We are beyond excited to announce that we have moved into our new building in downtown Tempe and are open for business! While renovating will be an ongoing process for a while, we have our 30+ industrial sewing machines, our 40 foot cutting table and the rest of our equipment moved in and set up. The machines are once again buzzing! We are so lucky to have this amazing building in the perfect location. Located in the heart of DOWNTOWN TEMPE just off of MILL AVENUE in the former Tempe Performing Arts Center, we have enough space to offer everything we've been dreaming and more. This THREE-STORY BUILDING is 23,000 sq. ft. and is laid out in an ideal way for how we will need to utilize it.
GROUND FLOOR/LEVEL 1 The former 4,000 sq. ft. theater is our new MANUFACTURING FLOOR and EVENT SPACE. As you can see from the photo, we have placed our equipment on one side of the room and this leaves the remaining side of the room open for the coolest RUNWAY SHOWS AND TRUNK SHOWS to take place right inside the place where all of AZ's designers make their clothing....very industrial chic! Adjacent to this main room is a SEWING/PATTERN/SKETCHING CLASSROOM where we have multiple industrial machines and another cutting table set up for students to learn on and for local designers to use as a shared MAKER'S SPACE. And next to this room is another room that will soon become a SCREEN PRINTING room where you can get prints made or take screen printing lessons. Additionally, there is a 600 sq. ft. CONFERENCE ROOM that will also be a CO-WORKING FLEX SPACE where fashion brands can rent a desk for the day or the conference table for meetings.LEVEL 2 Our CO-WORKING OFFICE WING includes 11 large offices that local fashion professionals can rent. The idea is that everyone works together and collaborates, networks and shares knowledge, resources and tools. Tenants have the use of our maker's space and all of the equipment and there is no lease or down payment. The offices start at $450/month.BASEMENT We also have 2 large CLASSROOMS (capacity 49) to rent out for seminars, classes, model auditions, or to use as a backstage for fashion shows. They are adjacent to two DRESSING ROOMS equipped with lighted mirrors, closets and lockers. This theater backstage set up lends itself perfectly for backstage fashion events. If you are teaching a class with us, there's even a teacher's office. Down the hall from the classrooms/backstage you will find a storage room where our designer tenants can store their fabrics/trims as well as a PHOTO/VIDEO STUDIO and SOUND ROOMS that can be rented out by the hour or the day to film videos, take product shots or create runway show music. Our NON-PROFIT, AZ Apparel Foundation operates out of a 6 room office wing in the basement that includes a SOURCING LIBRARY where brands can SOURCE their materials and trims or check out HOW-TO BOOKS or purchase pattern/sewing/sketching SUPPLIES. Three of the offices in this area are going to be granted to emerging designers who apply and get selected by our non-profit to get a free office space for six months while they get their collection off the ground. And that's not all! There's a kitchen, an A/V control booth, and other miscellaneous areas of this amazing building that will be activated soon. We've got a lot of work ahead of us to renovate, but so far we've been able to make huge improvements to the main important areas that have enabled us to technically open our doors now. If you'd like to help us make this building look the way a fashion building should look, please reach out. Your donation of your time and labor will not only help us fix it up, but will go toward our non-profit's obligation to the city of Tempe and will allow us to stay in the building much longer than the 2 years we've agreed to so far. This is a community building that is meant to help fashion professionals, fashion students and the community. We need the community to help make this what it should be.
HOW YOU CAN HELP.... For as low as $100, you can name a room in the AZ fashion building after yourself or your business. Click HERE to learn more.
Come in this week M-F between 9-5 and help tape/tarp the co-working office area so we can paint it next weekend.
Bring muscle and help us move a few more heavy objects around the building.
We could use some help sanding an old door we are using for our reception desk and then attaching it to its foundation and adding some corrugated metal to it.
Donate some printing services so we can print large form fashion illustrations to hang in the lobby and to print marketing materials and invites for the grand opening.
Volunteer to help organize and work our Grand Opening event.
Help us find food/drink sponsors for the grand opening event.
Donate photography services so we can get good shots of this building and the things that are happening in it.
Volunteer to help out with administrative duties around the building and online.
Help us with grant research and grant writing.
Help us rent the event space, the co-working offices and classrooms out. Donate to our non-profit AZ Apparel Foundation to help support vocational training for underprivileged workers, or send a kid to fashion camp, or help a vet dress for success in the work place, or support free programs and services to the community to bring back the art of sewing, or help improve the building, or help a girl in need with a prom dress and more. Donate your muscle, time, handyman skills, paint, paint supplies, industrial event lighting, sound system, A/V installation, light board, photography equipment, computers, projectors, printers, flooring, modern office furniture, designer lounge furniture and more. Volunteer to teach a class or get a program off the ground.
Help sell advertising space on our website, You'll earn 10% commission.
Encourage all fashion related businesses to create a listing in our directory. It's free, but if they pay a small fee of $9.95/month for the upgraded listing they get much more exposure for their business and it makes a huge difference to our organization.
TO HELP IN ANY OF THESE WAYS, SIMPLY EMAIL LABELHORDEFASHION@GMAIL.COM.