’m coming back to volunteer and get some nice knit fabrics I spied ?
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August 2023 by Arlene W.
Very worthwhile visit. My 20 year old fashionista bought some scraps and made some great outfits. And she loved the experience.
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June 2023 by Gia D.
I love this place and the team here was awesome - I appreciated learning from the team.Please keep in mind that my perspective is different from others though since I'm not a designer or student. I went to volunteer with a group of people. I learned a lot about the recycling process and helped by sorting and bagging up materials. I was there for several hours and while I thought I made progress, it was a drop in the bucket compared to some of the giant mound of bags still left, which is kind of disheartening. I don't sew, but I still took the material given (we could select it ourselves) as compensation for our time to give to family. I think it would be better to have a scale in the fabric scrap room though because I kept running back and forth to checkout because I have no idea what five pounds feels like when it comes to fabric. It was awkward and delayed the process and even then I didn't get the full weight owed to me. FYI this place is a tad inconvenient to get to. The amount of money you pay to get here might end up being the same amount you saved, so make sure you calculate that beforehand. Also, be aware if you have allergies - you're going through old material so you may want to mask up. By the time I went here it was already a tad bit warm outside but being indoors where the heat was trapped made it a tad warmer. I can't imagine what they're like in the summer so I'd probably only go back in the early spring or winter. And definitely wear comfy shoes!
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June 2023 by Jessica White
This place is magical. I had my list of things I was looking for, and somewhere along the way lost myself in digging through the barrels full of one-off prints and trims and laces. If you need leather of any kind, get it here. I scored some yardage of performance fabric as well as a myriad of scraps by the pound to make patches and sleeves out of.Make it easy on yourself and follow the directions in the place description—not the Google-generated directions.
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June 2023 by Paul Martin
Fascinating visit.Excellent place for any creator or make that might ever use fabric. Make an appointment and visit to shop or volunteer.So many fabric options including mendable clothes.
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May 2023 by Em Spalti
I love shopping here! The products and staff are great, and the mission is incredible. Keep it up.
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January 2023 by Christine O.
DON"T BOTHER! The help is rude and non existent. No selection. Trying to find this place is like trying to find a Trump supporter in Park Slope. If you need fabric go to Mid-Town 39 St and area. Their buisness model is not doable judging from a mountain of black garbages. The smart thing thing to do would be to break down all those scrapes and re wove int new sustainable fab.
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August 2022 by Savannah Walters
Volunteered here (through eventbrite) and got 5 free pounds of fabric for it! Also picked up a few zippers and elastic at a discount. They have a ton of options for fabric, yarn, and any sewing accessory you could imagine. Workers and volunteers were sweet and helpful. I'll be doing this again
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August 2022 by Meg Felling
YOU NEED AN APPOINTMENT TO SHOP! Not really a review, just a heads up! I went to shop not knowing I needed an appointment to shop, and then saw this on the door. I didn’t know this before hand cause I just looked at google. It wasn’t a big inconvenience cause I was just going there on a whim and I live close by. This info IS also on the site, just not on the homepage, you need to navigate to the Brooklyn location and then you can set up an appointment there.
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July 2022 by Aaron A.
This is one of the most difficult and unprofessional businesses I've come across. It's already difficult making the trip out here on transit in NYC to make it in time, because their hours close so early in the day, but on top of that they're not even consistent or honest about how they operate. I make the hour and a half trip here today and made it an HOUR before their page said they closed. And the door was locked, called their office multiple times and knocked for a hood 20 minutes. Nothing. I want to support a smaller charity driven business that helps the environment, BUT it seems like they don't want YOU to actually. So unprofessional and unacceptable that they can just lie about wether they're open. People travel all the way the out to y'all and to be so flippant and unreliable is disrespectful. Not cool and please keep this review in mind before you shop or volunteer
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July 2022 by Mirna Gonzalez
I don't like to write bad reviews... but I feel like I should speak about the inconvenience that happened to me. Every December the place I work for likes to donate fabric any fabric we haven't used throughout the year. We like to donate to local shops that accept it, nursing homes any places that could use fabric scraps / or fabric rolls. We had to much inventory in our shop and were in brooklyn that day we googled this place and seemed like a place we could DONATE our fabric rolls. I called and she said yes come in at this time... and we dropped it off and got billed a month later we got an invoice for $597.... ridiculous. I was never told about paying for a donation I never knew such thing existed to get billed after a donation and what makes it worse our intention was to do a good deed for the holidays. We have donated fabric to other places ( warehouses, nursing homes, goodwill stuff like that and have never got charged)... I guess we have no other choice but to pay for the donation we made, it's a burden but now we know to never donate from here.
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July 2022 by David Rivera
Good random fabric finds in an out of the way part of Brooklyn.
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June 2022 by Chevonne DeWindt
I volunteered for fabric today. I lost my steam around the 3rd hour. I got to shop and do charity at the same time. They had so many options of fabric. I am looking forward to doing it again. Maybe once a month. Thank you Fab Scrap Brooklyn.
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May 2022 by Jules D.
To be honest, if you are volunteering, it will be 3 full hours (9am-12pm) and then about 20 minutes to choose fabric afterwards. If you are motivated by the offer of the free 5 pounds of fabric, know that the pickings are real slim. It's mostly leftover and end of roll scraps set aside in the cubicle shelves to choose from. There used to be some decent rolls to choose from, mostly upholstery fabric that included some lightweight stuff that could be converted to dress fabric, despite that they were sending all the good stuff to the Manhattan store. But once they closed the Manhattan store, none of those upholstery-like fabric rolls are even included in the "volunteer's 5 pound for free" pick. If you want anything decent, they say you'll have to pay for it. And even then, the choices of those "exclusive" rolls aren't that great. And the prices aren't much of a bargain and can be gotten at a jobber in the garment district, Fulton street or Jackson Heights for the same price range or less. Who knows where all that rumored designer fabrics go, or even the nicer fabrics that could be gotten in the Manhattan store, because I have never seen them. They guilt you into paying and donating to the cause, and will always ask if you want to donate your "change" when you are buying fabric. Sure, you can make something from scraps of nothing if you are creative, but there are no real bargains here. Most of the recycling volunteer work is separating fabric scraps from paper and cardboard that is used in wholesale company to display the samples. There is a tremendous amount of scrap paper that gets recycled. More than actual fabric. The proprietary stuff (a/k/a designer fabric swatches) are separated elsewhere by paid employees. Volunteers never see designer stuff.
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May 2022 by Erin Henegan
My friend and I had the best time volunteering for their sorting day. They have some really cool fabrics at such a reasonable price!
