Main St. Industries has organized a fair this weekend in Soho. If you’re in the area, head over for artisanal chocolates, avant-garde jewelry, and other unique products made locally. The lineup includes HeartSleeves favorites Dirty Librarian Chains and ELSA AND ME.
Click here for more info
This just in: Print Liberation has teamed up with the Save the Garment Center to create tees and totes, proceeds of which benefit STGC. Show your NYC fashion pride with these super affordable pieces:
STGC promotes fashion companies and brands who design and produce quality clothing in the Garment District and in New York City. There are 24,000 apparel manufacturing jobs in New York City that make this domestic clothing production possible, and STGC creates transparent access to all of these resources for the future designers of America. These resources enable new fashion entrepreneurs to start a business and a fashion line leading to the creation of American jobs.
Daniel Silverstein, the brilliant creative director of 100%NY, agreed to lend me one of his gorgeous creations for a wedding I attended over the weekend. Being about to launch Modavanti, I obviously like to take every possible opportunity to show off just how great sustainable fashion can look, and what better way to do so than with this dress from 100%’s upcoming Resort collection?
The dress is just about as sustainable as you can get. Made from eco-friendly modal, the pattern is cut to be zero waste, meaning that every scrap of fabric is incorporated into the garment. (For more about 100% NY’s zero waste method, check out our earlier brand profile). The dress is also sewn by Daniel on an electric, energy-saving sewing machine in his studio in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
So to recap Continue reading
Baggu:
1. The Japanese word for “bag”
2. An awesome company located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn that makes sustainable reusable bags in many shapes and colors.
I visited the Baggu headquarters a few weeks ago, and just last week purchased my very first Baggu bag: the backpack in coral.
Amy Matto has always been passionate about fashion, and she’s always had a lot to say about it. When she and her then-boyfriend, now-husband bumped into Michael Kors and Donna Karan during their Caribbean vacation five years ago, she had a lot to say as well, but she said it later to her boyfriend. Most of the statements began: “If I had a fashion line, I would…” To which boyfriend finally replied, “Just do it!”
Fast-forward five years and we find Amy sitting in her gorgeous 12th floor studio on 38th street, in the heart of New York City’s garment district. Now, she’s the founder and designer of a contemporary women’s dress collection that has been worn by the likes of Halle Berry and Sharon Stone. Her line is entirely manufactured here in the city, and she maintains a great relationship with her factory, which is only a few blocks away.
Amy put in the leg work to get where she is, literally. She didn’t have any formal training in fashion, because, she explained, you just don’t go to school to become a fashion designer when you’re from Wisconsin. So, once she decided to break into the industry, she hopped on the subway and spent two years traversing the garment district, learning everything she could about the business.
During that time, Continue reading
