During the Great Depression, Simplicity allowed home seamstresses to create fashionable clothing in a reliable manner.
The patterns are manufactured in the US but are distributed and sold in Canada, England, and Australia, in some markets by Burda and in Mexico and South Africa by third-party distributors.
The company was based on an idea of his father's, Joseph M. Shapiro (1888 Russia – 1968 California), a magazine ad salesman.
[5] Simplicity Creative Group was acquired by Wilton Brands, Inc. in 2013,[6] and sold in November 2017 to CSS Industries,[7][8] who in turn were acquired in January 2020 by IG Design Group plc, via their American subsidiary Design Group Americas, Inc.[9] Simplicity Patterns, like most home sewing patterns, consist of tissue paper printed with numerical guides and instructions.
Simplicity aims to emulate fashion designer clothing, and the company currently produces over 1,600 patterns.