Membership

Yes. In order to take a class or use a service, you'll at least need a free membership.
A la carte classes are great for students, anyone interested in brushing up their technical skills, and those who may just be exploring fashion as a hobby or business.
However, if you are an apparel entrepreneur who is going to want to have products made, there are some very specific classes you'll want to take in order to learn how to manage the steps to getting your products prototyped and then manufactured. You can take some of these as a la carte classes, however, all of these apparel entrepreneur-specific classes and many more micro how-to videos are included in the Apparel Entrepreneur Membership along with hundreds more resources. It is way more cost-effective to get the Apparel Entrepreneur membership once you calculate all of the a la carte class fees....plus you may qualify for a scholarship and will get all of the classes free or for only $500 ($50/month)! So, if you own your own brand (or want to) then we advise that you apply for a scholarship for the Apparel Entrepreneur Membership before you start taking a la carte classes.
Unsure? Sign up for the free Basic Membership, you can always upgrade later if you want to experience what the other levels offer. Even easier, just enroll in the course or program you're interested in and you'll be automatically signed up at the free Enthusiast Membership level.

All memberships fees are NON-REFUNDABLE. However, the full-priced Apparel Entrepreneur membership is month-to-month with no commitment so you can cancel your membership at any time.

Apparel Entrepreneur Memberships paid for with a partial scholarship, are a FULL YEAR COMMITMENT, and are non-refundable, and cannot be canceled early. This is because we have a limited number of scholarships to give and want to ensure the opportunity is available to those who most need it and can use it.

Our Apparel Entrepreneur Membership provides access to the roadmap that helps you navigate the development and manufacturing process with tips, instructions, downloadable documents (like cutting tickets and sewing contracts), and QC recommendations. So, you can use the guidance in the roadmap to work with any factory...not just with us. It contains over $100K in resources and enables those with no experience to navigate this complex industry without having to hire an experienced full-time Production Manager and QC Manager. This is the reason our membership is non-refundable. As a non-profit, we are not in the position to make an exception to this, however, if you decide to discontinue your fully paid Apparel Entrepreneur membership, simply, downgrade to a Free Membership. The Free Membership still has a lot of useful resources available at no charge. You can list your business in our directory, use our sourcing library for free, participate in our events, stay up on local fashion industry opportunities for your business, and more.

A membership adds you to our community. It enables you to use our resources and stay connected with others and with the industry. Once in our community, you can manage your experience under one account. Whether you take a class, attend an event, buy a service, use the calendar, use the classifieds, or use the directory, you can manage your experience in one master account with us. Once you're in the community, we can keep you updated on events, jobs, classes, and other industry opportunities that any fashion professional or fashion lover should know about.

If you want to start, or already own, a brand that makes a cut and sewn product, you are an apparel entrepreneur in our eyes.
There are a lot of things you'll need.... prototypes, manufacturing, branding, marketing, and business development. You may already have some of these handled on your own or you may be brand new and starting from scratch. Either way, we want to help you through the complex steps and processes involved. So, we've created a road map that guides you through every detailed step along your journey. The road map contains intensive video lessons, micro how-to videos, contracts, downloadables, industry resources, check lists, organizational tools, links, and SEW much more! The Apparel Entrepreneur Membership is your access to that road map.
Simply getting a sewn product prototyped and then manufactured takes hundreds of complex steps that require a lot of industry knowledge and experience. You, or someone from your team, needs to manage these steps and make sure your product is moving along. This person needs to check (or quality control) each step along the way for accuracy. This person needs to provide what the factory needs in order to make your product properly to your expectations. The Apparel Entrepreneur Membership guides you through the steps and gives you the instructions and advice along the way to navigate around the obstacles. It's like having your very own Production Manager and Quality Control Guide on your team. In order for a factory to do it's job making your product, they need you to do your job and provide what they need in industry language using industry-standard methods. This membership helps you do that.

Although we do offer some free classes, services, space rentals, and events, there are fees for many of these. However, we do price our classes, services (design, branding, manufacturing, etc...), space rentals, and events at below-market rates. Also, the Apparel Entrepreneur Membership fee is for the first year. Then your credit card will automatically be renewed at $9.95/month starting in the second year of your membership. You can chose to downgrade your membership to the Free Membership option at that time if you wish.