Fabric Horse

Incredibly well made items and a solid local business! My husband got me one of their beautiful waxed canvas bags for the holidays and I use it every single day. I have really given it a beating and it’s held up beautifully, and I get lots of compliments on it, especially when I travel. Their shop on the Avenue is a little treasure — a gorgeous little space full of things you can really feel good about buying.

Check it out! I bought a number of bags online (a tote bag, little canvas bag, and Dopp kit) and they are even cooler in person than on the website! Everything is designed to hold a lot, is well designed, weatherproof, and looks cool. I love that waxed canvas only looks better as it ages. These products are well worth the price tag, I expect them to last for years.

Great experience from the moment I walked in the door. I purchased a grey waxed canvas market bag, and I couldn’t be happier. Tia was so friendly and helpful, and she immediately made me feel welcome and like a valued customer. I love the fact that my purchase helps support a small, forward thinking company and my bag was locally made from vegan, repurposed material!

I received a Fabric Horse Waxed canvas tote in grey with green trim and black straps and a D-​ring to boot. I have used the bag many times and it can handle some seriously aggressive packing and traveling via bicycle or scooter or public trans. I also spoke with one of the managers there, who was very down to earth, friendly and not sales-​pushing. I plan to make a purchase from them at some point, and may even gift a F.H. product to a friend or family member.
I am always pleased to find locally produced items, but especially when they are fair-​trade and high quality. We don’t need to give any more of our money to China for slave-​labour produced merchandise. If we are not allowed to buy from Cuba, then why are we allowed to buy from China? makes no sense to me.

Worth every penny for these customizable, handmade bags and accessories. Colors, styles — for whatever your lifestyle dictates, and you can see them making bags when you visit the store. Don’t fret about the hefty pricetag — they rarely run sales, but you ARE able to pay in increments when you custom build a bag. Treat yourself to something made like steel, made locally, and backed up with guarantees.

Amazing product .Had a great experience yesterday .Tia was extremely helpful I woulda iced out the tip jar had there been one !! .I will def be back !!!

I must say the product was as advertised. It was solid, well-​made, functional, and dare I say… cool. It was exactly what I had hoped it would be and seems to suit my purpose fairly well… carrying water bottle, camera lens, phone, flashlight, and maps. I’ve taken it out on several physical trips and it has held up fine, stayed tightly fastened, and not ripped anywhere. But this is a review of the company not just this product.
My only complaint is the customer service or lack of ANY customer service. Most things ordered online (at least from smaller companies) have sent an email saying something akin to «Thank you for your order! We’ll ship your order soon.» Something friendly to let you know they appreciate your business and there are no problems with your order. No such message here but that’s not a big deal.
Instead, within minutes I received an email that only showed my credit card had been processed. No greeting, no thanks, no personality, just the amount charged. The email also was from an email address that did not appear to be connected to the Fabric Horse site. When I searched this email address, several sites pop up mentioning fraud associated with that email company but there were also legit sites & comments associated with it. Still made me nervous but I gave them the benefit of the doubt. Their website says «allow up to 3 weeks for delivery» which means product should be delivered by 3 weeks.
But after a week of hearing nothing, I checked the status on their website and it still said «Order Processing» which is what it showed since I first placed the order. So I emailed a polite note asking if the order went through okay and when do they expect it to ship. I then waited another week with no response. At that point I sent another note again politely asking for information about my order to make sure nothing was wrong like it had maybe slipped through the cracks.
Again, no response. So I waited until it had been exactly 3 weeks so I now should definitely have received my order according to their website. Not only did I not have my order but their website still showed «processing» which it had showed for 21 days straight. So I finally sent a third message to them asking for information. The next day (22 days after charging my card) I received another cold, generic email like the one about charging my credit card but this one just said product shipped and gave a tracking number. No apologies for it taking longer than promised. No apologies for never responding to any messages. No sorry for perhaps a miscommunication. No thank you for your business. Nothing.
So again, the product I would give 5 stars as it is great but the total lack of any friendliness, personal attention, information, or responses from the company really turned me off.

Fabric Horse is like Philly home-​rolled Timbuk2. Or at least, that’s how I’m going to put it.
I’m a bike geek. A super bike geek. And there’s this awesome bike schwag store I’ve never heard of? What of this? The wares were apparently slim when we checked it out — the shop had just sent a lot off to a craft fair. Still, I had great love for their bags made of reclaimed materials, nifty wallets, and their iconic bike lock holders, toeing the line of «is this too hip for Pam S? no, it might be just right.» I’m looking forward to visiting when I want to get a unique gift for my fellow bike-​obsessed, or to gift myself next time I need a new bag or hip belt.

Carrie Collins’ hand-​made superhero belts (for the love of all that is fashion, please, don’t say fanny pack) are key for the cycling set. Pockets for your phone, loops for your keys and perfectly functional clips and buckles get you hands-​free and keep your back from getting that horrid sweat-​soaked look from a backpack.
NOTE: Fabric Horse is not in the Piazza any longer; the shop has moved in with RELoad Baggage in their warehouse showroom. Ring Fabric Horse up so you can visit and check out the selection.

Hands free? Yes, Please!
I custom ordered a half belt here, after two very indecisive visits and everyone who helped me was wonderful. The bag was made in a timely matter, I was the one who took a minute to pick up my new bag with the holidays and moving around the city.
It has held up wonderfully and I would absolutely send friends here, as well as get gifts here in the future. The workmanship, products and staff are all on point and welcoming.

This store is simply awesome. I bought a bike U-​lock holster that goes on your belt. I love the damn thing and wear it everyday. 100% utilitarian and it’s made from recycled seat belts, which is pretty dope. A must for anyone who rides around the city and locks their bike to a pole every day.
The people that run the store are super nice and chill. I didn’t have my bike me at the time and had no problem with me exchanging or making a holster from scratch if it didn’t fit my lock. Definitely one of the cooler stores in the Piazza. Check it out, cause I would hate to see this place disappear.

This place almost got me to cave in to buying a fanny pack. In fact, their fanny packs are so cool, I desperately tried to think of another use for it. That was a senseless pursuit, fanny packs are meant to be worn waist-​side. I even came up with a new name for it: the extra hip pocket-​pack. I thought it akin to being a superhero. Either way, there was no caving and the fanny wasn’t getting any love from my hips.
Instead, I gushed over a polka-​dotted Reload bag. I pretty much settled on buying it and even promised the owner I’d come back for it. «Well you know what? I’m a liar» (from a Violent Femmes song). I never came back for it and the past few days have been spent with copious ass kicking of my own ass. The lesson learned here is: buy the shit when you want the shit. Other than that, this is a great store with some very sexy, fine handmade products; even if most of those products are fanny packs and you happen to disagree with the recycled fad (as I do).

Website:
For all you Philly bike people you will be happy to know that yes Fabric Horse now has a shop at the Piazza. Yay!
A half hour of riding in the rain I still made it to NoLibs to check out the shops and FINALLY got my fanny pack I had been wanting so badly for months! I love their site, I love the art, I love the merchandise and the owner is just plain cool. Simple.
Oh, and you can get some of my bike tags there too! Free!
(Read about the tags here:
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