If you’ve been following along on social media, you know that we’ve had a busy week. If not, allow me to fill you in!
Fifteen years ago, I moved back to AZ from LA and was forced to close down my clothing brand monkeywench due to lack of manufacturing resources in AZ. From that moment on, I’ve been on a personal mission to help start a fashion industry so other designers didn’t have to experience the same fate and so that the students who graduated from all of the AZ fashion programs didn’t have to move away to find jobs. I started by providing the newsletterand a fashion directory that eventually led to more services including an events calendar and a classifieds page all on www.labelhorde.com. The goal was to provide sourcing so that fashion businesses could find each other and the public could find fashion businesses. But there was still a lot lacking because there were not enough resources in the directory related to manufacturing and local designers were still forced to look for manufacturing outside of Arizona.
All of that changed drastically this week! LabelHorde moved into the Diego Milano Sew Haus factory which has allowed us to offer so much more. We had a Town Hall meeting this past Sunday to encourage fashion professionals to come see the new space and learn what we are going to be doing and how they can benefit from it. We’ve partnered with G.C.M. Media / We Crush the Box and they filmed our meeting so if you missed it, you can watch it HERE.
We hit the ground running because just this first week alone we gave 4 sewing/sketching lessons, three fashion business startup consultations, two alterations, we were interviewed for a magazine, we gained three new brands who want to move their manufacturing to our factory, we brought on three new staff members, we were hired to grade two different patterns, we contracted out two different freelancers who work with us, gained an upgraded directory listing, have a tentative ad sale, and we started designing a custom wedding dress for someone! And this Saturday we are hosting our first fashion themed birthday party. It’s been exhausting, but we’ve got some momentum and we are excited to keep it going. The more people that use our services, the more likely we are able to keep this going.
This is important for Arizona. We are providing a FASHION HEADQUARTERS where you can find virtually everything you need in the fashion industry. We are bringing a manufacturing industry to Arizona. We are providing jobs and keeping people from having to move out of state to work in fashion or to start their own fashion brand. We are providing real life, hands on education in a manufacturing setting which is more realistic that what you learn in fashion school. These are things that the local government should know about and we could use your help in letting them know. We could use their support. Let us know if you have any connections with city or state officials who could help us grow into an even larger facility (which we will need soon) and support this financially so we can continue to grow and focus on the things that are really needed and not just on the things that can generate income. This whole thing is to benefit all of us who are working or trying to work in the fashion industry and it takes a village! Please let us know if you have any contacts in government or on any of the news channels or newspapers so we can spread the word about what we are doing for this state. In the meantime, below you will find a list of all of the awesome things we are now able to offer in this newsletter. You can also find and purchase all of these services on our website if you click on Our Services.
Thank you to everyone who attended our Town Hall and who continue to support our mission! We can’t do it without you and we CAN all do it together!