ISee Fabric

While spending a week and a half in Portland, Oregon for the December 2023 holiday, I took a drive up the I-205 to Battleground, Washington to visit ISee Fabric. Beautiful trip, by the way. It was an absolutely marvelous day in the wonderful Pacific Northwest. Surprisingly cloud-free with very little traffic on a very busy I-205, and Jack Frost had yet to nip at my nose. First time I’ve driven over the gorgeous Columbia River in decades.

Without a doubt, the best part of my trip was spent visiting Rebecca Kysar, Joni Charlson, and Mya Hiivala at ISee Fabric. With so many fabrics to look at and feel, I felt like a kid in Santa’s candy shop. Yes, Santa makes candy, too! They’re called candy canes!

I’m planning on remaking a garment made out of polyester that I’ve been wearing for the last 25 years. It’s not quite a sweater or a jacket, but a comfortable and surprisingly durable combination of the two. Finding a comparable fabric to remake the garment has proven to be a bit of a chore, but ISee sells a Sherpa made out of 100% certified organic brushed french terry milled in the United States that I wanted to take a look at. Sherpa will very likely work well for the garment I’m planning on making, but it’s currently out of stock until July. Another fabric I’m considering is the Polartec Fleece made out of 100% recycled polyester. I’m waiting to receive a Polartec swatch I’ve ordered from Spoonflower to decide on which fabric to use.

ISee carries a number of fabrics I’d like to work with, making my trip to Washington well worthwhile. They offer an excellent collection of softened flax linen in colors that would look great in our men’s line of shirts. I’m excited about their 100% cotton slub jersey milled, laundered and dyed in the United States. It’s incredibly comfortable, and available in many earthy colors that would look great for the brand we’re building. They also carry a blended wool fleece that would work well for a winter collection, and lightweight denims perfect for SoCal!

We’re absolutely thrilled here at Doo Dah Apparel to have found ISee Fabric, and we hope to order from them soon. ISee does carry a selection of overseas fabrics, but they primarily work with mills here in the United States to weave and dye organic cottons on a small scale that respect and support laborers and communities along the way, and that’s Doo Dah Apparel in a holiday candy cane without nutshell.

Thank you for a wonderful afternoon, ISee!

Brett Bridgman