Month of Design: Spotlight on the ISAIC + Carhartt Fashion Experience Vendors

The upcoming Month of Design: ISAIC + Carhartt Fashion Experience on September 11, 2024 from 4:30-6:30 will be a fantastic showcase of some of the most talented sustainable fashion designers in the Detroit area. Let's take a closer look at the vendors who will be participating: 

Jordan Jones - Regular Clothing 

A sustainable clothing brand based in Detroit, Regular Clothing was created by Jordan Jones with a focus on using vintage and secondhand materials to create unique, handmade pieces. Follow them on Instagram at @regular.us. 

Stacy Kelly - Skelly 

Skelly is an indie design label specializing in handmade sustainable goods, founded by Detroit-based designer Stacy Kelly. Check them out on Instagram at @_s_k_e_l_l_y_. 

Madison Muszynski - 707CLOTHINGHEAVEN 

707CLOTHINGHEAVEN is an experimental, bespoke clothing brand centered around sustainability and low-waste practices. They work directly with customers to create custom pieces using recycled materials. Find them on Instagram at @707CLOTHINGHEAVEN. 

Justin Mckinstry - Kopa Apparel 

Kopa Apparel is a Detroit brand deeply rooted in family, culture, and environmental responsibility. The name "Kopa" reflects their commitment to borrowing from the earth responsibly. Follow them on Instagram at @kopaapparel. 

Antony Paul - Douentza x Joob 

Douentza and Joob are two brands coming together to create elevated, premium apparel. Douentza focuses on sustainable men's pants, while Joob makes stylish outdoor gear. Catch them on Instagram at @Joobwear. 

Bridgett Rice - B. Jacklean 

B. Jacklean is a sustainable fashion and upcycle brand, creating one-of-a-kind accessories out of denim and leather scraps. Find their rare and exclusive pieces on Instagram at @Bjacklean. 

Sydni Warner - Sewn By Syd 

Sewn By Syd is a Black woman-owned company specializing in custom clothing and hair protection products like satin and velvet bonnets and durags. Follow them on Instagram at @sewn_bysyd. 

Dayjon Hicks - Beast Original 

Beast Original aims to empower individuals to unleash their inner strength and achieve their goals. Their brand embodies the spirit of being unstoppable, fearless, and fierce. Check them out on Instagram at @beast.original. 

Gerard Nickles - Gerard Designs 

Gerard Designs creates handmade, wearable art pieces from locally sourced fabrics, with a focus on sophistication and attention to detail. Find them on Instagram at @Gerard.Designs.   

Allison Vicenzi - VICENZI Design & Repairs 

VICENZI is a circular clothing and accessories brand designed and operated by Allison Vicenzi, an ISAIC FISP alumna. They use natural materials and dyes and host DIY workshops. Follow them on Instagram at @vicenzi.design. 

Zahra Jassmin - Tajdid LLC 

Tajdid's mission is to reduce textile waste by saving abandoned fabrics from landfills and turning them into original, handmade accessories. The name "Tajdid" means "renewal" in Arabic. 

Don't miss your chance to connect with these incredible sustainable fashion designers at the Month of Design: ISAIC + Carhartt Fashion Experience on September 11, 2024 from 4:30-6:30. We can't wait to see what they have in store! 

Industry Member Spotlight: ISAIC

Original story here: MiMfg Magazine

When you look in your closet, unless you have a passion for American fashion, you're not likely to find much clothing that was made in the U.S. While we’re fortunate to have iconic Michigan-made clothing brands such as Stormy Kromer and Carhartt, it’s estimated that less than 3 percent of the apparel worn in the U.S. is made domestically.

Thankfully, the Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center (ISAIC), a Michigan-based 501c3 nonprofit with a fundamentally new approach to talent force development and economic stimulus, is committed to changing the dynamic of domestic apparel and soft goods manufacturing. ISAIC can best be described as a learning factory.

“We started planning ISAIC in 2017, and we've been operational for two years,” says Jennifer Guarino, ISAIC President and CEO. “Our goal is to simultaneously advance skills alongside technology solutions. We believe this leads to a much healthier supply chain

The Best Advice I Ever Got

Start every potential problem or confrontation by giving people the benefit of the doubt.

Best Part of My Job

We can have a lasting impact on an industry that needs to get better for people and the planet.

They considered postponing ISAIC's opening until after the manufacturing shutdown caused by the pandemic, Guarino says. But they quickly found that their resources were needed to pitch in with the production of personal protection (PPE) products. “We concentrated on PPE for the first nine months,” Guarino says.

Guarino's early career focused on fashion illustration, creative direction, product design and development but, after transitioning to business development, she became a key player in the manufacturing world. She was named Minnesota Manufacturing Awards CEO of the year in 2012. She then came to Detroit to create Shinola’s leather manufacturing unit.

ISAIC’s learning and manufacturing factory is located in the heart of Detroit, in a space donated by Carhartt, and it is far from the stereotypical manufacturing environment.

“Training and production happen under large skylights with music playing,” says Guarino. “There are a lot of windows and plants and an onsite cafe.”

One Skill Everyone Should Have

Hard skill: Using Microsoft Excel.
Soft skill: Being able to really listen.

The Last Book I Read

Carrying the Fire by Appollo 11 astronaut, Michael Collins. It’s amazing how he says he was full of self doubt.

As a contract manufacturer, ISAIC produces the highest quality garments for major clothing brands. They also have alliances with industry leaders like Autodesk, Juki (an equipment manufacturer) and the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Institute, to help them test and implement emerging technologies in the soft goods manufacturing industry.

But ISAIC's true focus is always on people and the planet, paying attention to diversity, equity and inclusion as well as responsible manufacturing practices and sustainability. They start their education process by offering a Fundamentals of Industrial Sewing and Production certificate, and their curriculum is being used by community colleges, other nonprofits and manufacturers in nine other states.

ISAIC offers paid apprenticeships for sewing personnel at all skill levels in their own factory. They also partner with industry leading soft goods manufacturers to help ensure that their production teams are trained in traditional skills with the latest technologies, they are paid a living wage with benefits and they have access to advanced training and upward mobility.

“If people are not attracted to your industry, you have to look at why. When you understand why, then you can begin to change that,” Guarino says.

Growing Detroit Apparel Manufacturing Industry Takes Lead on Sustainability Innovation

Original Story here: Crain’s Detroit Business, June 17, 2022

Click here for a pdf version of the story.

While Detroit has been recognized as the Motor City for the last century, another manufacturing industry has been growing over the last decade.

Small apparel manufacturing businesses have popped up around the city and nearby suburbs and are taking on big issues.

As most fashion brands are importing products from factories overseas, the remaining pockets of American apparel making largely remain in the Carolinas, California and the Pacific Northwest. However, industry leaders in metro Detroit say the area's businesses offer a fresh perspective of what apparel manufacturing could be, rather than a continuation of what it has been.

I think that we can develop this region as an ethical Silicon Valley for apparel manufacturing," said Jennifer Guarino, founder and CEO of Detroit-based nonprofit Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center.

While ISAIC had been in the works for a few years, it officially launched April 2020 in a 12,000 square-foot Midtown Detroit space funded by Carhartt Inc. The organization continues to operate above Carhartt's flagship store on Cass Avenue with a staff of 33.

"Everyone in this industry here is really trying to challenge the existing model," said Brenna Lane, co-owner of jean manufacturer Detroit Denim Co.

Within the last few decades, a phenomenon called "fast fashion" has taken over the industry. Brands including Forever 21, H&M, Shein and ZARA produce new garments quickly and cheaply. Such practices include competing to reduce costs and improve bottom lines by compromising quality, paying the lowest wages and risking inadequate work conditions.”

"You have to really be considering a triple bottom line approach to truly be sustainable," Lane said. The triple bottom line takes into account the financial cost, along with social and environmental costs.

Over the last few years, the fashion industry has been singled out for its perpetuation of unethical labor standards and environmental consequences. Concurrently, Lane said that she has witnessed an increase in greenwashing, a form of deceptive marketing in which a company purports to be taking sustainable initiatives to attract customers and distance itself from its industry's environmental concerns.

"On the one hand, I think I get really frustrated by that," Lane said. "… On the other hand, it lets me know that people are starting to demand that their brands be showing some sort of sustainability initiative."

"The curtain's been pulled back on the industry, so it's not going to be out of sight, out of mind anymore," Guarino said.

Role of innovation

Balancing a triple bottom line in apparel manufacturing must include innovations in technology, Guarino said. "So many chase the lowest unit price," Guarino said. "If you don't overproduce and chase that unit price, all those resources that you're dumping, by choice, can go toward paying labor — domestic labor." ISAIC's equipment includes programmable sewing machines, laser cutters and multi-ply cutting machines.

"Instead of having people earn low wages doing menial tasks, you deploy tech to do those, then you can actually afford to pay more at a higher-skilled contribution," Guarino said. Over the next nine months, ISAIC is expected to see more advancements in technology, she said.

'Unit of one'

Detroit Denim operates out of a 5,000-square-foot space on Detroit's west sidewith a seven-person staff. The entire business runs on a made-to-order model, Lane said, to which the company pivoted in May 2021 in efforts to reduce waste.

"We're no longer speculatively manufacturing and saying 'You know, I think this many in a size this are going to order jeans,'" Lane said.

Since the new model's launch, Lane said she has seen proof of concept that jeans can be made profitably without a large inventory. The product is also customizable to each customer's size and style preferences.

Other local companies in the industry are offering similar models.

Dearborn-based Carhartt, which has a global workforce of more than 5,500 people, is testing a program that allows users to customize their workwear. For example, a left-handed construction worker could move the hammer loop on their pants to the left side. The program is in partnership with DXM, a technology platform that enables companies to custom fit, personalize or co-create products.

"Making sure that there's no waste, that you're not overbuilding inventory, a lot of the focus has been about this idea of a unit of one," said Alex Guerrero, senior vice president and general manager of global product at Carhartt.

Founded in 1889, Carhartt operates and owns four manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and three in Mexico. Carhartt's revenue was $1.35 billion last year, according to Crain's Data Center.

The family-owned company began as a workwear manufacturer for railroad engineers, the "astronauts of the day." It now sources or manufactures in nearly 20 countries. Of the 35 retail stores across the United States, two are in Michigan with its flagship store in Detroit. One of its largest U.S. customers is Tennessee-based farm and ranch supply store Tractor Supply Co.

Detroit Sewn, a Pontiac-based cut-and-sew operation that also sells retail from its space, has also shifted to a made-to-order model for its brand to minimize waste. The company manufactures in its own facility and sometimes imports blank apparel — clothing without any decoration for brands to add designs — when orders cannot be fulfilled in-house.

"This is us doing our part to prevent waste, which the apparel industry is so widely known for and such an abuser of, so we don't keep big stockpiles of inventory," Detroit Sewn President and CEO Karen Buscemi said.

In addition to Detroit Sewn, Buscemi founded nonprofit Detroit Garment Group in 2012, which provides educational programs on the business of fashion, mentorships and connections to job opportunities in the industry.

"Of all the fashion programs that we have in the state … none of them were teaching anything about the business of fashion. So they were all graduating them with the skills to be a fashion designer, but not to actually do anything with that other than go to work for somebody else," Buscemi said.

Skilled workforce

The lack of local skilled sewers has pivoted businesses to include training in their hiring process. "We really do have to train a lot in-house, and we've just worked that into our model," Detroit Denim's Lane said. Offering competitive wages and a healthy work environment is also important to keep turnover low, she said.

Since its launch in 2020, ISAIC has graduated 25 students from its in-house Fundamentals of Industrial Sewing and Production course. While ISAIC's focus is on apparel, Guarino said the organization's programs and solutions are also applicable to manufacturing soft goods, or textile products like automotive interiors, bedding and carpet. Local cut-and-sew companies have hired some of the graduates, including Detroit Denim.

Gettees, an apparel basics company operating out of a factory in Sterling Heights, was inspired by a college assignment.

Mat Hunt was at Michigan State University working on a case study of the garment industry when he came across reports about the 2013 Dhaka garment factory collapse in Bangladesh, an event that spotlighted labor concerns in fashion.

As a result of what he learned, Hunt said he strives to keep all aspects of Gettees local. Cotton is sourced from the U.S., and the design, cut and sew steps are done in its Sterling Heights factory with a production staff of about 15. "Some of our first sewers had a lot of experience in automotive sewing," Hunt said. Overall, however, extensive training is built into the onboarding process at Gettees.

"Part of the challenge is wherever you go in this country, we can't find talent," Guarino said. With continued efforts, Guarino said she envisions major fashion brands reshoring production to Detroit.

According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of apparel manufacturing employees in the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn area increased by 61.6 percent, from 716 workers in 2011 to 1,157 in 2021. BLS data also showed an increase in the number of private apparel manufacturing establishments nationwide over the course of 2021 — from 6,304 companies in the first quarter to to 6,526 in the fourth quarter.

"If we can build a really great talent force here, the industry will come here in a heartbeat," Guarino said.

Pivoting during COVID-19

As storefronts shut down at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, apparel manufacturers in metro Detroit found a way to contribute — and keep their businesses afloat.

ISAIC, Gettees, Detroit Denim, Detroit Sewn and others pivoted from their usual production lines and committed their factories to making personal protective equipment for hospitals, nonprofits and community organizations.

"It supplied PPE, but it kept some of those businesses open," Guarino said.

Detroit Sewn fulfilled mask and isolation gown orders as large as 75,000 units. "I think we learned a lot about what a little factory really can do," Buscemi said.

At Gettees, "The growth definitely leveled off a little bit because of COVID, but we felt lucky enough to keep people working, and sewing masks and gowns and helping out," Hunt said.

Online shopping also heavily increased during the pandemic and gave brands an opportunity to continue sales and decelerate revenue declines.

Hunt said that while Gettees has a brick-and-mortar store in Eastern Market, about 80 percent of sales come from e-commerce. Last year, Gettees' online sales were up 100 percent last year over the previous year, Hunt said, and it is projected to double again this year.

Lane said she and her husband, who founded the company, had to shut down Detroit Denim's storefront during the pandemic and online sales enabled them to stay afloat. However, they're planning to reopen their brick-and-mortar shop this fall.

"I think it's (Detroit) a really great place to challenge the industry," Lane said.

ISAIC, Michigan Women Forward team up to spur women-owned fashion businesses

Original Story here: Crain’s Detroit Business, March 28, 2022

Click here for a pdf version of the story.

Michigan Women Forward and the Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center are teaming up to launch and grow women-owned fashion businesses in Southeast Michigan.

The two organizations in May will begin a pilot program aimed at helping 10 local fashion brands launch or grow their businesses.

"Fashion Forward: Advancing Entrepreneurs" will prepare designers and entrepreneurs with the skills needed to manufacture their products, coaching on operating a business and low-rate financing to support business growth.

If successful, the pilot could serve as a model to help launch women-owned businesses in other industries, as well, MWF leaders say.

There's often a gap between the art of designing and the realities of production and understanding the business, ISAIC President and CEO Jen Guarino said in a statement.

"There are so many gifted individuals who excel in the creativity of their visual design but are unprepared for how to design for manufacturing or with business principles in mind," she said.

Those entrepreneurs are unable to secure manufacturing partners given their lack of familiarity with technical parameters and protocols of fashion systems.

This pilot program will better prepare them to succeed, she said.

Women often struggle to break into the fashion industry due to a lack of access to financing and expertise, MWF President and CEO Carolyn Cassin said. The new program will pair ISAIC's industry knowledge with MWF's expertise in starting and growing a business.

"This is a match made in heaven we both have skills and ability," Cassin said. "We thought if we work together, we could launch more (fashion) businesses."

The William Davidson Foundation is supporting the pilot program with a $50,000 grant.

The grant will pay for the entrepreneurs to participate in basic industrial sewing and business education programs with both ISAIC and MWF and also provide them with a $1,500 stipend for entrepreneurs stepping away from their fledgling businesses or other jobs to take part in the program.

Participants in one of four, seven-week cohorts will go through ISAIC's "Fundamentals of Industrial Sewing and Production" curriculum addressing the fundamentals entrepreneurs need to take their product to manufacturing.

They'll also take part in a one-day workshop covering the basics of owning their own fashion business and providing a road map for the steps they need to take to prepare.

"We can provide technical assistance and guidance on where to take their business, but we're not here to provide financial information or training" and don't have the resources MWF has, said Ann Fitzpatrick, communications consultant to ISAIC.

After entrepreneurs complete the educational programs offered by ISAIC, MWF will take it from there, providing the entrepreneurs with basic business education. They'll learn things like cash projection and other financial knowledge needed to become a competent business owner, Cassin said.

At the end of the program, the fashion startups will be eligible for low-fee microloans of $5,000-$50,000 from MWF to help launch their businesses.

"We think it will take 6 weeks to three months to get these businesses up and running," Cassin said.

Applications for the first cohort of "Fashion Forward: Advancing Entrepreneurs" are due by April 15.

The pilot could serve as a model to grow women-owned businesses in other industries, Cassin said.

"If you think about it, what prohibits women from getting their business out of their kitchen?" she said. "Just because they make a mean cookie doesn't mean they know enough about the food production or distribution system."

If the pilot can help propel the launch and growth of local fashion brands "we're going to do it again and again and...use it as a model with other industries like food businesses (and) health and beauty," Cassin said.

Success Stories: Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center

Original Story at MEDC

Preparing the Ecosystem to Support a Fashion Industry in Detroit is a Marathon, Not a Sprint

Fashion and apparel manufacturing nonprofit propels industry forward in Detroit – and combats COVID-19 – with support from MEDC programs.

Detroit is famous for its manufacturing heritage and innovative spirit, but in the last few years, the Motor City is steering the way towards a more sustainable future beyond the automotive industry. Thanks to strategic partnerships with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC)’s Pure Michigan Business Connect (PMBC) program, the city has grown into a booming hub for fashion.

One of the trendsetters in this space is the Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center (ISAIC). Formed as a nonprofit in 2018, ISAIC is “fashioning the future” right in the heart of Detroit. With an approach rooted in the manufacturing history of the city and a commitment to social and environmental responsibility, ISAIC is moving the fashion and apparel industry forward.

In 2019, ISAIC began working with the PMBC program to help create a sustainable, community empowered ecosystem for apparel manufacturing with an innovative approach to facility design, application of technology and advanced career path development. Jen Guarino, ISAIC President, and at the time, VP of Manufacturing at Shinola, sought PMBC’s help in bringing more awareness and support to eventually build an apparel manufacturing facility in the city of Detroit. Momentum was building, with Guarino and her team having several positive conversations with Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (DEGC), PMBC, and the city of Detroit about a facility and partnership.

Then, the pandemic hit, disrupting every industry in the state and across the world. True to its mission to be a model for change and social responsibility, ISAIC shifted its focus.

The organization played a big role in Michigan’s “Arsenal of Innovation” to combat the spread of COVID-19 during the early months of the pandemic. In April 2020, PMBC launched the PMBC COVID-19 Emergency Access and Retooling Grant to help in-state manufacturers retool production lines to produce needed PPE for hospitals and front-line workers to combat the pandemic. Already working with local and state leaders to attract and train apparel businesses and workers, ISAIC pivoted its training and manufacturing efforts from apparel to isolation gowns and masks to address the shortage of PPE. Thanks to $150,000 from the Emergency Access and Retooling Grant, over 550,000 disposable face masks and 500,000 isolation gowns were manufactured.

“ISAIC’s reason for being is to continuously lead in workforce development by piloting and training on the technologies that serve the industry now and in the future. ISAIC will do so in a way that defies outdated models by providing people-centric environments, ongoing learning, equity in growth and a commitment to ethical practices. We plan to serve as a leading model for change.” Jen Guarino, President and CEO, ISAIC

The PMBC grant gave the organization the opportunity to hire and train more employees, with its apprentices earning experience that would allow them to attract U.S. brands to Detroit beyond the pandemic. From early 2020 to the beginning of 2021, ISAIC hired employees to increase the talent force for domestic apparel manufacturing, while providing PPE to healthcare and essential front-line workers.

Guarino and her team, now armed with a workforce possessing needed experience in the apparel manufacturing industry, are poised for even more growth. The latest feather in the cap for ISAIC’s partnership with MEDC came in January 2022, when Guarino and her team were offered an incentive package from the Jobs Ready Michigan Program, a program created by the Michigan Strategic Fund to meet the talent needs of companies expanding or relocating to Michigan. The package included $259,000 to support 47 new jobs in three years, with a capital investment of $550,000.

“ISAIC’s success is only possible with visionary partners like PMBC and MEDC,” added Guarino. “With their support, we are building a sustainably advanced manufacturing hub right here in Michigan and pioneering how the industry can look in the future.”

“PMBC and the MEDC understand the importance of supporting our state’s industries and finding collaborative approaches to serve those creating, manufacturing, and innovating in new industries,” said Natalie Chmiko, Vice President of Pure Michigan Business Connect and International Trade. “PMBC has been working hard to expand partnerships within the design, textiles and fashion space due to the high level of manufacturing skill it requires. This sector has the potential to harness creative minds and has a broad applicability for makers in the space to impact Michigan’s many industries for decades to come. We look forward to continuing to support groups like ISAIC and others looking to establish a strong foundation for broad economic, job creating growth.”

MEDC and Pure Michigan Business Connect’s ongoing support of ISAIC is the ultimate fashion collab. Find inspiration and design the future of your business by visiting michiganbusiness.org/pure-partnership/.

Defining the Future of Fashion in Detroit Comes with its Own Roadblocks

Original Story in Detroit IsIt, January 12, 2022

Preparing the Ecosystem to Support a Fashion Industry in Detroit is a Marathon, Not a Sprint

In the first article within this series on fashion in Detroit, ‘Detroit Built the Automotive Industry, But Can It Build a Fashion Industry,’ we asked the question “Why Detroit?” and took a look at the dynamics of the city when it comes to building this new industry. 

Here, we’ll look at where the industry actually stands today in Detroit, the roadblocks, and what industry players are doing to face them head-on.

THE STATE OF THE INDUSTRY

When you ask those involved what the fashion industry looks like today in Detroit, you’ll hear pixelated, growing but under-recognized, and underexposed.  To be sure, a ripple has started, a movement is beginning to form, but there are challenges for a city like Detroit that doesn’t have the ecosystem or the credibility in place – yet.

Says Cassidy Tucker, Co-Owner of DEVIATE, “Detroit is not currently recognized for fashion, which is our greatest weakness as an emerging industry. Trying to compete with established, high fashion cities is tough. The narrative is not there yet for Detroit, we don’t have the global eye. Conversely, this is also our greatest strength in that we can develop the industry the way we want to – and we will.”

There is no question that those involved have a passion and relentless drive to put Detroit on the fashion map.

Says Global Brand Marketing and Communications Consultant, Chris Chen

All players want the same thing – to create this nontraditional fashion industry in Detroit. We are not there yet but the pieces of the puzzle are starting to come together. The building blocks are being laid now.

So, what are the challenges, and the building blocks being laid?

THE CHALLENGES

According to those involved, the three most significant challenges Detroit is facing are; lack of programming and workforce development, lack of a full supply chain, and overall lack of awareness that would serve to give the city credibility.

We’ll begin with workforce development.

Until now, relocation to New York or LA was the path for local talent interested in pursuing work within the fashion industry. Several initiatives and collaborations are forming to change that … to put education and the foundation in place to keep young talent here. It’s definitely a work in progress.

Jen Guarino, President, and CEO of ISAIC says

“While established brands like Shinola and Carhartt are thriving, we currently don’t have sufficient programming to support entrepreneurs and start-ups and that’s what we are working toward. We need to build education and the career path to get them there – training and mentoring with an eye toward the future.”

With a mission to offer education, apprenticeships, and career opportunities, this is the very thing ISAIC was developed to address, and Carhartt has partnered to support it.

In 2018 Carhartt donated 12,000 square feet of prime Detroit real estate, as well as funds for a $1.8 million buildout and a beginning inventory of sewing machinery for the ISAIC factory. This factory puts people on the front line of new technologies and leads the way to advanced manufacturing and innovation while creating solid career paths.

Says Gretchen R. Valade, Director of Sustainability at Carhartt “with ISAIC, we share a mutual passion for Detroit, a shared vision to support the hardest working people in America, and a commitment toward building the workforce and ecosystem to develop and sustain a strong and unique fashion industry here.”

Many uber-popular Carhartt beanies are being manufactured by those in the apprentice program with ISAIC.

Meanwhile, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Southeastern Michigan (BGCSM) is doubling down on the future of fashion in Detroit by partnering with Ponyride, DEVIATE and Detroit is the New Black to present Industry Club. This after-school program has connected over 300 of the city’s youth 15 – 18 interested in design, retail, or fashion merchandising careers to designers like Ruthie Davis and brands such as Moosejaw, and Foot Locker over the past year.

Shares Shawn Wilson, BGCSM President, and CEO, “We’re engaging talent and establishing opportunities for kids in Detroit neighborhoods toward a pathway of being featured in downtown Detroit and beyond – that’s so powerful for these kids and it’s building the future of the industry here.”

BGCSM INDUSTRY CLUB PROGRAM WITH DETROIT IS THE NEW BLACK

Educators are working to feed the pipeline as well. College for Creative studies launched a new fashion design program this Fall. And in a unique trade/secondary education partnership, ISAIC has established a special schedule for a series of classes that convert to credits at CCS.

Furthermore, CCS recently announced a joint venture with the PENSOLE Design Academy, a footwear design academy currently located in Portland OR, which will move to Detroit and relaunch Michigan’s only Historically Black College and University (HBCU) as PENSOLE Lewis College of Business and Design (PLC). PLC will open in 2022 on CCS’s campus. Carhartt and PLC will co-create a Carhartt Certified Masterclass to introduce and inspire Black youth on what it takes to have a career at Carhartt and the apparel and footwear industries. will be involved in onboarding interns and assisting with certain processes with PENSOLE.

Vice President, Strategy and Communications at College for Creative Studies and Executive Director of Design Core Detroit Olga Stella shares, “This is a gamechanger – a huge step in inclusivity that will change the landscape and open more opportunities for all.”

SHINING THE LIGHT

Design Core Detroit, is yet another entity heavily involved in shining a light on Detroit’s design talent. Founded in 2010, Design Core Detroit is a nonprofit that champions design-driven businesses and acts as a steward of the city’s 2015 designation as a UNESCO City of Design, a recognition the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization bestows to celebrate the unique design industries of select cities around the world. Detroit is the only U.S. city to have earned the distinction.

Another way Design Core is showcasing Detroit’s designers is through its Design in the City Program, powered by a $45,000 grant from Gucci Changemakers North America Impact Fund and focused on providing opportunities for fashion and accessory designers, particularly women and people of color.

The design sisters and co-owners of DEVIATE, Kelsey, and Cassidy Tucker have made it their mission to showcase underrecognized Detroit talent, establishing The Lost Artists Collective. Their idea is to pull together “overlooked ideas” and shine a spotlight on them via a shared concept collection encompassing over 50 Detroit designers that will be featured in New York’s Union Square in February, something that’s never been done before.

More and more people are taking notice of Detroit’s potential. Last year, Gucci teamed up with Tommey Walker of Detroit Vs Everybody for a capsule collection of T-shirts for the Gucci Changemakers social impact initiative. Then, shocking to many, the world-renowned label Bottega Veneta presented its exclusive Salon 03 show in Detroit in October – a gamechanger for the city.

Further, several Detroit-native designers such as Tracy Reese, Shawna McGee, and Kevan Hall are returning to the city in different ways to pay homage and build up the next generation.

This brings us to our next challenge – the lack of a supply chain. As Detroit gains credibility in the space, opportunities for larger partnerships and funding should follow, opening doors for enhanced technology and a more robust ecosystem.

“When Bottega came to town it took a lot of work to set things up to support a great show,” said Valade. “We aren’t set up with all of the right equipment, technology, and skills to turn something like that on a dime, but we’re getting there.”

Stella adds, “We clearly don’t have a tight garment, and designers are now traveling between Detroit and New York to source certain things. This will take time to develop in Detroit.”

Notes Guarino, “The investment Carhartt made in ISAIC is a huge start. It showed the world that the industry is worth investing in here. We need to continue to find partners to invest like this so that we can identify gaps and work on building a centralized ecosystem.”

Detroit Built the Automotive Industry, But Can it Build a Fashion Industry?

Original Story in Detroit IsIt, January 4, 2022

Is Detroit the Next New York, Paris or Milan of Fashion? What Will it Take to Develop the Talent and Ecosystem Toward a Socially and Economically Sustainable Fashion Industry

Can a city that’s known for building cars, one day in the not too distant future become known as the “silicon valley” of apparel manufacturing? Bottega Veneta recently put on its Summer 2022 collection direct from Milan to the Motor City. Is a Detroit fashion’s next destination?

Some believe so, thus we have decided to take a deeper look into the realistic opportunities, roadblocks, implications, and the future of Detroit fashion through an upcoming series of articles focused on the possibility.

We begin here with the how and the why.

BUILDING A COMPLETELY NEW INDUSTRY FOR DETROIT

When we think “industry” in Detroit – we think cars. For better or worse, through innovation and growth, decline and crisis followed by regrowth, there’s deep and rich history in this space.

After weathering the automotive industry crisis and the Great Recession, the rebound of the auto industry over the last ten years has been driving new demand for engineering talent in Michigan, and now the state is the number one employer of industrial engineers, employing nearly twice as many mechanical engineers than any other state.

Meanwhile, Detroit has also expanded into the tech and finance industries with big corporations like Google and Microsoft, alongside Quicken, taking up residence and calling to white collar professionals. Simultaneously, tech innovation in autonomy and mobility is significantly framing the future of the auto industry in Detroit. A case in point is Ford Motor Company’s purchase and renovation of Michigan Central with the aim of developing a mega design and technology mecca in Corktown, steps from the downtown.

“What Rouge was to Ford in the industrial age, Corktown can be for Ford in the information age,” former Ford President and CEO Jim Hackett said in a released statement. “It will be the proving ground where Ford and our partner’s design and test the services and solutions for the way people are going to live and get around tomorrow.”

Albeit fashion is not top of mind as we think about industry in Detroit, when you peel back the layers, it’s really not all that outlandish to think that the technology utilized in building cars can transfer to manufacturing apparel. In fact, it becomes rather obvious.

Manufacturing is part of our DNA in Detroit, says Bailey Zurawski, VP of Operations at Shinola. People here want to make things – we grew up with parents and grandparents doing so. Every person in our building here at Shinola has some connection to the automotive industry and a pride in making great things that last.

There seems to be a movement underway, a new fashion ecosystem being developed that starts with technology and manufacturing – areas in which Detroit shines.

Says Aki Choklat, Fashion Design Chair at College for Creative Studies, “The very unique thing about Detroit is, whatever manufacturing is needed regardless of industry, there is someone who knows how to make it within a 20 mile radius of the College. So many things go into a car that translate to other industries. One simple example is rubber … which translates directly to shoe outsoles.  The list goes on. We have the infrastructure and the talent – it’s just a question of tapping into it for other things.”

Jen Guarino, President, and CEO of ISAIC echoes this sentiment, saying

The expertise we have in supply chain management, digital transformation, automation, technology, is knowledge we can call upon to review, assess, critique, and validate to create new processes for an apparel industry here.

BEYOND AUTOMOTIVE – WHY DETROIT? 

There is a convergence of existing and emerging cultural dynamics that uniquely position Detroit as – quite possibly – the future epicenter of a new kind of fashion industry in the U.S.

Consider the following…

AN EYE FOR DESIGN 

KELSEY TUCKER, CO-OWNER OF DEVIATE

Detroit’s globally unique stock of architectural monuments and historic places exemplify a history rich in design. The city has long been a creative hotspot, with legendary product designers and architects such as 20th-century icons Eames, Knoll, Saarinen, and Yamasaki.

In 2015, Detroit earned the distinction of becoming the first and only city in the United States to be designated as a UNESCO City of Design, joining a network of 31 design cities and 180 cities in the worldwide network that are focused on leveraging creativity as an engine for sustainable and equitable development.

CREATIVE ROOTS

Detroit has always been a symbol of, and for American culture, particularly in music, with the city giving rise to the genres of Motown and techno, and playing an important role in the development of jazz, hip hop, rock, and punk.

1991 brought on a unique to Detroit cultural phenomenon that began among hair salons which evolved into the Detroit Hair Wars. Trendsetting salons in the city ushered in this trend that still exists today.

SHOPPING AND RETAIL

In the 60s Detroit was certainly a shopping destination, with Woodward Avenue being home to iconic brands such as Hudson’s, Crowleys, Kresge’s, and more and the Avenue of Fashion on Livernois, touting huge retail names such as B. Siegel, Billy’s Clothing Store, Mamzell’s Custom Hats, Hudson’s, Sibley’s Shoes, and Jacobson’s.

During the 1950s, Northland Center, located in Southfield, MI, less than 30 minutes from downtown was the world’s largest shopping center, and first regional shopping center, when it opened on March 22, 1954. Albeit, for many, its construction heralded the beginning of the end for downtown Detroit’s shopping district and the beginning of suburban shopping malls, this was yet another marker in the relevance of Detroit’s place with retail.

During the 80s and 90s, many of these retailers suffered and closed their doors due to population and financial losses that accompanied the recession.

Over the past handful of years, some have rebuilt in significant ways.

Today on Woodward Ave independent retailers such as Detroit is the New Black, and House of Pure Vin amongst recently opened big box stores such as Nike, H&M, and Under Armour. In 2019 the Avenue of Fashion on Livernois, located between 7, and the famed 8 mile, underwent a massive street renovation project and is beginning to thrive again, anchored by African-American owned small businesses.

DETERMINATION TO BUILD AND DEVELOP

One simply needs to look around to read this message. “Detroit Hustles Harder,” “Nothing Stops Detroit,” and the more die-hard empowered mission statement that is “Detroit vs. Everybody” are taglines written on the city’s fashion branded T’s and hoodies. The city’s murals scream it. The people exemplify it. Detroit is a community that builds and rebuilds.

Coming to Detroit from such a different culture in London I was blown away , said Choklat. There is a sense of opportunity, fantastic design and architecture, and it feels unspoiled, energetic and new. In Europe everything is done – manicured, perfect. I drive down Woodward and see something new every day. It’s a constant state of new development – and that breeds more development.

Kelsey Tucker, Co-Founder of DEVIATE weighs in, saying that the “Midwest energy and Detroit pride is palpable – you can feel it. And it’s our superpower.”

THE IT FACTOR

“There is a cool factor here that cannot be denied,” says Choklat. “The Carhartt ‘Detroit working man’s brand is all over Europe.”

He points to one story that says it all… “I was recently in New York taking public transportation and there was a woman who kept looking at me. She finally approached me and said, “I noticed your bag is from Detroit, do you live there?’ I replied yes, and she just kind of stared and said, “that must be so cool.”

ONE THING IS CLEAR, DETROIT WILL NOT BUILD A “TRADITIONAL” FASHION INDUSTRY

Detroit seems to do things differently. Those involved in building this fashion foundation share a mutual goal toward developing an inclusive, equitable, and socially sustainable fashion industry in Detroit – the likes of which do not exist anywhere.

Says Olga Stella, President of Design Core Detroit, What’s happening in Detroit is not only the growth of this new industry, but a movement toward one that’s more humane and inclusive and fosters sustainability for the artists, the people, the community, its health and it’s wealth. There is no other place in the world that can lead this like Detroit can. We can learn from the automotive industry to apply technology in a different way and this is very unique to our city.

Local designers, educators, retailers and manufacturers alike are putting the building blocks in place toward embracing and utilizing green products and materials, near shoring, and workforce development to redefine how this industry operates.

One of the key spokes in the wheel is certainly the Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center – ISAIC. Developed in 2017, ISAIC is a fundamental new approach to talent force development and economic stimulus, providing education and apprenticeships in advanced apparel manufacturing toward upward mobility for workers.

ISAIC WORK CENTER

The emergence and support of ISAIC and the work being done there is a strong indication that apparel manufacturing in Detroit can exist, grow and flourish in this new way.

“Carhartt investing in ISAIC and offering this beautiful, human-centric space for us to do our work was a game changer,” says Guarino. “We have this amazing opportunity to develop an industry that succeeds by treating people better, and we are coming together to do so.”

A great example is DEVIATE, launched by sisters Cassidy and Kelsey Tucker, who offer complete collections manufactured solely by the hands of Detroit artisans. “Detroit has the potential to be a thought leader in this area – a role model for other cities when it comes to growing this new kind of fashion industry  – one that lifts up its people.”

This shared vision is strong, and the list goes on.

Says Guarino, “What’s beautiful about this is, to reach and grow these socially sustainable standards here in Detroit, we don’t have to deconstruct an archaic system and rebuild, as would be the case in NY. Here, we can build it from scratch as it could and should be. We can flip the model and instead of exploiting female labor, invest in it. There is no other place in the world focusing on this or positioned to do this today.”

ISAIC apprenticeship program aims to help cultivate Detroit fashion designers

Original airdate on WDIV/Channel 4 November 5, 2021

Click photo for story

ISAIC Builds a Model of Ethical, Domestic Garment Production

Original story in HOUR Detroit, Oct 2021

ISAIC teaches metro Detroiters industrial sewing techniques through courses and paid apprenticeships.

The fashion industry has a long and ongoing history of relying on overseas garment production in developing countries, where labor and overhead costs are low and worker exploitation is widespread. The Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center (ISAIC) is positioning Detroit to be a counter to that as a domestic resource for garment production that’s part of a growing effort to bring manufacturing back to the States. Founded in 2017, the nonprofit manufactures garments for local and national brands and also serves as a training center.

“Manufacturing in general is in our DNA [in Detroit],” says Jen Guarino, CEO of ISAIC. “We understand the general principles of manufacturing, logistics, and distribution. We understand that manufacturing has to constantly be innovative. There’s not very many regions where you see that.”

From its Midtown factory above Carhartt’s flagship store, ISAIC provides eight-week courses and paid apprenticeships that train people in industrial sewing techniques. From there, students can join the ISAIC team as a full-time sewing specialist or machine technician specialist. 

And ISAIC has been put to the test. Last year, it worked with its company partners to produce nearly 100,000 isolation gowns and other personal protective equipment for the Michigan Economic Development Corp. and some of the state’s biggest health systems.  

ISAIC uses an on-demand manufacturing model, rather than the usual mass-production approach, steering away from traditional wholesale manufacturing, which can result in significant waste. ISAIC’s own line of T-shirts are made in-house using 100 percent organic cotton sourced in the U.S. The tag on each shirt bears a QR code linking to tips for keeping the garment out of landfills.

“We really believe that the industry has been irresponsible in its lack of investment in people — the people that make the product,” Guarino says. “We can create that bridge that makes on-demand manufacturing more viable. On-demand manufacturing is the future of apparel.”

ISAIC Featured on Discovery+

“Self Employed” show focuses on Detroit is the New Black and relationship with ISAIC

ISAIC hosted Jonathon Morris, host of the Discovery+ show, Self Employed while the Magnolia Network program was in Detroit to highlight Detroit is the New Black owner, Roslyn Karamoko.

See a short clip here or click on the photo.

Words with (Fashion) Friends: Jen Guarino

Original Story CFDA, April 14, 2021

Jen Guarino is a manufacturing veteran. She has over 30 years in the industry, including leading manufacturing at Shinola before getting ISAIC (Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center), where is she President and CEO, launched. She talked to us about Detroit as an emerging hub for fashion and how ISAIC is taking a new approach to the future of work and skills development.

Tell us about ISAIC.

ISAIC, Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center, is a national institute for the sewn trades that was developed by a group of industry stakeholders who saw an opportunity to change the way the industry operates. We’re focused on putting people first by training in a way that prepares individuals for the advancements in our industry. For example, we train on traditional industrial sewing, but we also invest in long-term career paths with upskilling, so our students and team members are ready for where apparel manufacturing is going. And that future is part of ISAIC as well as we test for innovation on behalf of industry.

You have been in manufacturing for over 30 years; how is what ISAIC is doing different?

Over the years, I have repeatedly seen people’s work devalued. There needs to be an adjustment in how we value the work being done. We’re approaching this head on by showing that investing in people making apparel domestically is more than a philanthropic endeavor. It’s a smart business decision. There’s a lot of buzz around sustainability, but we believe that if you make a thousand really good decisions, and your product is still produced by people who don’t have sustainable lives, then it’s not sustainable. We want to ensure that issue is addressed first and foremost.

Another difference is that we’re a usage case facility. We have a learning factory where we can focus on advancing the industry through the testing of new technologies. There’s been an underinvestment in this industry domestically for decades and it’s time to reinvest. As an institute we are doing just that.

Why do you think Detroit is an appealing location for designers to consider manufacturing?

ISAIC, along with business and civic leaders, are positioning Detroit to be the Silicon Valley of apparel manufacturing. If you’re working in Los Angeles or New York City, you are working within systems that are deeply established, which can present challenges if you are a designer with different ideas and/or needs. We are looking at new ways of doing things. Detroit has long been known for its innovation and has been doing it for decades, just not in this sector. So, if you are a new designer or manufacturer we want your ideas and creativity to have a place to incubate and we believe Detroit is that place. We believe we can build the next generation of the industry here and that design can be at the very core of that. Plus, it’s affordable. You can come here and afford to start your business.

What is your advice for designers looking to make sustainable choices?

It’s really important to be focused on sustainability, but it’s also important to not operate from a place of shame. This industry has been broken for a long time and has done a lot of damage to people and places, so the simplest and most important thing we can all do is to make better decisions every day. At ISAIC, we refer to it as Progressive Good ™. Challenge yourself to ask, “am I making the best decisions I can today given my current situation?” If you have limited resources or are not sure what the best decisions are, find your toolkit. Learn what sustainability means in different areas, such as in textiles, in transportation, in processes. There are so many places to make improvements, that if everyone made one better choice every day, the accumulated progressive good would be huge! So, I would say you don’t have to be perfect to be better.

How is ISAIC helping emerging designers?

It’s not often that designers feel like they’re in a safe environment where it’s ok not to know everything and where making mistakes is not too costly. It’s no secret that this has contributed to big gaps between design and seeing a product through the factory floor in a way that the designer envisioned. At ISAIC, we are helping them understand how to design with manufacturing in mind, in a way that doesn’t curtail or limit creativity but also doesn’t handicap them because they didn’t think about the process. We’re providing them a safe space to see how their work plays out. To ensure all the pieces – all the stage gates as we say – that need to run smoothly are in place to see a successful design go to market. This approach can help make them a much more effective designer.

What inspires you about the industry today?

I’m incredibly inspired by the collaboration I see. I think about this often when I am in meetings with people who historically would have been considered competitors. Instead of territorialism, I see collective work on things like innovation, ensuring we have DEI, and challenging each other to do better.  I’ve never seen it in all my years in the industry. The conversations that are happening are so healthy and they’re not selfish.  What it’s proving is that there’s plenty of room for everybody to benefit. I am also incredibly inspired by young people who want to be in this industry – and not just on the design side, but on the textile, manufacturing, supply chain sides. I look on our factory floor and see the average age is 29 versus over 50 in most factories. That means we’re seeing a real industry shift in a healthy way. I don’t think any of it is a fad, but a movement that will become the new standard.

Detroit's Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center makes PPE and trains workers at same time

Original airdate on Fox2Detroit March 3, 2021
click photo for story

Six months in, ISAIC attracting national attention, business

Original Story here: Crain’s Detroit Business, November 9, 2020

Click here for a pdf version of the story.

• Finalizing contract with Department of Defense to make isolation gowns for national stockpile

• Named as manufacturing site for pilot testing Siemens AG robotics technology

• Production underway or starting soon for number of local, national apparel companies

Just six months after opening, the Detroit-based Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center is attracting national attention and business.

The nonprofit sewn goods training institute is finalizing a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense to produce personal protection equipment and has been named as the pilot site for testing robotic technology to automate production of isolation gowns, as part of a project team led by Siemens AG's technology group in Berkley, Calif.

At the same time, it's secured contracts with garment companies from both coasts and is preparing to launch an on-demand, custom T-shirt line that will provide another level of training for employees, along with revenue to support its mission.

"Our job as an institute is to bring advanced technologies, to train on them (and) to scale those competitive technologies broadly in the U.S. (and in) Detroit as a hub," said ISAIC CEO Jen Guarino.

The new interest and business "affirms that our mission is well-timed and there is a valid need for an institute that can help to pilot advanced manufacturing In the apparel industry."

PPE production

ISAIC launched production in a 12,000-square-foot space in Carhartt's Detroit building in late March, sewing isolation gowns rather than the garments it had planned initially.

It subcontracted with a dozen others, including the Empowerment Plan, to help to fill orders for a combined 99,000 isolation gowns and contracts totaling $600,000 from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. and Detroit Medical Center. It's still making isolation gowns for the state, Detroit Medical Center and Beaumont Health, Guarino said.

Separately, the Quicken Loans Community Fund purchased a disposable mask production line and installed it at ISAIC.

The Defense Logistics Agency within the U.S. Department of Defense heard about those efforts and approached ISAIC about making isolation gowns, she said, as part of the larger Operation Warp Speed effort to ensure a national stockpile of PPE and COVID-19 vaccines. ISAIC is working on a contract with the DOD for that production.

As a national institute for the trades, ISAIC would engage other garment makers from around the country, Guarino said.

"What's attractive to (DOD) is we represent the industry at large, not just our own company. They view it as keeping the supply chain healthy."

Robotic tech pilot

Last month, ISAIC was named as the pilot site to test the use of robotic technology Siemens has been developing in the production of isolation gowns. Siemens is leading the one-year pilot which also includes Sewbo Inc., Henderson Sewing Machine Co. and Bluewater Defense Inc. in Puerto Rico. Pennsylvania-based Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing, which receives funding from DOD, is helping to fund the pilot.

"We were approached by one of the partners in the Siemens project about being a usage case facility. They really wanted a place they could trial this technology that was in a manufacturing environment," Guarino said.

Siemens and its partners had been working on the development of automated garment-making technology for the past year and a half when the need for PPE arose with COVID-19, said Juan Aparicio, head of advanced manufacturing automation for Siemens Technology.

For the most part, the production of textiles and garments is still done by hand, making it very labor intensive, he said.

"Anything you are wearing has been most likely done by humans and done overseas," which creates a lot of inefficiencies, Aparicio said.

"If you are sewing jeans all day.. there's a lot of turnover in the industry...it's a task that is asking for automation."

The goal of the pilot at ISAIC is to prove out the concept of using the technology to make isolation gowns but also how it can be used on the factory floor, Aparicio said.

"What are the operator skills needed? Where does the robot stop and the human start? Those are very important inputs for our system."

Often times, technological innovations don't engage end users soon enough, Guarino said.

"Siemens understands the importance in that."

Successfully engaging the end user means successful innovation can be commercialized more broadly and more quickly, as well, she said.

Preliminary work at ISAIC's site has started with process review and preparing to move a robotics cell into its Detroit factory, she said.

The use of robotics/advanced manufacturing to make isolation gowns and, ultimately, garments is important because it offers the ability to scale, which translates to having a more solid and reliable supply chain here in the U.S., one that is not reliant on the challenges of importing, Guarino said.

"It makes it much more competitive, increases the speed, and the jobs it creates are higher level because it's programming robotics."

Several of ISAIC's employees will be involved in the pilot, which will position the nonprofit training institute as an expert and lead trainer on it, Guarino said.

Garment production

Ramping up PPE production as quickly as it had to was great preparation for ISAIC and its employees, Guarino said. They learned to sew a single product — isolation gowns over and over again — and got very proficient and efficient at it. At the same time, they learned flexibility through cross-training.

"Their competencies increased and those skills are transferable to other products," she said.

ISAIC is doing cut and sew work for TD Industrial Covers for automotive use and helping to train its staff to do the work, Guarino said.

And it's moving into garment production with work underway or launching soon for a number of clients and products, including: undisclosed work for Carhartt, sport team jerseys for Detroit-Owned Apparel, T-shirts made from 100-percent recycled material for Chicago-based Everywhere and an outerwear sweatshirt cape for Rhode Island-based Cleverhood.

"Training people for apparel construction is something we feel strongly about," said Cleverhood Owner Susan Mocarski, in an email. In its nine years, the company has been challenged to find quality sewing contractors, she said.

"ISAIC is a ray of light in a dwindling U.S. industry," Mocarski said. "Couldn't be nicer that it's coming from Detroit, a scrappy city that is no stranger to retooling industry focus." ISAIC's new business is the culmination of three years' of conversations that started long before ISAIC ever launched, Guarino said. "We started looking for brands aligned with responsible manufacturing," with living wages for employees and sustainable processes and materials, she said. "As a result of our work (during) the pandemic, it really got the word out there about our work as a larger institute."

Blank T-shirt line

Beyond the hand-sewn and automated PPE production and new contracts with garment companies, ISAIC is also launching a blank T-shirt line to teach employees how to handle a single-cell operation in which they do everything from start to finish, while also producing revenue to support the nonprofit training institute's mission. The shirts will be made from sustainable materials and packaging and be made on-demand for business-to-business and business-to-consumer customers, to reduce waste.

"This is market-driven," Guarino said. "People want to be able to logo (T-shirts). We want to offer them a sustainable T they can order on demand."

The plan is to begin the custom on-demand T-shirt runs in mid-November for undisclosed customers, Guarino said, along with ISAIC-branded items that will be sold through a storefront it's developing on its website.

ISAIC is operating on a budget of more than $5 million for fiscal 2021 which began Oct. 1, Guarino said. It's up to 30 employees — two thirds of them women and nearly half of them people of color. One, who was formerly homeless, came to the organization from the Empowerment Plan, and another is a returning citizen.

The nonprofit training institute plans to add nine more employees this year, some as apprentices as it expands its training, she said. It's working with the Empowerment Plan, Detroit Employment Solutions Corp. and other workforce development agencies to recruit employees.

"Part of the reason we chose Detroit as a our home is because we believe that by bringing innovation here it will attract the industry here, just like Silicon Valley," Guarino said.

"We believe Detroit has an opportunity to be seen as a hub for advanced manufacturing in garment apparel."

PPE Michigan Companies Conquering COVID-19 | Under the Radar

Original airdate on Detroit Pubic TV Oct 29, 2020

(ISAIC segment begins at 19:35)

Made-to-order: Detroit's fashion industry takes aim at sustainability

Original story here: Crain’s Detroit Business, August 16, 2020

Click here for a pdf version of the story

The coronavirus pandemic is forcing Brenna Lane to critically examine the way she has been approaching her business. As the owner of Detroit Denim, a Rivertown-based apparel brand she started in 2010 with her husband, Eric Yelsma, Lane is reimagining how garments are produced and sold.

"The pandemic gave us some time to slow down, and that gave us some clarity of vision," she said. "The industry, as it was, is not something we want to be a part of going forward."

Following Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's lockdown mandate that began on March 24, Detroit Denim shifted to making protective equipment for local hospitals in place of custom jeans.

It also celebrated its 10-year anniversary, a quiet, sad and reflective one, Lane added. She said during that time she realized that scaling her business closer to the size of bigger brands with large outputs was no longer a goalpost. Her new focus is on decreasing how much Detroit Denim produces by investing more time in the company's existing made-to-order model.

"Majority of our waste comes from overproduction and overconsumption," Lane said. "We will be pivoting this fall to entirely made-to-order. No standing inventory to waste away or end up in a landfill."

Lane, 35, is in good company with other Michigan-based manufacturers and designers who are invested in recalibrating garment production in a post-pandemic world. Many of them believe Detroit can be a leader in a resurgent domestic apparel manufacturing that eliminates the negative impact clothing has on the people who make it and on our environment.

There is a trend to bring manufacturing in this space back to the U.S.," said Lori McColl, CEO of Whim, a digital consultancy and innovation lab in Capitol Park. "The old model was not sustainable from the environmental side to the worker side."

Building off the bones of Detroit's automotive history, the Motor City's fashion industry is repositioning itself to be a hub for domestic garment manufacturing that is both economically and environmentally sustainable. Through collaboration, technological advancement and equitable training programs, industry insiders want to establish the city as a global force in fashion.

"It's literally re-creating the automotive industry in the fashion industry in Detroit," said Christina Liedtke, founder of women's wear and accessories brand ASTOURI, which manufactures in Flint. "This is the perfect opportunity for Detroit to ramp this up."

For the vision of Detroit as a leader in domestic apparel production to materialize, the industry will need a highly skilled workforce.

As a country, we don't have a lot of trained sewers," said Rebecca Grewal, director and founder of Michigan Fashion Proto, an apparel manufacturer in Lansing. "It's a trade that sort of went away … when it was the normal thing to send things overseas."

Career paths

Detroit's clothing business has grown. There were 651 apparel manufacturing jobs in the city of Detroit in 2019, a 71 percent increase from 381 jobs in 2010, according to an analysis conducted by Detroit Regional Partnership, an economic development nonprofit, in August 2020. The impact the pandemic has had on employment data has not been measured yet.

Continuing employment growth in the city's fashion sector is where Jen Guarino, CEO of the Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center in Midtown, comes in.

"There have been people making apparel here for some time on a small scale," Guarino said. "We're seeing global companies interested in setting up manufacturing here (and) we're preparing the workforce for advanced (apparel) manufacturing."

At ISAIC equitable employment for highly skilled makers is the essential mission. The nonprofit launched an apprentice program this year, during which trainees learn industrial sewing and how to use advanced equipment to make garments, most recently PPE gowns for hospitals. The program's placement data is not yet available but will be in the future, the company said.

Making PPE was an effective way to train employees during the height of the pandemic, and it will continue to be integrated in ISAIC's apprentice program as long as the demand is there, the company told Crain's in an email.

Guarino said ISAIC, which partners with Carhartt and many local brands including Detroit Denim, has a two-year plan to create a for-profit subsidiary that is worker-owned, where employees will be stakeholders. That could be a life-changing opportunity for a skilled worker like Veronica Williams, who is employed at the nonprofit.

While living in a temporary shelter, she learned about Empowerment Plan, a nonprofit in West Village that uses ISAIC's training program to teach current and formerly homeless individuals to sew coats that convert into sleeping bags.

"I was able to learn about different types of sewing machines," said Williams, 44. "How to handle different types of fabric and stitching for textiles."

Williams' involvement with ISAIC can lead to a fruitful career path in garment manufacturing, something she found interesting long before she learned how to sew.

"I always had an interest (in sewing)," Williams said. "But I didn't have any experience and I didn't know how to get my foot in the door."

The rise of nearshoring

This worker-centric model represents the economic portion of sustainability, which focuses on providing makers with livable wages and career opportunities. Josh York uses a similar method at his brand York Project, a socially conscious streetwear brand he created in 2012. The company has a small factory in Detroit's Northwest Goldberg neighborhood, with equipment previously owned by the apparel brand Lazlo, where locals are hired and trained in garment production.

"I feel like sustainability gets thrown around a lot in the garment industry," said York, 27, who worked as a sourcing manager at Abercrombie & Fitch before starting his own brand. "My goal has always been the human side first. I'm really focused on creating jobs and keeping people employed in Detroit."

Scouting talent locally is a tactic that can help York ensure that in the future his garments, which includes T-shirts and sweatshirts from overseas that are screenprinted in his factory, are completely cut and sewn in the states.

"The York Project brand is shifting to be all domestic made by Christmas," York said. "Now everyone wants to make their clothes more locally. It's a more stable way to go about business."

A stability that stretches beyond employment. Before the pandemic, offshoring — in which garments to be sold in the U.S. are produced in usually developing countries at low cost — was in vogue. In addition to worker exploitation and poor labor conditions, most notably evidenced in the collapse of Rana Plaza in Bangladesh in 2013, the environmental cost was also racking up.

Textile manufacturing is estimated to account for 20 percent of industrial water pollution globally, according to a 2019 report by Green America, a nonprofit in Washington, D.C., that focuses on environmental and ethical consumerism.

Nearshoring — producing clothes domestically — is one way to address such ethical issues. Lane transitioning Detroit Denim to strictly demand-led production is another strategy.

"Clothes have always been made-to-order. Clothes is one of the basic human necessities," Lane said. "The auto industry has just-in-time manufacturing down. We have the engineering knowledge and the manufacturing model here."

She added that this tactic requires shifting consumers' relationship to their clothing.

"We live in a finite world with finite resources," Lane said. "Why are we thinking infinitely when it comes to (apparel) manufacturing."

Prior to the pandemic lockdown, Detroit Denim was producing 12 pairs of jeans a day, in addition to custom contract work for leather products and aprons. Now, Lane wants to reduce this to 10 pairs a day, stop the subcontracting jobs, and minimize their product offerings — which included shirts, vests and skirts — to focus on jeans and jackets, she said.

Guarino agrees with Lane's approach to environmentally sustainable garment making.

"We need to start making things more on-demand, so we're not requiring huge production minimums," Guarino said. "Responsive rather than reactive or speculative manufacturing. Responsive is more about knowing what the market needs and having technology to build it at a competitive price."

Technology and automation

Coming up with a technologically innovative solution to environmental waste and economic exploitation in textile manufacturing is where McColl steps in. As the CEO of Whim, a technology company, she is responsible for merging the apparel industry with the tech and data ecosystem. Her latest effort involves collaborating with local apparel brands and manufacturers to integrate automation into the garment production process.

"If you think about where a lot of the automation is going … it's focused in optimizing the process," McColl said. "Moving from linear production … where you had minimum quantity orders to hit as a brand in order to be produced … which led to waste … to a customer-led and on-demand model."

She also harkened back to Detroit's history with cutting-edge automotive manufacturing.

"Automotive has a clear understanding of repetitive production," McColl said. "Apparel is behind the speed of where automotive is moving."

Automation in apparel includes tools that focus on optimizing the design, prototyping and sampling process, with technology like -D knitting and robotic cutting machines, she added. This, she said, creates an opportunity for makers in Detroit to develop competitive skills.

"What we wanted to do is to ensure that you're enabling designers to do what they do best, which is design and prototype new products," McColl said.

As for the costs of the technology, McColl said it's a part of a larger plan to restore domestic production. Automation is providing an opportunity for the U.S. to build a competitive advantage against the Asian markets," she said.

Investing in automation can standardize nearshoring in the apparel industry, starting with makers in Detroit, McColl added.

"I think at least with this industry, nearshoring is a win regardless," she said. "(Local brands and makers) are trying to compete with price points per units that have been made in China. Bringing those jobs back is a win for the workers in the U.S."

Roslyn Karamoko, founder and CEO of Detroit is the New Black, a retailer on Woodward Avenue, said that nearshoring garment production will offer her a chance to diversify her current product line of T-shirts and hoodies.

"We're working with ISAIC to bring that manufacturing home," she said. "We're really excited about that. It has given us an opportunity to expand, moving beyond basics and doing more cut-and-sew pieces."

Karamoko added that the interconnected system being fostered in Detroit can expand "beyond a local narrative," to be an example for the rest of the world. It could show what local fashion manufacturing can look like "when you couple that with an existing brand," she said.

Karamoko, along with other members of the local fashion industry, attributes a collaborative spirit, which includes factories lowering production minimums and local businesses sharing resources, to why making Detroit a central destination for garment manufacturing is plausible.

"It's so important that Detroiters are included and involved in access to that opportunity," Lane said. "It cannot be big global companies coming to town and choosing direction of the industry."

"It's about cooperation and partnership and being happy when your company colleagues make it and when they do well," Grewal said. "That's kind of our attitude that we're going to make it when we all kind of make it. When Michigan has an (apparel) industry that is recognizable."

As protective gear becomes a new normal, some call for Michigan health systems to buy domestic

Original story here: Detroit News, June 10, 2020

Click here for the video that accompanies this story

Click here for a photo gallery that accompanies this story

COVID-19 cases are dwindling in Michigan, but the demand for personal protective equipment — the face masks, shields and gowns that help keep medical professionals and the public safe from the virus — remains steady as large segments of the state's economy reopen.

Sourcing and producing such critical items may change dramatically following the scramble earlier this year to procure PPE from mostly overseas manufacturers amid supply-chain disruptions and shortages. The experience has some calling for Michigan's health systems to source at least some of their PPE domestically. 

"There's a big opportunity for purchasing agents in this country to really understand the total cost of doing business," said Jason Keiswetter, president of Petoskey Plastics Inc., a northwest lower Michigan-based manufacturer of plastic automotive, construction and medical coverings that jumped into the PPE fray to produce hospital gowns. "It's opened the eyes that you need to have a domestic source no matter what."

Detroit-based nonprofit Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center corralled companies it works with to lead a gown-sewing initiative that to date has produced 130,000 gowns and kept more than 100 people working during the shutdown. Now it is pushing for Michigan's health systems to commit to sourcing 10% to 20% of their PPE from U.S. producers such as them.

The rationale: buyers would spend just a small amount more in exchange for the security of having a domestic supplier and for the satisfaction of creating American jobs, particularly amid high unemployment caused by COVID-19 shutdowns.

"It's dangerous to give your whole supply chain to imports," said CEO Jen Guarino. By committing to source some PPE locally, "it gives you more control. It mitigates risk. And it creates real jobs."

Michigan's health care systems had a short time to prepare for the onslaught of COVID-19 cases first reported in March, just a few months after the first cases were reported in China in December. The cases quickly multiplied here, and as of Wednesday the state had 65,182 confirmed or probable cases and 5,955 confirmed or probable deaths.

"It's been an unprecedented time here in the business of health care," said Melanie Fisher, senior vice president of supply chain for Beaumont Health, the state's largest health care system. "Supply chains are not built to handle this type of influx in demand."

Much like the auto industry, she explained, hospital systems' supply chains are global and typically operate with "just-in-time" inventory. Supply-chain disruptions are not uncommon, but "never to this degree." When COVID-19 cases hit the health system, "we saw ... just unprecedented demand for PPE."

For example: in all of 2019, Beaumont used 50,000 N95 masks. During the peak of the coronavirus, the health system was burning through that amount within 10 days.

The hospital system quickly worked to establish relationships with 200 new manufacturers — many of them non-traditional, such as automakers and roofing companies — to produce much-needed gowns and masks.

Quickly, an informal patchwork of connections led to a network of new suppliers. Detroit automakers General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. were among the manufacturing companies that jumped in to help, retooling several plants in southeast Michigan to produce PPE.

To date, GM has donated more than 3.1 million face masks and more than 167,000 face shields. The automaker now has a large group of entities it supplies, and has committed to continuing production for as long as needed.

"As the need moved from emergency containment to prevention we have expanded our delivery to include other organizations like the state's Healthcare Coalitions, municipalities, long-term care facilities, Michigan Association of Dentists, Michigan Association of Day Care facilities and the state's homeless shelter support system," said GM spokesman Dan Flores.

Ford has produced more than 20 million face shields for hospitals, health clinics, first responders, long-term care facilities and PPE donation centers. The Dearborn automaker now has established a waiting list for frontline health care organizations in need of face shields. 

Ford has slowed its production of face shields due to a slowdown in demand, but it plans to continue making PPE as long as needed.

Rifino Valentine, president and founder of Ferndale-based craft distillery Valentine Distilling Co., also has noted a slowdown in demand recently for the hand sanitizer the vodka, gin and whiskey maker has been producing since mid-March.

Amid a huge drop in business due to stay-at-home orders, Valentine rapidly retooled to help fill shortages of hand sanitizer: "As soon as we announced we were making hand sanitizer, we could not keep it in stock. ... The amounts we were trying to make just dwarfed anything that we had made in our 13-year history," Rifino said.

Between sales, donations and ethanol Valentine supplied to a brewery, the distillery has gone through some 20,000 gallons of ethanol. Typically, the distillery processes about 6 1/2 tons of grain a week. During peak sanitizer production, that increased to 10 tons.

Valentine made the ethanol, but ran into shortages of materials such as plastic bottles — so, the distillery began bottling sanitizer in five-gallon pails, and in its own liquor bottles: "We went through almost a year's supply of our gin and whiskey bottles in the first three weeks," said Rifino. 

For a time, the Valentine-made sanitizer was flying off shelves, but more recently demand has slowed. There have been requests from companies stocking up as they reopen, and Valentine is prepared to continue making sanitizer for the time being. But Rifino doesn't see it as a long-term venture for the distillery.

"If a second wave comes and all of a sudden people need it again, we'll make it," he said. "But I am not planning this as a long-term product line extension. At some point, Purell is going to catch up and there's not going to be a real need for it."

Petoskey Plastics, by contrast, has decided to permanently add disposable gowns to its product line. After helping supply Beaumont with gowns, the manufacturing company expanded to supply other major hospitals in the state. To date, the company has produced 3 million gowns

At a time when auto plants were shut down for eight weeks, the foray into gown-making provided a much-needed boost to a company heavily focused on the automotive sector, Keiswetter said.

"We went from a very dire position to oversold. We are re-shoring something that has been been outsourced, and it's really driving the competitive juices internally."

The venture went so well that the president saw an opportunity for Petoskey to expand its portfolio and make in the United States a product that typically is imported from overseas. He estimates the gowns could end up generating between 7% to 12% of Petoskey's revenue.

Although demand for gowns may be trending downward from its peak, Keiswetter expects another uptick as manufacturers work to fill distribution channels and as broader segments of the workforce start wearing them.

And he believes hospitals may be more interested in sourcing PPE domestically, given the rude awakening they experienced a few months ago. To be safe, some may decide to dual-source PPE: "You can see what happens we take our eye off the ball. We find ourselves in a difficult position, and the recovery time is much longer than if those gowns had been made domestically."

And demand for PPE may surge as such large institutions as Michigan's public universities prepare to resume on-campus, in-person classes in the fall. Wayne State University, for example, has ordered 62,000 reusable face masks from Office Depot in  preparation for the fall semester.

The university aims to provide students, staff and faculty with a small supply of PPE, and also is considering installing PPE vending machines on campus, said Ken Doherty, associate vice president for procurement and business services.

For now, the university is stocked up on hand sanitizer and dispensers. Doherty and other stakeholders have daily conversations about PPE to work through new issues raised as they contemplate a return to school. One example: how to ensure that hearing-impaired students who rely on lip-reading are not at a disadvantage.

"Beyond that, we're pretty darn comfortable with where we're at," he said.

Beaumont's Fisher agrees that lessons learned from the pandemic likely will result in more domestic production of PPE and changes in health systems' supply chains. It's a recurring conversation in the state's health care industry right now: "We've got a unique view of, how can we impact change here? No one has seen anything like this."

From Fighting Fashion-Industry Waste to Making PPE: Detroit Sewing to the Rescue

Original story here: Redshift by Autodesk, April 29, 2020

When Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed a shelter-in-place order on March 23, 2020, the Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center (ISAIC) nonprofit organization in Detroit was tackling the problem of waste in the fashion industry, where 30% of the more than 150 billion manufactured garments end up in landfills, having never been sold.

ISAIC’s 12,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art factory was nearly completed and set to begin manufacturing small, high-quality apparel orders. But due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ISAIC shifted gears to personal protective equipment (PPE) production, and finishing its factory was deemed essential construction.

A Pause for the Cause

ISAIC’s ultimate vision is to provide its proprietary training curriculum and paid apprenticeships for skilled labor in a factory where workers become invested in the company, earning equity as part of their employment. ISAIC’s model of education and training can be taken anywhere and is currently used in multiple US states to help rebuild manufacturing in the country from the ground up.

But the novel coronavirus posed a challenge for ISAIC: how to immediately pivot its manufacturing to help fight the growing pandemic. Acting fast, ISAIC consulted with local hospitals and created mask and gown kits with standardized specifications to be produced at six factories, including Detroit-area manufacturing heavyweights Shinola, Detroit Denim, York Project, and Pingree Detroit.

ISAIC’s newly operational factory, which still lacks the basic finishing touches of interior design, has become a hub for this massive project that will produce millions of pleated medical-grade masks and thousands of sewn isolation gowns and surgical masks—while supporting local businesses and keeping workers e

Phase one of mobilizing local apparel manufacturing—in a city that has historically been strong in the industry—to sew masks and gowns is underway. Phase two will automate the mass production of pleated surgical masks using advanced machinery newly acquired with the help of a national consortium, including the Quicken Loans Community Fund and apparel company Carhartt, a major ISAIC partner that dedicated space above its flagship midtown-Detroit storefront for the ISAIC factory.

“The immediate need for masks is massive,” says ISAIC CEO Jen Guarino, “so our amazing professional sewers will continue to produce masks until the higher-scale production solution is in place. Then we will shift sewing efforts to focus exclusively on gowns.”

The US Apparel Problem

COVID-19 has also amplified the problem of the US supply chain being too spread out and tenuous. When the focus on the pandemic subsides, ISAIC plans to be a part of the recentralization of clothing manufacturing in the country. US apparel companies produce only 3% of the clothes bought in the country. The remainder is created elsewhere and imported.

“If there really was an earnest opportunity to bring back manufacturing, we could get that to 20%,” Guarino says. “Imagine that economic impact.”

Guarino sees clear signals that onshoring in the US manufacturing sector is increasing. “Technology tells us there are reasons to do it,” she says. “New processes are telling us there are reasons to do it, and our consumers are telling us there are reasons to do it.” But there’s a significant problem: Companies don’t have the skilled workers needed to reestablish a robust manufacturing base in the United States. After years of offshoring, the expert labor force that once filled the country’s factories is long gone, having moved on to other jobs or retired.

“f you don’t develop the talent required to do it differently this time, you’re wasting money,” Guarino says. “We believe that by creating a really talented workforce that understands the future of apparel manufacturing, the new workers become the experts. Then we can attract more onshoring of apparel.”

From Meeting Room to Classroom

To help fill these worker gaps, Guarino and her colleagues in retail established a think tank of sorts that brainstormed ways of overcoming barriers and restoring manufacturing in Detroit. Out of those meetings, ISAIC was born.

ISAIC’s curriculum is unique: Through 200 hours of training, students are exposed to equipment, vocabulary, fabric, stitching, and techniques. Upon completion, they are ready to move on to the learning factory, where apprentices receive on-the-job training while working in a well-paying job.

ISAIC’s grand vision is to become a self-sustainable, profitable, and worker–co-owned factory. Not only would the factory’s sewers and equipment technicians make a livable wage of $15 an hour, they would also be important stakeholders in the business and participate in profit sharing. They would also be prepared to leave ISAIC to take good jobs in other factories around Detroit and the country.

“We understood quickly that this was actually a national solution for a national need,” Guarino says. “So we would create this as a national institute for the sewing trades but based in Detroit.”

Partners for Tomorrow

Soon after the vision for ISAIC was cemented, partnerships with local and global businesses, such as Carhartt, were secured. ISAIC also began working with Autodesk to develop and model programs so apprentices could learn to work on equipment virtually and practice the advanced skills they’ll need. “We’re looking at ways to use gaming platforms to teach these things, so it doesn’t feel like it’s technology,” Guarino says.

There will be resistance to ISAIC and the investment it requires from apparel companies, Guarino says. In a world of fast fashion and $3 T-shirts, quality manufacturing at higher price points may have some detractors. But Guarino says that’s a problem they think companies are eager to tackle. After all, they’re throwing away billions of garments every year as it is, and those losses are built into their profit planning. So what if ISAIC could inspire companies to make fewer goods at a higher quality?

“I think our job is to push the industry to understand its responsibility in changing that,” Guarino says. “We think we can be an agnostic driver for this by teaching the skills required to push technology into the marketplace—not on the backs of manufacturers, but for us to pilot, to really learn so that we can deliver the talent needed to change this. There will be pushback. But I think the climate is such that those conversations can be easier to have now.”

When the COVID-19 pandemic subsides, ISAIC may expand its workforce-development mission from the apparel industry to furniture making. Courtesy of ISAIC.

The Future of ISAIC

Everyone’s future seems, to some degree, more uncertain than it did just a couple of months ago, but in the wake of COVID-19, it stands to reason that ISAIC’s proposition of putting Americans back to work in robust manufacturing businesses that discourage waste will be attractive.

We’ll exercise our expertise to help other cities around the country implement our curriculum,” Guarino says. For example, ISAIC is working with the Council of Fashion Designers of America and the New York Economic Development Corporation to examine the workforce ecosystem in New York’s Garment District. And Guarino envisions furniture making as a next logical step for the ISAIC model.

“My biggest hope is that there is a measurable agent of change, where the people making the product are the greatest benefactors,” Guarino says. “Their lives, their livelihoods, truly are measurably improved, and it’s through changing the approach of the industry.”

ISAIC's medical gown production jump-starts plan to create sewn goods hub in Detroit

Original story here: Crain’s Detroit Business, April 19, 2020

PDF of Crain’s article available here

• Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center was working with local, state leaders on plan to attract apparel business

• Training and manufacturing nonprofit pivoted from apparel to isolation gowns to meet need

• PE production could spur growth of sewn goods sector in region

The pandemic and resulting need for personal protection equipment has jump-started a yearlong effort to establish a sewn goods training and production hub in Detroit to attract reshored and other production for apparel manufacturers.

The fledgling Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center will begin sewing isolation gowns this week from a 12,000-square-foot factory on the third floor of work apparel outfitter Carhartt Inc.'s Midtown Detroit building, rather than the T-shirts and other apparel initially planned to launch the site.

The gowns nonprofit ISAIC will produce and others sewn by subcontractors including the Empowerment Plan — known for its sleeping bags for the homeless — will help to fill orders for a combined 99,000 isolation gowns and contracts totaling $600,000 from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. and Detroit Medical Center.

For the most part, isolation gowns are produced in countries like China and Mexico, ISAIC CEO Jen Guarino said."Making PPE certainly wasn't how we planned to launch our training and apprenticeship programs at our factory, but the urgency of the need and our ability to create a scalable local model was certainly motivational," Guarino said.

At the center of everything is the need for training to ready a workforce in apparel manufacturing and other types of sewing, she said, something ISAIC has been providing in Detroit and other states over the past year.

"The pandemic has shined a spotlight on how critical it is to have the infrastructure in place to produce domestically," Guarino said.

Local suppliers of sewn PPE products have been getting to know each other over the past several weeks, and those relationships are going to help ISAIC and others grow the industry more quickly, she said.

The launch of isolation gown production will enable ISAIC to train and hire more employees than it initially envisioned out of the gate. Those apprentices will gain experience that will enable them to jump right in when U.S. apparel retailers look to locate production in Detroit after the pandemic subsides, ISAIC said.

While build-out of its Detroit factory was underway, courtesy of Carhartt, ISAIC launched industrial sewing training and instruction locally through partnerships with Henry Ford College and the Empowerment Plan in Detroit as an apprentice training site and in Asheville, N.C., and Nashville, Tenn., working with textile consortiums and colleges.

At the same time it was working with a number of organizations to develop plans for expanding the sewn goods industry in Detroit, Guarino said. They included Carhartt, the Detroit Economic Growth Corp., Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan's office, the Detroit Regional Partnership and the MEDC.

ISAIC's initial production was set to begin with three U.S. apparel retailers, two of them looking to reshore production, and with Carhartt for an undisclosed product, Guarino said.

When the pandemic hit and apparel retailers paused production, ISAIC made the decision to pivot, launching production of isolation gowns instead of apparel.

The shift is enabling it to continue with a planned production launch in a factory above Carhartt as an apprenticeship and teaching site, while also providing a revenue stream. Production of masks will also begin in May, through an automated line Quicken Loans Community Fund purchased.

Beginning next week, ISAIC will have a staff of 12, including three formerly homeless women, who are joining ISAIC after training with the Empowerment Plan, Guarino said.

It expects to hire more temporary sewers to bring it up to about 20 employees, she said.

It's installing a cutting machine and 30 sewing machines, half new and half donated by Carhartt and Juki, a Japanese company.

Investments to ramp up gown production include about a $500,000 investment out of pocket in materials and equipment and technicians in addition to in-kind donations.

Funded with support including a $150,000 grant from the MEDC, a $25,000 grant and $100,000 line of credit from Quicken Loans and $100,000 from Autodesk, ISAIC will oversee material procurement, standardized product specifications, inventory, distribution and coordination with partner sites as well as delivery to the state and DMC.

Cutting material for the massive effort is being handled by 3CON Corp., whose North American headquarters for automotive interior technologies is located in Wixom, and Acme Mills in Hillsdale. ISAIC is sending kits with precut material to subcontractors including Empowerment Plan, Detroit Denim, Deviate, Refuge for Nations, Saint Clair Systems, William & Bonnie, Public Thread, York Project and Pingree.

Guarino is projecting ISAIC will see $6 million or more in total revenue for fiscal 2020 ending Sept. 30, triple the revenue projected before the pandemic, with direct and subcontracted production of gowns and mass production of masks.

As a provider of industrial sewing training, ISAIC has been part of some proposals that the Detroit Regional partnership has been working on to bring apparel manufacturing to Detroit, said Ann Fitzpatrick, communications consultant to ISAIC.

"These companies aren't going to come if we don't have the workforce," she said.

"We've got other cities that are looking to us to help because we're building this training and curriculum. We were the model for how other cities can do this, even before we had our own factory."

The pandemic is accelerating reshoring conversations that were already underway, Barry Matherly, CEO, Detroit Regional Partnership, said.

"Companies are rethinking their supply chains and there will be changes," he said. "What we are currently hearing is that there will be duplication added to the supply chain, meaning they won't just pick it up and move it — most likely they will create a secondary and third source, depending on the product."

He said the Detroit regional partnership is assessing the new opportunities created by supply chain disruptions.

"It's too soon to tell, but there will be some that work for us and some that will not," he said.

The Detroit Regional Partnership identified customizable manufacturing as a workforce development opportunity for Southeast Michigan even before the pandemic, said Matherly.

It's an area that could show even more promise for the region as it emerges from the pandemic, he said.

Billionaire Dan Gilbert Is Looking to Save Detroit Again, This Time From Coronavirus

Original Story  here: Forbes, April 2, 2020

Detroit billionaire and Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert is marshaling his businesses to pitch in and help after a surge in coronavirus cases has the city girding itself for the possibility it becomes the latest hot spot in the fast-moving pandemic.

Gilbert, a Detroit native who made his $6.6 billion fortune in the mortgage business, has been key to the city’s resurgence since the global financial crisis led it to file for the largest municipal bankruptcy ever. Starting in 2010, he purchased and renovated dozens of properties downtown and moved his own employees into many of them, prompting Chrysler, Microsoft, Twitter and other companies to follow. He now controls more than 100 companies and has committed them to offer millions of dollars of financial support and services for the city.

“We have the relationships with the folks running the local hospitals with the mayor. So we are not only invited to the table, but in many cases we’re able to create the table that we’re all going to sit at,” says Jay Farner, Quicken’s CEO. “They're willing to trust and turn over some of the responsibility to us and say, ‘Sure, if you guys can make masks, do it.’”

Detroit is as susceptible as any other urban area to the spread of COVID-19, but with a large share of residents living below the poverty line—about 37%—its population of 670,000 is particularly vulnerable. As of Thursday, Wayne County, where Detroit is located, had 4,470 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 146 deaths. The chief of police has tested positive, and hundreds of police officers are in quarantine.

Efforts announced today include a plan to produce 500,000 surgical masks per week for local healthcare workers, thanks to the Quicken Loans Community fund’s purchase of the necessary machine, which when it arrives from China next month will be the first in the region. The Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center will train workers and manage production in a space provided by the Dearborn, Michigan-based apparel company Carhartt. The fund, along with Gilbert’s family foundation, also announced a $1.2 million donation to help coronavirus efforts in Detroit.

Gilbert is the majority owner of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers, who announced they are “developing a compensation plan to continue paying our event staff and hourly workforce.” His real estate firm, Bedrock, announced it would waive all rent, building expenses and parking fees during April and May for restaurants and retailers with less than $100 million in annual sales. His companies will match employee donations to relief efforts, which have totaled $550,000 so far. Quicken and Rock Connections will also reassign about 100 call center employees to help schedule appointments at a drive-up COVID-19 testing site at the Michigan State Fairgrounds.

“The Rocket Mortgage and Rock Family of Companies continues to step up to the plate as a partner for the city and its residents,” Mayor Mike Duggan of Detroit said in a statement.

ISAIC COVID-19 RESPONSE

Media Coverage

Detroit News - As protective gear becomes a new normal, some call for Michigan health systems to buy domestic, June 11, 2020

EXP|DET - Local Heroes: Sewing, Deliveries and Doodles, May 13, 2020

Redshift by Autodesk - From Fighting Fashion - Industry Waste to Making PPE: Detroit Sewing to the Rescue, April 29, 2020

DetroitIsIt - Creators of Fashion Stitch Together PPE and Masks for the Frontlines, April 29, 2020

MEDC - Michigan’s ‘Arsenal of Innovation’ Supports the Frontlines in the Flight Against COVID-19, April 28, 2020

99% Invisible Podcast: History of Face Masks and the Power of PPE in Pandemics (“Masking for a Friend”), April 21, 2020

Crain’s Detroit Business - ISAIC's medical gown production jump-starts plan to create sewn goods hub in Detroit, April 19, 2020 (pdf of Crain’s article available here)

Deadline Detroit - Cass Avenue Startup in Detroit Gets $150,000 From State to Sew Medical Protective Gowns, April 16, 2020

WJR - Paul W. Smith talks to Xenith, Carhartt and ISAIC about PPE production, April 12, 2020

WDET/Detroit Today - These Michigan Businesses Want to Be Part of the Solution to COVID-19 Shortages, April 8, 2020

Dbusiness - Detroit’s ISAIC Manufactures Medical-grade Masks, Gowns in Face of COVID-19, April 6, 2020

Model D - Detroit apparel manufacturers, nonprofits, and businesses partner to create centralized solution, April 5, 2020

Forbes - Billionaire Dan Gilbert Is Looking To Save Detroit Again, This Time From Coronavirus, April 2, 2020

Detroit News - Quicken to boost hospitals' access to masks, medical equipment, April 2, 2020

Press Materials

ISAIC announces expanded efforts in fight against COVID-19, April 17, 2020

ISAIC centralizes massive surgical mask and gown production collaboration in Detroit, April 3, 2020

Rock family of companies resources fight coronavirus pandemic, April 2, 2020