TEXTILES ─ St. Louis Fashion Fund
BRINGING FASHION
BACK TO ST. LOUIS The St. Louis Fashion Fund is thriving. By Cary Sherburne
T
he global pandemic is accelerating needed change in the textiles and apparel supply chain, but it’s also putting the brakes on many of the initiatives that were helping to drive change forward. But there is good news coming out of the fashion front from St. Louis, where the Saint Louis Fashion Fund closed down briefly early in the pandemic but is now back at work helping to reestablish St. Louis as a fashion hub, a position it held only second to New York from the turn of the 20th century until post-World War II. We spoke with one of its founders, Susan Sherman, and Jon Lewis, CEO of Evolution St. Louis, a high-tech knitting facility the Fund has attracted to St. Louis, to learn more. WhatTheyThink: Susan, can you start by giving us some background on the Saint Louis Fashion Fund? Susan Sherman: The Saint Louis Fashion Fund was founded about seven years ago to support emerging designers and promote fashion education and outreach in St. Louis.
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A lot of the younger generation was not familiar with the history of St. Louis as a fashion hub, and among other things, we wanted to change that. We were formerly located on Washington Avenue in downtown St. Louis (the Fund will be moving to a new location in the city soon), which used to be known as Shoe Street U.S.A. WTT: Talk a little bit about how you have worked to support emerging designers. SS: We have had two cohorts of designers go through a program, where we provided them with a showroom, a cutand-sew facility and office space. We also gave them stipends and connected them with mentors, and helped them make connections (Above) First St. Louis Fashion Fund with fashion centers in New Designer Cohort York, Los Angeles, etc. (Left) Susan Sherman, St. Louis Fashion Fund WTT: Where did the Co-Founder attendees come from?
WhatTheyThink - Wide-Format&Signage | October 2020
