19th Amendment

19th Amendment wants to revolutionize the fashion industry…now. The original 19th Amendment was about giving everyone a voice in the democratic process. Our 19th Amendment is about giving a voice to everyone in fashion – from emerging designers to the consumers who support them.

We’ve been stiletto strapping ($400 over 9 months) and with the help of the community, we’ve accomplished a lot. But now we need 19k to help us cover legal costs and finish developing our Minimum Viable Product (MVP) site so that we can be operational A.S.A.P.! The sooner that we reach that goal, the sooner we can start selling and manufacturing incredible designs by up-and-coming designers we love. Here is where you come in…and why.

Did you know, there are over 15 thousand fashion design professionals in the US but over 60% drop out of the industry due to lack of operations, marketing, and entrepreneurship education. In addition, it takes an average of 100,000 dollars and proven sales to break into the fashion industry, but you can’t make sales without product, and you can’t make product without money.

Consumers want to support new designers but they have no way of connecting with designers or purchasing their designs. In today’s system, designers are at a disadvantage before they even start. This is why we started 19th Amendment.

19th Amendment’s virtual studios are an interactive portfolio tool on which fashion designers showcase their work, get critiqued on, and sell their designs directly to the people that support their vision. Once a design is purchased at least ten times, it goes into production here in the USA. So not only are you supporting us and our designers, you’re supporting U.S. manufacturing. Thanks to tiered pricing, the more garments that sell, the lower the cost of production, which means that the designer makes more profit and the consumer gets the clothing at a lower price. It’s win-win!

The fashion industry has been dictated by large, corporate fashion houses for far too long and fast fashion has resulted in the loss of lives, the outsourcing of jobs, and an increasingly bad reputation amongst consumers.

At 19th Amendment, we hope to change the fashion industry for the better – by growing US manufacturing jobs from the ground up, increasing the number of talented designers who stay and succeed in the industry, and by creating a better world through fashion.

Sound like that’s fashion worth supporting? Lend your voice and show your support for ourcampaign on Indiegogo now!

And Tweet our cause: Accelerate the future of fashion & emerging designers now with @19thAmendment! Support the #19thAmendmentFund today: http://bit.ly/147MdrG

Congratulations to the Class of 2013! You are officially college graduates and entering into the “real world”. Now what?

If you are graduating with a degree in fashion design, the odds are stacked against you. According to The Guardian, only 17% of fashion graduates end up designing clothing as a career – the other 83% are stuck pursuing other supplemental services or dropping out of fashion completely (see infographic below). That’s thousands of possible Diane Von Furstenbergs, Marc Jacobs, and Vera Wangs that never get a chance to showcase their talents due to high startup costs, lack of operations and business education, and limited resources. With an increase in the outsourcing of design jobs as a result of fast fashion and  the high funding requirements to start a small scale line, many fashion graduates don’t have the option to start their own brand.

But anyone who knows a fashion designer realizes how scrappy and determined these clothing creatives can be. Designers are passionate (and often nocturnal).  Unlike their liberal arts peers, fashion design students can’t bull sh*t a French seamed, charmeuse dress cut on the bias. Designers are some of the hardest working creatives out there, possessing skills across media types – digital and physical – they just need the right resources to turn their talent into a business.

This is why 19th Amendment is investing in designers and why you should as well.  19th Amendment’s Virtual Studios give designers the tools to bootstrap, market, manufacture, and sell their designs.  We give them the tools so that they can focus on what they do best – design (and maybe get some more sleep too).   After all that’s what consumers want – incredible designs made ethically!

So new fashion grads, runway-walk across that graduation stage with pride and gusto. 19th Amendment is here to help you turn that fashion know-how into a fashion success story!

On May 18th, Modavanti held their official launch party at Textiles Art Center in lower Manhattan with a night of sustainable fashion and a meet and greet with leaders in the eco fashion movement. Guests cheered over equally sustainable drinks to a “shared mission of looking good, feeling good, and doing good.”

A week later, they kicked off their Indiegogo crowdsourcing campaign with a compelling range of perks for supporters (and an awesome video – take a look below!).  Our favorite perk? The chocolate and book package! For pledging $250 dollars of support, you get Madecasse Fair Trade chocolate, a signed copy of Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion by author Elizabeth Cline, and $50 in credit on Modavanti.com Warning: amazing chocolate high may cause you to spend consciously!

“To all the women and men I have dressed, thank you for your trust.” –Vera Wang, winner of the 2013 CFDA Lifetime Achievement Award

Even as Vera Wang accepted her Lifetime Achievement Award from the CFDA, she acknowledged that it was the public’s support that helped her to achieve such success as a designer.

Like many that have come before her, Wang’s success in the fashion world is the result of amazing talent, ridiculously hard work, taking chances, and garnishing support from loyal lovers of her designs.  Growing up in Manhattan as a competitive ice skater, Wang first started in fashion by making her own costumes.  Her love for fashion grew and, against her parent’s wishes, Wang worked for Vogue rising up to senior editor. After seventeen years of Vogue-ing, Wang left to become a design director for Ralph Lauren and then took her biggest leap two years later by opening her first bridal shop on Madison Ave.

The rest, as they say, is fashion history.

19th Amendment is familiar with the incubator model as we were born out of the personal, professional incubator Startup Institute.  As a young startup, we realize the value add of participating in an incubator:

Use of a communal work space 

Access to potential funding

Access to a network of mentors and service professionals

Inclusion in a colaborative community with other highly motivated people

Incubators have fast become a vital piece of the startup ecosystem and we are excited to see the fashion industry adopting this same model!

On a recent trip to New York, we met with two new fashion incubators who are changing the U.S. fashion industry by helping ermeging designers and manufacturers stake a claim in the fashion world.

Pratt Design Incubator

Opening its recent expansion with lots of local attention this summer, the Pratt Design Incubator is a multi-disciplined design incubator in the heart of Brooklyn with an emphasis on creating sustainable businesses. The brain child of Debera Johnson, executive director of the Center for Sustainable Design Studies at Pratt, Deb gave us the scoop on what the incubator will offer designers. For as little as a $250/month, the incubator provides affordable space, mentorship, and a community of collaborators.  The incubator houses a photo studio, a workshop for prototyping, and an educational space that can be converted into a runway. In addition, the incubator will have its own storefront, giving designers the opportunity to test their designs in the marketplace.

The best part: Pratt is offering a three-week entrepreneurship immersion program to give designers the tools to create their own businesses.

Stitch Factory

Stitch Factory is bringing fashion to the city of sin.  Located in downtown Las Vegas, this fashion incubator offers resources for designers from pro to novice, including classes in fashion design, photography, makeup and hair artistry, as well as seminars on entrepreneurship. Stitch Factory has a new co-working space with direct access to state-of-the-art machines. As  founder Meghan Mossler explained, the Factory supports designers with more than just space – they offer services in production, event planning, brand consulting, tailoring and alterations.

The best part: With the breadth of the Las Vegas community – your co-designing neighbor could be a costume designer from Cirque du Soleil or a casino heiress! The collaboration opportunities are endless.

At 19th Amendment, we believe in fashion designers and American manufacturing. We want to make the decision of where to manufacture a no brainer for emerging designers. This is why 19th Amendment manufacutures on behalf of our designers in Brooklyn, NY.

Brooklyn is a pretty cool place but we use factors other than ‘cool-factor’ to determine where to manufacture. The three factors we consider when comparing manufacturing: cost, ethics and industry

Cost

Many designers and consumers believe that manufacturing outside of the US is less expensive…but is it?  After factoring in exchange rates, trade tarrifs, shipping, dedicated international brand reps, international percent error margin and political unrest (not to mention environmental offsets), the cost of international manufacturing can be just as high, if not higher than manufacturing in the USA.

Ethics

Consumers and designers want to be sure that the workers making their clothing are treated humanely.  Fashion designers at 19th Amendment are given the reassurance that each one of their designs are made ethically, by workers who are fairly paid in safe facilities, here in the USA.

Industry

Did you know if every American spent an extra $3.33 on goods made in the USA, it would create almost 10,000 new jobs in this country.  By providing a steady stream of orders to US factories, we’re creating jobs and growing manufacturing from the ground up.

And this is just a fashion phenomenon. General Electric recently brought appliance production back stateside, and the company found that having engineers, designers, and factory workers in the same location could make the manufacturing process faster, leading to cost reduction. There’s something to be said about proximity in production.

Winner of Bostinno’s 50 on Fire -2013

We’re smoldering, we’re sizzling, WE’RE ON FIRE!!!!

Last Tuesday, March 26th 2013, we had the honor of attending Bostinno’s first annual 50 on Fire awards ceremony, as a nominee in the Design category, and we are elated to announce that we are one of Boston’s 50 on Fire!

Burn Baby Burn! Smoldering Co-founders Amanda Curtis and Gemma Sole

50 on Fire celebrates Boston’s best and brightest organizations and individuals across all industries, and recognizes those setting the Boston scene on fire, including 19th Amendment! Winners were selected based on a mix of streetwise smarts, the expertise of BostInno’s anonymous panel of judges, and the outpour of support from the community. Over 2,600 submissions were narrowed down to 200 finalists, from which a private panel of industry experts determined the 50 on Fire.

Being on fire is about being brave. It’s about pushing on the four walls of an industry,  until they expand to make room for an idea, a talent, a success that is bigger than what was there before and too incredible to be ignored. Which is exactly what 19th Amendment is doing in the fashion industry!

So, fellow fashion trailblazers, sign up now on 19thAmendment.co .

Let’s keep this fire burning baby! 

  The 19th Amendment team celebrating our win!

            Although glamorized, fashion design is a very technical process - not unlike coding a website! As we collect the first designs for our launch, we want to share with you the design process in a "Behind-the-Seams" three part blog series, beginning with the first step in fashion: pattern making.

Drafting is where pattern making starts.  A draft is a two dimensional layout of a three dimensional object.  Think of it as a blueprint for a garment. Most companies still draft by hand using sample measurements, but more tech savvy companies, like Constrvct, are venturing into digital, 3-D, pattern making.  Like pieces of a puzzle, paper pattern pieces are traced off of the draft.  Patterns (as shown from our studio below) are templates, for pieces of the garment, that are placed onto fabric to then be cut and sewn together.

Once a pattern piece is created it is then laid out and cut in muslin, an untreated cotton. Muslin is used because it is inexpensive and it mimics the properties of other cotton-based fabrics. 

The muslin pieces are then sewn together into a sample muslin garment. Here is the muslin from our first design! 

Last night we had the privilege of attending Big Sister Boston’s annual charitable fashion show at the Fairmont Copley Plaza, featuring local designer Denise Hajjar and Classic Tuxedo. Models and Red Sox players strutted the latest spring designs infront of a crowd of over 300 of Boston’s most charitable and fashionable patrons.

Ever wonder what the fashion world looks like through the social media lens? According to Mashable, "one study from eBay Deals looked into data from five social networks during NYFW and found more people are using social media for wardrobe advice, inspiration, and the latest trends."

Marketing has always been about the four P's: product, price, place, and promotion. Social media marketing adds a fourth P: people.  This focus on audience - their collective interests and power - is what is making online retail such a compelling story in today's retail world.

Advice, inspiration, and trends....Sounds familiar right?

Click on the infographic below!

  Today - International Women's Day - we celebrate the achievements of our foremothers and the future accomplishments of all the trail blazing women in the world! The goal of International Women's Day is to give all people, including women, a voice.  Here at 19th Amendment - we couldn't be more aligned to that mission! The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guaranteed women the right to vote and be heard. As our name alludes, 19th Amendment aims to give everyone in the fashion ecosystem, designers, consumers and buyers, a voice. Why not make your voice heard and sign up with us today?

Whenever Amanda or I have to explain our industry, we usually default to "fashion tech." The majority of people usually stop, tilt their head, scrunch their eyebrows, and ask, "What - exactly - is fashion tech?"

Our answer is consistently, "a company that uses technology to disrupt the fashion industry."  It's simple enough for people to understand and it gives us leeway in terms of who we can lump into this category.

But the definition we like the best is from Third Wave Fashion who describes it as:

"...tech startups that are focused on the fashion world...that have at least two of the following three qualities: social elements, disruptive technologies, and innovative business models."

Closer! From the same article, Rob Sanchez, founder of Fashioning Our Industry Conference, says,

"Fashion technology companies are fundamentally rethinking how we shop, purchase, design, source, manufacture, alter, swap, try on, or otherwise engage in the fashion world.”

That's it!

About a month ago, 19th Amendment was lucky enough to grace the presence of the ever-wise Seth Godin! Seth made a stop at Intelligent.ly  to promote his new book, “This Might Work,” and speak to some of the startups on the boston scene. As the last startup to pose a question during the event, we got to ask Seth's advice on what the best strategy was for trying to reach out to our four different stakeholders (i.e. our Designer, Customers, Buyers, and Partners).  Seth's advice was very thoughtful and, in giving us an answer, he does a great job of explaining the direction we are trying to go in less than a minute (Dribble-style).

Photo via Intelligent.ly and SKyscope Creative.

Skip to 65:30 on the video at Intelligent.ly and take a look for yourself.

We are beyond excited to announce that 19th Amendment and Co-Founder Amanda Curtis were announced as a final nominee in Bostinno's 50 of Fire awards!

So what exaclty does it mean to be on fire?  According to Bostinno:

"Being on fire is about being brave. It’s about pushing on the four walls of an industry, a city, a thought, until they expand to make room for an idea, a talent, a success that’s so much bigger than what was there before, and too incredible to be ignored. It doesn’t matter if you’re 17 or 70, building a brand that everyone knows about or one we’ve never, ever heard of. Are you constantly forging new ground? Are you leaving a mark? Are you making people talk? Most importantly, are you changing Boston for the better? Well then, you’re on fire." 

With over 2,300 applications, 19th and Amanda have emerged as one of the top movers and shakers in the Design category. According to Bostinno, "The outcomes were decided based on a mix of Streetwise smarts, the expertise of our anonymous judges and the outpour of grassroot support from the community. " Thank you to all of our supporters and judges who saw the ingenuity of 19th Amendment. We promise to keep blazing ahead! 

The final awards ceremony for Bostinno's 50 on Fire takes place on March 26th, you can purchase tickets here.