Updates:

Please check under updates. We have a few new perks to tell you about, including a new colorway and patterns!

The short version:

At Anzula, we hand-dye yarns and spinning fibers made from the most luxurious materials in the world. We are an independent, woman-owned business and we need your help to make our urban warehouse usable. And we're going to give you some pretty sweet stuff in return.

A few of our 90+ colors.

The Anzula Story:

"Hi, I'm Sabrina Famellos, the owner and one of the dyers at Anzula. This journey started in the early 2000's; originally I crocheted accessories and hand spun yarn to sell at farmer's markets in the Bay Area and a yarn shop and record store here in Fresno. In 2003, I started dyeing the fiber that I was spinning, selling both the roving and the hand spun yarn along with the crocheted accessories. For the longest time I was a one woman show, crocheting, dyeing, and spinning in my spare moments. Then in 2008 the economy changed and I lost my teaching position. 

I took a swing at turning this fiber hobby into a full-time gig. I started attending retail then wholesale trade shows with my hand dyed yarn. I focused on dyeing semisolid colorways to produce a quality yarn for all knitters and crocheters to be able to use. During this time, all of the dyeing was out of my kitchen. After our first wholesale trade show in 2010, we quickly outgrew my home and moved to a 1,000 square foot studio. Within a year we outgrew the studio, and moved to our current home - a 6,000 square foot warehouse in downtown Fresno, right across the street from the baseball stadium. A few months before we moved here, I hired Sylvia, my first full time employee. She has been with me ever since and we have grown to a team of ten. She started out helping me rinse and reskein yarn at minimum wage. Now she is my shipping manager, making a living wage. 

In 2001, I had no idea my hobby would grow to employ nine people during a down economy. I was just a poor college student that liked nice yarn and wanted to be able to afford to buy from my local yarn shop. My team is amazing and together we put out a product that we are all incredibly proud of. We have worked through three sweltering summers in our warehouse without central heat or cooling. I want to give them a cooler working environment and I need your help. I know we can do this. I'm going to let Meg take over the story so I can get back to the dye pots. Thank you so much!"

Who we are:

We are a team of 10 women with a passion for yarn. We are determined to make the best possible quality product for knitters, crocheters, and other fiber artists around the world. We are roller derby girls, moms, bakers, jewelry makers, explorers, travelers, major geeks and video gamers. Our business is about more than just yarn. It is about building a community while honoring the individual. The people that work here are not just employees, they are family and whole people with their own lives. We consider that in just about everything we do.

Sabrina is a woman with a vision. She has grown this enterprise from just one dollar, reinvesting each subsequent one she made to get us where we are today. Fresno is a place with a high rate of poverty and few opportunities for well paying jobs. She wants to change that by creating jobs that pay a living wage. Because of this, we have taken care to grow slowly to be able to take on the business and staff that we can truly afford. Sabrina hired Sylvia, the first full time employee in 2010 and since then we have grown to a team of ten. Charlie, Sylvia, and Kim, our three managers, help the business run smoothly. Meg, Rebecca, Ashley, Kelly and Danielle, our support staff, are the reason we are able to process as much as we do.

We think that this is a pretty cool place to work, but we need to install air conditioning to make this a much cooler place.  

Anzula in the dugout at Chukchansi Park.

Where we are:

Our warehouse is located in sunny downtown Fresno, California. From our back alley we look onto the outfield of Chukchansi Park. This is the home of the Fresno Grizzlies, the AAA-affiliate of last year's World Champion San Francisco Giants. Yes, of course we are Giants fans. 

A few blocks from our front door is Fresno's Chinatown, where we can visit the fresh fish market, a Southern-style seafood restaurant, or the best tacos in town. A couple of blocks from our back door is the Fulton Mall, a pedestrian mall that the city is working to renovate. From there we can visit a weekly farmer's market that features local farmers and artisans.

It has been exciting to watch downtown grow and change with us the past few years. We want to keep growing here, to continue to be a vital part of the local economy. We want to continue helping shape the Fresno that we love. There are so many more things that we love about downtown, like the Catacombe Party, Cafe Corazon, Revive, Duke's, Fulton 55, Misc. Trading Co., Yoshi Now!, Tioga-Sequoia Brewery - we're proud to be a part of this community.

While we love working downtown, our building is old and does not have central heating or air. So far this summer, the temperature outside has been in the triple-digits almost every day. With the heat and humidity produced from all our dye pots, it creates quite the sultry work environment. We have a dehumidifier and two portable air conditioners running at all times, but it barely makes a dent in the heat and humidity. We love our building, it is an old meat packing plant, all the rooms used to be refrigerators. Once we have air conditioning, they are going to be great for keeping the cool in. Right now they are just really good at holding the hot in. Our building fits us in so many ways, it has all the space we need to continue growing the business, it has the history in Fresno that we love. Originally built in 1888 and the first building owned by Armenians in Fresno. It just needs to get a little cooler. And to do that, we need your help to install air conditioning.

What we're asking for:

As hand-dyers, we work in a room with many large pots of simmering water, and as we have described, our warehouse is currently ill fit to keep us cool. Right now we use a combination of portable a/c units and a dehumidifier, and that combo doesn't do enough to cool the warehouse.

We had a few local HVAC companies come out to provide estimates for installing air conditioning in the warehouse. The warehouse hasn't had any type of climate control in the past so we're going to be to starting from scratch.

To install air conditioning in the dye room alone, we need to hit our first goal of $15,000. 

To install air conditioning in the dye room and two work rooms, we need to hit our second goal of $25,000.

Our ultimate goal is $30,000 so that we can install air conditioning in the dye room, workrooms, classroom and lounge.

We've chosen the flexible funding option so that we receive whatever you contribute, whether or not we reach our ultimate goal. Indiegogo takes a bigger chunk of the money if we don't hit our goal, but we're setting our sights on all the money we need to finish this project.

We believe in ourselves and we believe in you. We trust that our community is going to help us meet our goals. We believe that your generosity will be enough for us to reach our dream goal. Thank you so much for being a part of this, by sharing with your friends, donating a dollar, or more. We cannot do this without you.