Moving the Needle

Today, when you hear Kansas City, you usually think Chiefs football, Royals baseball and a distinctively sweet and tangy barbeque style. If Jennifer Lapka has her way, you will also have to add fashion to the mix.

Lapka, a 2003 Fort Hays State University graduate, was born and raised in Gorham, Kan. As a child, she dreamed of being a teacher or maybe a veterinarian. Inspired by her artistic, community-minded mother and an exceptional high school art teacher, Lapka’s interests and creative energy shifted to art.

When the time came to think about college, she found herself drawn to Fort Hays State University, just 20 minutes west of her hometown, and its excellent art history and graphic design programs.

“I am so proud and happy I chose Fort Hays State University. You aren’t lost in a sea of students here. Instead, it’s possible to have meaningful relationships with your teachers, administrators and other students – and those relationships continue with you throughout your life,” Lapka said. “President Tisa Mason and FHSU Foundation staff have all been incredibly supportive of my work, for which I am grateful, and I am blown away by the new Schmidt Foundation Center for Art and Design on campus.”

Following graduation, Lapka continued her studies, seizing an opportunity to take her passion for art overseas in England at Newcastle University.

“The experience was incredible,” Lapka said. “I decided at that point I would work at an art museum and be a director by the time I was 30.”

In pursuit of that dream, she started on a pathway of self-discovery and found her true calling. Lapka went on to work at the Victoria and Albert Museum, an institution widely regarded as the “world’s largest museum of art, design and performance” – a museum also renowned for its extensive fashion collection.

“It made me realize fashion is art and the perfect marriage of my skill sets,” Lapka said. “I love creativity and artistry, but I am also very businessminded. And that’s how I landed in fashion.”

Upon her return to the United States, Lapka worked for some of Kansas City’s most venerable cultural institutions, including the NelsonAtkins Museum of Art, the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts and the Marion and Henry Bloch Family Foundation. It was these experiences that helped her learn the true meaning of giving back.

“Henry Bloch’s philanthropic mindset was inspiring to me,” Lapka said. “One of the most important things I learned while working for him was something he was taught as a child: ‘As soon as you have three meals a day, it’s time to help the next person’.”

During her time at his foundation, she worked with social service agencies that provide assistance to individuals who are without homes, suffer from addiction or abuse or have come to this country as refugees. Around the country, these agencies were focused on offering or seeking work training opportunities as an expansion of basic services.

Lapka embraced this new model of not only giving to help others, but teaching them skills to ultimately lift them out of negative systemic situations. She would use the business of fashion – and specifically the skill of sewing – to do so.

In the beginning, the organization was called, “The Fashion Accelerator of KC,” but she soon discovered other organizations were already using some variation of that name. Upon reflection, she also thought that name just felt cold. Lapka eventually settled on Rightfully Sewn as the name – a mix of her vision and her love for wordplay.

Lapka built Rightfully Sewn upon the core principles of equity, diversity, accessibility, acclivity, positivity and efficacy. These principles were inspired by Lapka’s maternal grandmother, who taught her how to sew and instilled in her the value of serving others.

Rightfully Sewn’s tagline is “keep moving the needle,” a powerful message that perfectly captures Lapka’s love of fashion and her commitment to advancing humanity. The non-profit organization she created provides seamstress training for individuals who face obstacles to employment, as well as programming and small batch production services for fashion designers.

“If it’s from us, it’s sewn well. At Rightfully Sewn, we believe all individuals deserve to be safe and hold a job that provides a living wage,” Lapka said. “Our tagline of keep moving the needle implies we will continually and positively impact the lives of people and the local economy by keeping the sewing trade alive.”

Lapka is building an innovative organization that is fueling the rebirth of Kansas City’s once-thriving fashion industry by supporting designers and developing the workforce that can meet the burgeoning global demand for highquality, American-produced garments.

Rightfully Sewn and its founder are also champions for a cleaner and healthier environment. Lapka points out that fashion is now the second most pollutant-producing industry on the planet. And she intends to change this.

“We’ve thought a lot about the negative impact of industry on the environment and how it has also harmed human capital,” Lapka said. “Companies all over the world are taking advantage of some of the most vulnerable people on the planet to make a profit. The people doing the work are paid little and are often forced to work under terrible conditions. These are issues Rightfully Sewn is addressing. “

When she learned about a widespread shortage of personal protective equipment as it related to COVID-19, she and the Rightfully Sewn team were able to pivot quickly.

“We had the luxury of time to prepare for a huge increase in cases that people on the East and West Coasts did not have,” Lapka said. “We flipped a switch on March 24 and changed to face mask production.”

After raising approximately $200,000 in the middle of a pandemicdriven economic meltdown, Lapka used the infusion of cash to retain her employees and ultimately produce and donate over 40,000 face masks to local area hospitals and non-profits.

“Because we are nimble, because we listened and wanted to help, and already had the skills and equipment, we were able to turn on a dime and become part of the solution,” Lapka said.

Rightfully Sewn released fashion masks for sale to the public in April. The outer layer of their fashion mask is made from recycled bottles and organic cotton and has two international certifications. Despite the pandemic’s interruption, Lapka does not take her foot off the gas for her plans for 2020. Lapka and her team have also created dresses that coordinate with their masks, producing the perfect blend of fashion and function.

Her advice to others who want to pursue a socially conscious entrepreneur’s life is to be careful what you say “yes” to because once you do, you need to be able to put everything you have into the commitment. Instead of doing a hundred things well, she says it’s critical to focus on a few things and do them extraordinarily well.

Looking back on an already rich professional life, Lapka tends to think first about the teachers who were always there for her. Her grandmother, mother and Henry Bloch all shaped the person and professional she is today.

“Your teachers are some of the most important and amazing people in your life,” Lapka said, “so treat them with respect, communicate with them and stay in touch.”