Resources
AIBI Free Resources
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This 2-page handout is designed to give you a basic overview of the Product Development process in cut-and-sewn manufacturing. Includes a glossary and list of job roles!
*Great for Students and Emerging Designers!*
Education & Mentoring
St. Paul, Minnesota
Learn how to execute all the steps of getting an apparel idea from your head, onto paper, and into the world! This online program is at your own pace, with pre-recorded video lessons, a workbook that goes along with all 20 topics, access to live mentorship from industry experts, and a resource library of different vendors in the industry.
Apparel Mentor is a program of Clothier Design Source.
Tempe, Arizona
FABRIC offers a digital Apparel Entrepreneur Roadmap* - a DIY step-by-step checklist that contains the secrets to no-minimum and small-batch manufacturing and provides a direct pathway into on-demand, customized manufacturing.
Chicago, Illinois
Fashion Brain helps fashion and accessories designers on the BUSINESS side of things via online courses & coaching. You can learn startup strategy, how to build a loyal audience, get sales online, email marketing, and how to be profitable. They have many free videos, articles, and podcasts for fashion entrepreneurs.
*FREE Resource* 5-day mini course, “Create a Profitable Clothing Line".
Additional paid resources.
St. Louis, Missouri
Hear how relatable fashion design entrepreneurs fit their customer, lifestyle, and values, meet factories, and learn practical tips from experts so you can create a perfect fit in your fashion business.
How Fitting Podcast is created by Alison Hoenes Design.
*FREE Resource*
Detroit, Michigan
Offering education, apprenticeships, and opportunity for new careers that look, sound, feel, pay, and are better. With a commitment to re-shoring, workforce development, and sustainability, ISAIC - Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center, will redefine how the future is fashioned.
Conover, North Carolina
The mission of the Manufacturing Solutions Center is to help US manufacturers increase sales, improve quality and improve efficiency to create or retain jobs. We work with traditional manufacturers, as well as with manufacturing start-ups helping to provide solutions to problems and move companies forward.
The Manufacturing Solutions Center is part of Catawba Valley Community College.
Business Support
Chicago, Illinois
Entrepreneurs from any background can start and grow businesses that create generational wealth for their families and communities. Allies for Community Business provides the capital, coaching, and connections entrepreneurs need to grow great businesses that create jobs and wealth in their communities.
*FREE Resources available*
Chicago, Illinois
Lawyers for the Creative Arts provides free legal services to financially eligible clients in all areas of the arts—visual, music, dance, theatrical, literary, digital media, arts education, and much more. We help individuals and organizations with business issues, contracts, copyrights, trademarks and many other legal areas.
*FREE Resources available*
Chicago, Illinois
The Women’s Business Development Center (WBDC) is a non-profit, nationally recognized leader in the field of women’s business development and economic empowerment. They were founded in 1986.
*FREE Resources available*
Sourcing
Chicago, Illinois
Discover the heartbeat of Midwest fashion at this new entrepreneur resource fair!
This resource fair caters to designers, costumers, fabric stores, quilt, sewing, and hobby shops – anyone seeking business-to-business services and wholesale suppliers with smaller minimums.
Multiple Locations
The Fabric Shows feature American, Canadian, and European Textile and Trim Suppliers with Global Production. Including: Made in USA, Low Minimums, Stock Programs, Small & Large Lot Production in the Americas.
Online Directory
Fashion Index is the B2B fashion networking platform for small to midsize businesses and entrepreneurs. Connect with verified superstars in the fashion industry. Find small-lot suppliers. Join the Fashion Index community of 155K+ users.
*FREE Resource* Create a free account and make unlimited no-cost searches, commission free.
Additional services with a paid subscription.
Wakeforest, North Carolina
(Offices)
SEAMS is the Association and Voice of the U.S. Sewn Products Industry for over 50 years consisting of more than 200 of America’s foremost fashion brands, retailers, manufacturers and textile providers. Supercharging the American Supply Chain, SEAMS is the the most relevant force and go-to resource shaping the growth and resurgence of MADE IN AMERICA.
Raleigh, North Carolina
(Offices)
The Sewn Products Equipment & Suppliers of the Americas (SPESA) is the industry association for suppliers to the sewn products industry, which includes apparel, upholstered furniture, home textiles, transportation interiors, leather goods, footwear, industrial textiles, and more.
It’s our mission at SPESA to provide members with the highest quality networking, education, and advocacy for advancing their businesses within the global sewn products industry.
Multiple Locations
The Textile Show curates an event spotlighting the latest trends and innovations in fashion and textiles, and are committed to creating a distinctive platform, fostering connections between brands, designers, potential buyers, and industry professionals.