As US apparel brands and retailers are becoming more open to shifting some production from overseas to domestic resources, the Council of Fashion Designers of America and the City Economic Development Corporation of New York have awarded the 2022 Fashion Manufacturing Initiative grants.
The IMF Grant Fund is an anchor in the CFDA and NYCEDC Fashion Manufacturing Initiative, which was created in 2013 to strengthen and preserve fashion manufacturers throughout the city. The latest installment, as in previous years, focuses on boosting New York City’s fashion manufacturing sector. To date, nearly $4 million has been awarded across the five boroughs with nearly $460,000 in grants being distributed this year alone.
Those funds will be shared by a dozen grant recipients, including Button Down Factory, Create a Marker, Design Incubator, Dyenamix, Etier, Fugitive Patterns, Hidden in Plain Sight Studio, In Style USA, Knit Illustrated, Knit Resort, LW Pearl and Custom Industry. Pattern making, marking, classification, cutting and sewing, samples, embroidery and trimmings, fabric dyeing, knitwear and washing services are some of the services offered by the companies.
With the global fashion industry valued at $1.7 trillion, the US fashion sector accounts for almost $369.4 billion. Textile and apparel manufacturing in the United States shows glimmers of light. U.S. textile manufacturing output (measured by value added) totaled nearly $16.6 billion last year, an increase of 23.8 percent from 2009. “Made in the USA” textiles and apparel .” They are gaining ground in some high-tech categories, such as medical textiles, protective garments, specialty and industrial fabrics, and nonwovens.
While the pandemic, inflation, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and other geopolitical issues have hampered overseas production and shipping, some domestic manufacturers, retailers and designers are using local resources. Giants like Walmart Inc. have championed domestic manufacturing in certain sectors. Earlier this month, the company touted the opening of a Vintage Fashion factory in Santa Ana, California that will cut and sew garments for Walmart.
While veteran American designers like Yeohlee Teng, Tracy Reese and Maria Cornejo have long championed the benefits of domestic manufacturing, emerging ones like Wiederhoeft’s Jackson Wiederhoeft and Tanner Fletcher’s Tanner Richie and Fletcher Kassel have also addressed the importance of supporting local resources.
Half of the recipients receive funding through the IMF Grant Fund for the first time. Additionally, women-owned businesses comprise 75 percent of the beneficiaries and minority-owned businesses account for 50 percent. In previous years, IMF grants have been awarded to an average of eight recipients, making this year’s batch of 12 the most ever offered. More than 120 jobs are affected in the businesses of the beneficiaries through the grants.
Recipient services include pattern and sample development, cutting and sewing, knitting services, trim/embroidery, fabric dyeing, printing and washing, as well as marking and sorting. Criteria considered for grant winners included sustainability, diversity, equity, inclusion, community and workforce impact, and overall business viability. Financial audits and social compliance audits addressed issues such as worker health, safety, and wages.
Create a Marker’s Paul Cavazza emphasized that with technology constantly changing, it’s imperative that your company stay current with the newest iterations of technology, software, and programs. “Factories, not just in the Garment District, don’t update their technology. They keep the same machines and the same techniques that were used 20 and 30 years ago”.
As a firm believer in technology, Cavazza frequents apparel industry-related technology trade shows such as Techtextil in Frankfurt, Germany, to keep up with its pattern grading and marking service. With 7,500 square feet of space and about 28 employees, Create a Marker received a $75,000 grant. The company will upgrade its software, hire more employees, buy scanners, offer new services, and purchase two Gerber MP plotters (leading speed machinery that prints similar to a blueprint).
“Domestic production has definitely increased as customers are reevaluating overseas production,” he said, a shift that began during the pandemic.
Calli Roche, owner and pattern director of Fugitive Patterns, runs her two-year business from Brooklyn, New York. Operating virtually as a one-person operation, except for a sister, who acts as business manager when she can, and as a part-time assistant, Roche aims to use pattern making for sustainability efforts, slow fashion and improved fit. The FMI grant will go toward upgrading the company’s software with custom-built software, increasing its capabilities and reach, especially in terms of making custom digital patterns for designers more quickly.
Though rarely talked about in fashion circles, pattern making is a key part of the design process. That’s especially true for those working in New York who are trying to manufacture on a smaller scale or design a garment that fits well and highlights the creator’s concept, Roche said. “It offers designers a much more practical, intuitive and organic experience. And in my opinion, the product is closer to the original idea.”
Brooklyn-based Fugitive Patterns is among this year’s winners. Here a muslin for SP_CE Studios, as seen in a proof.
Photo Courtesy of Runaway Patterns
Going forward, she plans to develop a new grading system to give small-scale designers, home seamstresses, and pattern makers the ability to get custom patterns made to their specific body measurements. That online service will be more of a one-stop pattern compared to the mass-manufactured patterns Fugitive Patterns regularly makes, Roche said.
CFDA and NYCEDC have joined forces on other fronts in the past, including workforce initiatives, relocation grants and the CFDA.com production directory. They have also teamed up to provide IMF grants through A Common Thread and the Workforce Relief Collective to provide personal protective equipment and financial support to businesses and workers affected by the pandemic.
Source: news.google.com