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in the San Francisco fashion industry and
community.”
Six “designers in residence” will be chosen
in March 2012 to participate in the yearlong
program, which will include training in
business, manufacturing, design copyright,
law, public relations and marketing, as well
as use of workshop and showroom space,
which has been created for the designers at
Macy’s. The participants will have access
to sewing space, machinery, dress forms
and cutting tables, in addition to a selling
showroom, storage area and design offices,
which have all been provided by Macy’s at a
discounted monthly rate.
As part of the program, designers will
have opportunities to meet with buyers and
merchants to present their collections and
ideas and will continue to be mentored by
local designers and businesspeople after the
program has finished.
“This is about fostering new businesses
and supporting these new entrepreneurs
with education, physical space and public
relations that would not be readily afford-
able or available to single start-up practitioners,”
Williams explained.
While there are organizations in the Bay
Area that offer expertise in different areas of
the apparel business, including manufacturing
and design, many new designers are not
aware of what they need to launch or sustain
a business or how best to present their cloth-
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ing line. The Fashion Incubator aims to help
fill that gap, Williams said.
The curriculum will include topics such
as time management, creating a market
plan, line critiques, branding and imaging,
and costing and accounting, according to
“Without the support here, local designers feel like they have to leave and
go to New York or somewhere else to become successful.”
—Betsy NelsoN, vice president of media relations and cause marketing for Macy’s Northwest
and Southwest and vice president of the Fashion Incubator San Francisco board of directors
Diane Green, who is helping develop the
courses for the program and serves as chair
for the fashion department at City College
of San Francisco.
“Assuming that they are talented, they will
have the business knowledge to actually create
a fashion design business,” Green said. “This
is what a lot of young people are lacking. They
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6 CALIFORNIA APPAREL NEWS August 5–11, 2011
have the ideas and the creativity but don’t have
the business sense, and so they will gain the
entrepreneurial skills that they will need to
succeed in the fashion design industry.”
The participating designers will be responsible
for paying their own living expenses,
but the program itself will be free,
other than a $250 monthly fee for use of the
workshop, machinery and showroom space.
Long known as a fashion hub, San Francisco
has seen many of its designers, manufacturers
and apparel businesses leave for
other cities over the years.
“San Francisco had been the third-biggest
design capital, behind New York and Los
Angeles,” said Betsy Nelson, vice president
of media relations and cause marketing for
Macy’s Northwest and Southwest and vice
president of the FISF board of directors.
“That has changed over the course of time,
and a lot of that is because of the manufacturing
shift. Without the support here, local designers
feel like they have to leave
and go to New York or somewhere
else to become successful.”
FISF is hoping to bring some of
its fashion business back with the
launch of the program, which was
based on the Chicago Fashion
Incubator at Macy’s, launched
in 2008.
“Eighty-three percent of the
designers who participated in the
Chicago Fashion Incubator have
created successful businesses,”
Nelson said.
Dennis Conaghan, executive
director for the San Francisco
Center for Economic Development,
said the program is in line
with the center’s goal to attract
and keep jobs in San Francisco.
“It fits nicely into our mission
of small businesses and businesses
that will, hopefully, eventually
grow. Eighty percent of our businesses
are small.”
FISF is looking for designers
who are interested in establishing
their business in the city of San
Francisco, not the surrounding
Bay Area, and who also have the
goal of using local manufacturers
and resources.
To this end, FISF has reached
out to organizations such as SF-
Made with the possibility of partnering
with them for factory tours
to help educate designers on apparel
manufacturing and how to
approach a manufacturer professionally.
SFMade is a nonprofit focused
on building the manufacturing
sector in San Francisco and helps
connect designers with sewing
factories.
“Our role would be to help
these designers once they become
more established to connect with
subcontracting resources to keep
their production local,” explained
Janet Lees, director of programs
and communications for the organization.
While the final details of who
will be involved with the program
and who will be able to apply for
it are still being determined, the
program will only be eligible to
designers of apparel, not shoes or
accessories, Nelson said.
The program will be formally
announced in September
at “Fashion’s Night Out,” after
which applications will be available
online.
“We’re poised; it’s the right
time,” Williams said. “There’s
a commitment back to building
products in San Francisco.” ●