So You Want To Start A Business: The DGG Fashion Incubator

As you all know, we have a Fashion Incubator at TechTown for serious Michigan-based fashion entrepreneurs at high-skill levels to create collections, with access to industrial machinery and design software, plus monthly educational workshops and mentors for guidance in areas crucial to the success of a fashion brand. This is not for everyone. This is for the doers. This is for the designer who has replaced that title with entrepreneur.  This is for some one who can take resources and utilize them to the fullest extent. This is for those who work hard and dream big. This is for the person who doesn't believe in luck and doesn't make excuses. This is for those who need their brand to succeed as much as they need to breathe.

Because Michigan fashion students don't graduate, stay in the state and get a job at a design house to learn how a business is run, they typically start a business being an expert in their craft but not an expert in business. The greatest need for Detroit's fashion community is business-related education. These designers graduate only knowing how to work for others, but not themselves, and they can design well, but don't know what it takes to become an entrepreneur. The DGG Fashion Incubator, which can host up to ten designers at a time, will give the Entrepreneurs in Residence (EIR) the resources overcome all of those barriers, so they can succeed at creating their own brand and in the fashion industry.

Resources for the EIRs include mentorship and business workshops. Our mentors include: Michelle Roberts for fashion business, Rita Hillmen for small business, Deanna Swisher for legal, Pamela Hartman for finance, Marcy Cyburt for sales, Carlotta Tutt Holloway for marketing, Karen MacDonald-Basile for public relations, Rebecca Moore for software and Christian Birky for sustainability. Our workshops are aimed around the theme, "So You Want To Start a Business." Our remaining workshops are: July 19, Creating a Lookbook/Line Sheet, August 16, Going to Tradeshows and Working with Buyers, September 20, Understanding Your Manufacturing Cycle and October 18, Raising Awareness for Your Brand. Past workshops have been Financing Your Business: What to Expect When You're Investing, Supply Chain Sourcing and Creating Your Tech Pack.

We are opening up the EIR program year-round, if there are any vacancies. To apply, you don't need to have a clothing company, your company just needs to be fashion related. This is a great opportunity because there aren't many places in Detroit where you can pay $250/month to rent a space that gives you mentorship, free workshops, sewing machines and design software to help grow your business.

For more information, head here.

It's Flu Season, So Why Not Cough It Up for The Collection™?

If you have ever attended a fundraising event, you know there comes a time during the evening when the nonprofit tugs at your heartstrings with a meaningful video or speeches from individuals or families who have benefited from the organization in order to encourage you to make a donation. This is not a practice that I am condemning in any way, as an emotional connection is often what is needed to get a person or company to open their wallets and generously give. However, if you are without these necessary tools, raising money can be quite the challenge.

DG3 is without these tools. Imagery, our annual report, and our enthusiastic explanation of what 2015 holds for the fashion and cut and sew industries in Michigan is all we have to work with. The stories we share aren’t sad. They aren't wildly emotional. They are stories filled with excitement, encouragement and hope. They are stories about something that has not yet been done in the state: creating a true garment industry and creating a pool of skilled industrial sewers to fill the needs of businesses while encouraging others to locate here. They are stories about job creation, making a living wage, creating a new industry for economic growth in the state and new opportunities for the people who live here. Unfortunately, these are not the stories that get people to open their wallets so easily.

And yet, an open wallet and a giving spirit is exactly what we need to survive and to thrive.

Our plans for 2015 are HUGE. Here is a succinct rundown:

Adding both pattern making and sewing machine repair pathways to our cut and sew educational opportunities at Henry Ford College M-TEC. We’re also adding an evening class option for the Industrial Sewing Certificate Program, and working with many organizations, from Detroit to Flint, to either help them implement their own programs or work on initiatives to get the people they service into our program.

Creating an official garment district in Southwest Detroit in partnership with the Governor’s Office, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, the Mayor’s Office and the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation.

Partnering with the Detroit Historical Society/Museum to coordinate a Detroit fashion exhibition this fall.

Hosting another exciting FashionSpeak 1-day conference in October once again focusing on the business of fashion.

Launching The Collection™, our multipurpose facility in Southwest Detroit, which will include a full-service cut and sew manufacturing facility, a 12-designer incubator, education space for monthly workshops, a retail store to sell the wares of the incubator designers, as well as other Detroit brands, and DG3’s offices. We will be hiring up to 30 graduates of the Industrial Sewing Certificate Program to work in the manufacturing facility, and giving vetted designers the workspace, machinery, mentorship and other necessary resources to take their collections from concept to making sales.

Plus, a couple other partnerships that we can’t yet discuss.

Clearly, we are making a difference: for people, for industry, for Detroit and for Michigan.

I hope you can recognize what our efforts are accomplishing, and that you will see not only why funding is needed, but why it’s worth it for you to contribute.

Asking for money is not our favorite thing to do, but ask we must. As a 501(C)(3), your donation is tax deductible. You will receive a contribution letter within 24 hours of making a donation. You can click here to make a donation via Paypal now.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. And we can’t wait to show you all we’ve accomplished come the end of 2015.

Let’s put the Detroit fashion scene on the map!