The original idea behind Merchant & Mills is a simple one: To elevate sewing to a serious craft, worthy of quality tools and materials. Along the way, we have aimed to provide people with the skills and patterns to make exceptional garments and empower them to step away from fast fashion to make their own choices.

Since the company was founded, a community has grown around this idea. Countless makers have found their way to our Tower Street store, part a former toy factory, now a textile and sewing haven. It’s a magical place for first-time visitors, an irresistible source of inspiration, daring even non-sewers to handle a fabric or pick up a tool and quietly consider the possibilities. We are making more makers, in a quiet revolution.

Over the years we have continued to grow. The original staff members who picked and parcelled the cloth at Tower Street are now our department heads, and the ever-expanding team combines talents and hard labour, every day, working in our warehouse headquarters in Rye Harbour.

Rye feels like a natural home for Merchant & Mills. It is a quaint and quirky seaside town in East Sussex. The cobbled streets and tall rickety buildings are textural and tell a story. Winches, ropes and anchors make a strong backdrop for a business like ours, and the town is something of a creative haven. Rye is not on the way somewhere to else, it sits on the edge of things, calling out to artists and diverse thinkers.

Many of our sewing patterns have their roots in workwear so our shapes are at home here too. Pieces inspired by French fishing smocks and 1920’s scouting uniforms, genderless chore jackets do also, however, make friends with free-thinking 1970’s sundresses. We design all our patterns in house, and they are rigorously tested and tweaked by the team.

We champion natural fibres for both our homes and wardrobes, not only as a more conscious and environmentally friendly option but also a practical and beautiful one. We are known for our linen, it forms the core of our collections. Each year we take great pleasure in designing three seasonal, European, yarn-dyed linen collections. We love to celebrate and share textile traditions from around the world within our collections.

Every country has a textile heritage from block printing in India, deep indigos in Japan, woollens in Scotland. Working with everyone from small artisans to established mills, we have positively influenced practices in textile production, carving out a more sustainable path. We aim to honour the craft at every level, from sourcing and design right through to delivery.

In 2019 we invited the first students of our sewing school to Rye. The sewing studio up stairs at the shop is led by our experienced teachers and is consciously limited to six students at a time, of any sewing level. They come from all over the world, united by a love of making and a desire to spend a week immersed in the craft. Confident sewers get to dedicate a week of full immersion in their passion and beginners leave with a new set of skills and the fire to create. Strong friendships are formed and many return in the same group, year after year.

The retreats quickly became a sell-out success. In 2021 we purchased a house, The Grove, to better cocoon our students in our textiles and world. We restored, repaired and redesigned the house to be a delightful and inspiring temporary residence for our guests. We built all the schemes around the Merchant & Mills fabric collections along with a family of objects, artworks and antique textiles, making the house a home.

The vernacular of The Grove provided a beautiful canvas for our interior ideas. The project gave life to a series of patterns which soon became part of HOUSE: beautiful ready-made things for your home, designed by Merchant & Mills. Each quilt or cushion has been developed in our signature cloth ranges and made by the skilled artisans with whom we have built strong relationships over the years.

The organic journey our business has taken reflects our approach. Human connection and nature are important. Things can be kind and powerful. Practical and beautiful. We want to make good things happen and we’re willing to take the time to do them properly. We aim to be a positive influence in the world and a gentle but firm encourager of mindful, consciousness living.