Its A Material World

I LOVE this place. Yes, it is a clusterf*ck. However, if you have patience, you will find what your looking for. The staff is EXTREMELY helpful and I cannot get over how WONDERFUL the deals are. Always my first stop in project making. It would be my only stop, but trimmings and such are not sold here. I am totally fine with going one block over for that.

This is one of my favorite fabric stores. They’re always busy, but the prices are great and the staff has been very helpful. Just went today, and the clerk helped me choose great pieces of fabric. She even gave me a discount! Love this place!

Filthy, unorganized and the owner treats people terribly.

Went in once upon a time looking for swatches (tiny samples). It was a mess, the staff was rude and weird so I left, no big woop.
Today I learned that a colleague was allegedly struck in the face by an employee there for swatching. So H&M/It’s A Material World: You get one brown star. Not a good idea to act like animals to people in the wardrobe biz, they tend to talk.

First off, the name of this place can be confusing.
Like another reviewer has mentioned, there are several names on the window front and the business post card I picked up from the front desk says H. M Fabrics.
H&M Fabrics/It’s a Material World is what’s stated on the sales slip but just like hunting for this store, you ‘ll be hunting through the bolts of fabric looking for the one that suits your needs.
This fabric store has a wide variety of fabrics at prices that are reasonable and decent. The staff here is laid back and not pushy. Nice and mellow. Bolts of fabrics may appear to be disorganized to the untrained eye but the groupings are listed and at times with funny misspellings. Nice selection of Italian wool suiting fabric. Inexpensive tissue jersey knits. Much of the bolts are discontinued styles so thus the inexpensive prices and also once it’s gone, it gone… never to come back again.

Pros: cheap fabrics, good selection. One of the women working there (from the Dominican Republic) was very friendly and helpful to me. Some really unusual stuff.
Cons: Very cluttered and difficult to move around. Somewhat disorganized and not everything is priced. Some of the other people working there were not terribly friendly.

Worst fabric store ever. All the bolts of fabric are a mess, prices are inconsistent, the girls working there have an attitude and dont want to be bothered unless you’re buying yards and yards of an over-​priced fabric, the advertisements outside also promote a half off sale and I got no such discount.

What a mistake going here! I went here two times. The first time about 6 months ago and was served by a male who I believed owned the place and gave me some good deals. I went upstairs where a woman took care of the rest of my fabric needs. She was short and hispanic and was talking on the phone half the time keeping me waiting. Some of the fabric was OK but only if you could get a deal on it, other wise it makes more sense to just order online.
My second and last experience was yesterday when I called before I entered and asked if they sold a certain fabric. They said they did so I came in. All of a sudden they didnt have it. I ordered some fabric from a different dominican woman who acted like 15/​yard was dirt cheap. I went upstairs to get more $ 2 fabric that I got last time since I ran out, all of a sudden it wasnt $ 2 anymore. I then got a yard of another fabric which was pretty pricey but I needed it for a project and she asked me why i’m ordering so little? How rude
I should also mention how there are signs posted outside saying how discounted their fabric is, everything is half off but it was exactly the same price as last time, if not more. Not only do they falsely advertise their sales (like a lot of places do) but are inconsistent with service. DO NOT COME HERE!!!

The name of this business, as stated by their receipt:
H&M Fabrics
It’s a Material World
On the evening I was there, there were 3 women working the store. One was helping another customer, one didn’t speak any English, and one who seemed to be in charge. When I asked for linen, the woman in charge pointed me in the right direction — they seemed to be having a sale: $ 4.99/yard. I chose what I wanted, and the woman who didn’t speak English was directed to cut me the yardage I asked for.
As someone noted earlier, they don’t have a table. So this woman measured, then began to cut, only she was only cutting a little, than ripping the rest of the way. What I got was a very jagged piece of fabric.
Maybe I wasn’t looking hard enough, but I found the prices here to be about the same as the other stores on this street. They don’t seem professional at all (would it hurt to put in a table???) and not very attentive.
Overall, I found this place okay, nothing exciting.

$ 2/​yard for beautiful matte jersery — ridiculous! they help is very friendly and you’re a girl you will be hit on but they’re harmless.
odd thing — they don’t measure on a table and cut carefully, the guy working with me did the nose to fingers job to determine a yard and then just cut it down with some scissors through the air. not terribly professional but it was $ 2 A YARD!

This is a great place for fabrics at fabulous discounts! But it took me a while to write up this review, because I had trouble figuring out the store’s actual name – the chaotic signs in the window read «It’s a Material World» and «H&M No. 5» but when I looked up «H&M», all I found was the discount clothing chain. It doesn’t help that it shares the exact same street address (257 W. 39^th) as numerous other fabric shops, including AK Fabrics and Beckenstein Fashion Fabrics (a store specializing in menswear fabrics, such as high-​end shirtings).
Anyway, look for the «It’s a Material World» sign and all the little yellow paper hand-​lettered signs about their crazy sales.
What they have: A wide assortment of fabrics at extremely low prices, many of good quality (some not so amazing). For example: cotton and poly-​cotton shirtings at $ 1.99/yard, many types of silks (charmeuse, chantoune, dupuoni, silk prints, etc) from $ 6.99-$ 11.99/yard, cotton prints, jersey and stretch fabrics, wool suitings (ranging from $ 3.99/yard to $ 10.99/yard), cashmere blend fabrics, wool coating fabrics (again, excellent prices, though can’t remember exactly what they are)… There are some real gems in here.
Considering the low prices everything is well organized and labeled by section and browsing is relatively easy. Though, as per usual in NYC, nothing is labeled by the bolt – if you want to be sure of exactly what something is, ask… and you won’t necessarily get an exact percentage content description, more likely just a general category.
I bought 3 yards of a lovely iridescent purple poly-​cotton shirting to make a dress with – $ 1.99/yard! And I bought 2 yards of orange silk chantoune (not sure exactly what that is, but it is a bit crisp and nubby) for $ 7.99/yard. The saleswoman helped me find it in a color that was almost a perfect match to a color I needed.
I’ll definitely come here again, it’ll be part of my regular fabric bargain-​hunting itinerary along with Paron’s 50% Off Annex and Modeani across the street. I can’t wait to sew my $ 6 dress!