We’re totally digging on clothing that is made in the USA, and love the fact that designers and their allies are opening up fashion creating spaces using local manufacturing across the country. Not only do these small factories allow designers to produce collections locally, but they have the ability to bring together fashion and textiles enthusiasts of all types that together can recreate an entire industry in this country based on honest and sustainable practices.

Our top 3 small factories are creating a fashion network  that we can trust and get behind. 

Portland Garment Factory

Independently owned and manned by two feisty ladies , the Portland Garment Factory offers a range of apparel manufacturing services for American designers. Sustainable business practices and excellent craftsmanship define the Factory’s work, which provides designers and brands with anything from design consultation, pattern drafting and cutting to production of up to 5,000 units, as well as connections to dye houses, screen printers, embroiderers and label makers. PGF even offers branding and identity creation services, meaning that small designers can make a one-stop shop for their production and marketing missions. Several businesses and designers such as Gear PDX, Tanner Goods, Solmate Socks, and Made on the Moon use PGF’s services, while the houseline is available for purchase through the website.

Charleston Garment Manufactory

Based in Charleston, South Carolina, the Charleston Garment Manufactory is a fashion production facility and resource center for fashion designers, students and prospective designers. The initiative aims to create a community of skilled seamstresses and designers in an effort to spread the word about and access to locally made clothing.  Alongside fashion product development and custom design services, the factory also offers sewing classes, online sewing videos and a directory of local dressmaking resources. Designers and brands that produce at the CGM include Proud Mary, STATE, Barbara Beach and MEW. CGM has recently paired up with local Charleston boutique ONE to create the ONE LOVE DESIGN HOUSE where the wares of local designers using CGM’s services will be showcased.

Manufacture NY

Manufacture New York is a new kind of fashion incubator that provides independent designers in the NYC area with the skills and resources to create completely locally manufactured collections within the city. The Garment Center Pilot Program for Manufacture NY was recently opened in Manhattan and will be the home of 15 garment designers and 5 jewelry designers who will enjoy access to a fully equipped industrial sewing room and computer work stations with the latest design software. The space also offers classes ranging from business development, to using Adobe Illustrator for fashion to learning how to sew zippers, collars and buttons. Down the line Manufacture NY plans on opening up a 40,000 square foot flagship for over 50 incubator members that will offer a dedicated area for experimentation with environmentally-friendly fabric washes, dyeing, finishes and special textile applications.

Images: Portland Garment Factory, Charleston Garment Manufactory, Manufacture NY

Related on EcoSalon:

Manufacture New York: Making It Cheaper and Easier for Designers to Produce Locally

Homeland Fashion: 7 Brands Born and Raised in the USA

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This Friday, well-known industry labels like Tibi, Milly and John Patrick,  Huffington Post and WWD fashion writers, Parson’s faculty members, trend spotters and marketing gurus will all gather at Manhattan’s renowned Fashion Institute of Technology to discuss something they all know best: fashion “Behind The Seams.”

Working in partnership with the internationally recognized MAGIC Marketplace and MAGIC Sourcing, AFINGO.COM  (the sponsor of the forum) will donate a portion of proceeds to the Save The Garment District, an organization to help preserve New York City’s vibrant, vital apparel production neighborhood and the business retail on it. Not to mention, retaining a part of the city designers desperately rely on.

I caught up with Afingo founder and CEO, Liza Deyrmenjian this week and asked her some questions regarding sustainable designer’s growth in the fashion industry. As Deyrmenjian has created the fashion industry’s first-ever online sourcing site (Afingo) offering “all skills and services of development and production,” (not to mention being a serial successful entrepreneur), we thought it only right to ask her a few questions before the show even got started.

Here’s what she had to say.

What are some common mistakes designers make?

Young designers many times don’t know who their target market is; They have not yet defined her or him.

Is it harder for a sustainable designer to launch than a non?

It is harder if you are doing it purely for the fad, meaning eco is green and “green is the new black” for some fashion designers. Unless you really care about sustainability, whether it is sustainable fabrics or environmentally sound manufacturing it won’t ring true in the marketplace. Environmentalism is attractive economically for a designer but they need to design around it, from the ground up.

When it comes to trend forecasting, how much should a designer listen and how much should they just go with their gut and design what just makes sense?

That is a great question because “listen” is the keyword. I have always believed musicians are the true poets of our time, and they interpret and share the news and events from distant locations far sooner and more meaningfully than our traditional media. Music will tell you what trend is coming. From Madonna in the 80s to Kurt Cobain and grunge in the 90s, they were famous with lace gloves and plaid flannel shirts long before masses were wearing them.

In terms of color, makeup counters give you in an instant what color forecasters charge thousands for. Makeup colors are always a season or two ahead of clothing. But a designer needn’t be shackled by trends. They should translate society into their own look and we as consumers wear their iteration.

Part of being a sustainable designer in the U.S. (for many) is manufacturing and sourcing in the U.S. Is there a large enough support system for them out there?

There is an AMAZING support system in the U.S., especially in New York City. NYC is the only city that has the entire garment center in a four block/four avenue radius. It’s incredible! You can get your patterns made at the same house as Ashley and Mary Kate from the Row. You can have your goods made at the same factory where Diane Von Furstenberg develops. Nowhere can you do that besides New York. Vancouver also has great resources and LA is particularly good for cottons and denim.

I think part of the problem is schools don’t teach enough about how to manufacture locally. That’s where people learn what to do and many kids graduate without even knowing where the garment center is. Our industry needs to work together, fostering an understanding of producing locally among the newcomers. If you are developing your line, you should not be doing it overseas for a multitude of reasons, sustainability being one of them. If you don’t know where to go email life@afingo.com and I will guide you!

On the Afingo schedule for Friday it says: “In an age when ‘going green’ is on everyone’s lips, is this just another trend or a necessary, fundamental shift in how the industry works? How can fashion as an industry make the change at a level that is more than skin-deep?” Can you talk to that?

Yes, buy American made. It is the fastest and most fashionable way you can save the planet – and your country while you’re at it.  Local manufacturing provides jobs, and lowers the carbon footprint of the garment. I believe in going green whether – it is in the cloth or in the production – ideally, both. And consumers hold the power in their pocketbooks. Today more then ever if you want your dollar to matter, put your money where your beliefs are.

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