Replic founder Marine Dumontier.

Photo courtesy of Ninth Street Photography

Start-Up

After working in marketing for tech start-ups for years, Marine Dumontier was looking for a change, something that might incorporate her creativity and new love of sewing. She had always been enamored with the idea of owning her own business, calling her own shots and having the flexibility to choose when and where to work. After an unlikely and circuitous route that included learning how to code, she built the Replic app, an ecommerce platform for sewing pattern designers and shop owners.

Initially, Marine had no intention of building an app. She set out to build an online marketplace for digital sewing patterns, similar to The Fold Line. Yet Marine hit roadblocks from pattern designers and fabric shops not interested in working with her. She learned that it was not personal, she explains,

“A lot of designers said, ‘listen, you seem nice but I don’t trust you and this is my income so I can’t just blindly give you my copyright.”

These pattern designers get hundreds of requests from small fabric stores around the world to sell their patterns, which sounds great, however Marine learned that, “the time it takes the designers to create the product catalogs, the files, the images, and work with each shop is not always worth the very minimal payout.”

From a shop owner’s perspective, Marine heard that it is incredibly time consuming to maintain an online catalog of digital patterns from hundreds of designers. For most of these shops, many with very few on staff, it’s difficult to stay on top of pattern accuracy and updates as well as accounting and reporting.

Because of this valuable feedback, she concluded that pursuing an online marketplace was not right for her. Instead, she knew there had to be a way to automate ecommerce platforms for designers and shop owners that would solve their digital dilemmas. Marine thought surely there was already an app for this and perhaps the shops and designers she spoke with had not yet heard of it. She was wrong – no app existed. Marine seized the opportunity and got to work. She did not outsource the app development; instead, she learned how to code, asking herself how hard could it be? Using countless online tutorials and a “dizzying amount of Google searches,” Marine built the app from scratch.

Two years later, Replic was officially launched as an app to use in conjunction with the Shopify ecommerce platform, giving pattern designers full control of their digital designs and automating the sales process for shop owners.

Example of the benefits of using the Replic app on Shopify.

Filling a Void

Ironically, the roadblocks that Marine encountered while trying to create an online marketplace made it clear to her that there was a real void to be filled in the buying and selling of digital sewing patterns on the wholesale level. During the development process, Marine stayed in close touch with several pattern designers and shop owners and says,

“I cannot emphasize how willing everybody was to give me feedback along the way.”

These early users were instrumental in making sure the app worked properly, had all the necessary components and had no bugs or security lapses.

Christina Albeck, independent pattern designer and founder of Wardrobe By Me, an online shop selling PDF sewing patterns, says, “When Marine first reached out to me, I immediately knew I wanted to support her vision.” She goes on to explain, “Wardrobe By Me has been selling digital sewing patterns for more than 10 years, and the complexity of managing and maintaining files across multiple platforms is enormous. We declined opportunities to sell our PDF patterns through wholesale and retail partners for two reasons: File maintenance was one challenge, but the biggest barrier was losing control of our files and having to trust that retailers’ sales reporting was accurate. Replic solves both of those problems. It gives us full control over our files while also providing transparent sales tracking for each retailer.”

Christina explains that she has very much enjoyed being part of the journey from the beginning, and notes, “As more designers and retailers join Replic, the platform becomes even stronger. Seeing new features added—such as digital business-to-consumer delivery—means less administration and fewer technical headaches for designers like me, allowing us to focus on creating great products for our customers.”

Heather Lou, another pattern designer and founder of Closet Core Patterns and Core Fabrics, echoes Christina’s sentiments, “Over the years we’ve been approached dozens of times by online sewing shops asking to carry our PDF patterns, but we always said no because of the admin burden of tracking all those revenue streams, and because we weren’t comfortable handing off the delivery of our valuable IP (intellectual property). I actually wanted to create an app that would solve this problem and had considered building it myself, but was so happy when Marine got in touch and I learned that Replic would solve the problem for me! It’s a win-win for everyone – we’re able to broaden our reach, and sewing shops around the world are able to offer a wide selection of patterns without the overhead of stocking a lot of physical products. As more and more shops invest in wide-format printers, it’s also a valuable way for sewing stores to expand their print-on-demand services.”

Heather goes on to share that, “I have so much respect for Marine, and she’s been a dream to work with. Since we got in on the ground floor and have a lot of experience delivering digital patterns, we were able to make many suggestions for how the app works that were implemented super quickly. Overall, I couldn’t have asked for a better solution to this particular problem, and highly recommend Replic to my fellow indie designers, and online sewing shops!”

For fabric stores like Les Tissées, in Montreal, Canada, founder Marie-Lyne Menard, thinks Replic is a home run. “When Marine first contacted me about Replic, I was genuinely excited because she was solving a major challenge for small businesses like ours: the ability to easily resell PDF sewing patterns from independent designers. Replic has streamlined what was previously a complex process by handling customer purchases, automatic pattern delivery, and designer payments. It has also helped build trust between pattern designers and retailers, making the entire experience smooth, reliable, and efficient for everyone involved. Replic is a truly innovative and revolutionary tool that is helping shape the future of PDF pattern retail.”

Maaike von Besien from MaaiDesign, an online fabric store based in Australia, concurs.

“The Replic app saves us a lot of time, from product creation to reporting and paying designers, while giving the designers a lot more control over their assets. Our goal is now to move all the PDF patterns we stock to the Replic system.”

Example of the benefits of using the Replic app on Shopify.

Taking Off

After launching in October 2025, the app’s first seven months have been a real success. So far Marine has signed on nearly 60 fabric stores and 30 designers with a steady stream signing up each week as the power of word-of-mouth takes over.

Marine says,

“There was clearly a need in the industry. I’m getting feedback from stores that are thrilled the app is up and running.”

As for designers, Marine has heard from some who refused to sell their PDF patterns to stores until the creation of Replic.

In addition to ehancing and expanding the Replic app on Shopify, Marine’s future plans include branching out to other ecommerce platforms like WooCommerce and SquareSpace. Yet because each platform is written differently, she’ll need to learn additional coding languages to build the new integrations – something she is ready to get started on. She’s also eager to expand into other fiber arts pattern sales. For Marine, what began as a search for a new creative path has evolved into a solution that is transforming how independent sewing pattern designers and fabric shops do business. And she’s thrilled that now there’s an app for that.

Paula Wilson

contributor