This Week in the Mercury
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Fashion / Ethics Inside the Portland Garment Factory
Posted by Marjorie Skinner on Tue, Nov 18, 2008 at 10:40 AM
I recently paid a visit to the Portland Garment Factory, excited to check out a production house not only within city limits, but located smack in the heart of SE Belmont in a cute little teal cube of a building that founder Britt Howard shares with other creative entrepreneurs. It began as something of an experiment--Howard had no idea what the response will be, and as a mother of two she also holds down other employment. The positive response from local apparel designers has been good enough that Howard may soon have to move the operation into roomier digs. The current space is tiny and windowless, but Howard and her employees seem content enough, and there is talk of the artist down the hall lending his hand to cheer the space up a bit, make things, oooh, a little less sweat-shoppy in decor. After all, this is the most anti-sweatshop thing ever! An apparel production house in Portland, Oregon! Let's get a window up in here!
The Factory's charming facade--see more photos after the break, and hit MOD for all things fashion in Portland.
Britt working at her machine
An Emily Katz trench coat, in progress
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"The neighborhood is full of vacant lots gathering rain - the watery graves of construction projects failed or never begun. "
OMG better get some Condos in there STAT. And tapas joints. Gonna need a lot of those too.
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