The Black Design Collective has opened an incubator for members at The New Mart in downtown LA.
BDC co-founder and Los Angeles designer Kevan Hall said of the Black Design Collective Creative Center, which is now open within the 30,000-square-foot Fashion Tech Works space. “It’s like WeWork,” he says of the facility with its sewing room, cutting room, digital press, photo studio, and 25,000-square-foot event space and other resources for designers to develop their collections. Added.
“It was my dining room table when I came in. Especially since we’ve just gotten over the pandemic and many people have given up on showrooms, this is a great opportunity for young and veteran designers to use this space.” and Workroom,” said Hall. “This gives them the opportunity to do whatever they dream of, from concept to launch. [sales] I can imagine designers coming here to develop collections, build relationships and visit showrooms. We have an exhibition space. We have a photo studio and a podcast room to create your content. It’s all here. ”
BDC rents space from Fashion Tech Works, a digital design center and showroom that has hosted fashion shows such as Art Hearts Fashion Week and Cross Colors.
“In my day, you had to do an internship to get something like this…” said TJ Walker, BDC co-founder and Cross Colors co-founder. .
BDC was launched in 2018 by Hall, Walker, costume designer Ruth E. Carter, and designer Angela Dean to address issues surrounding inequality in the fashion industry. The organization’s mission is to provide black designers with resources, mentorship, an e-commerce platform, and business opportunities. The organization is supported by the likes of AT&T and Lexus, and counts CFDA as a partner.
“One of the best things was being able to help our members during the pandemic by mentoring them in maintaining their businesses in a series of meetings and workshops,” Hall said of the group’s achievements. In retrospect, I mentioned that the designer helped me access close to $2. $1 million in funding.
“Last year we put a lot of effort into the Creative Center in terms of funding and training,” Walker said, explaining that he is in the process of obtaining certification to establish a BDC College. “We want to be able to build a workforce for a dwindling industry. We also want to get more of the community involved in the center and use it as a template for others to mirror.” In Cincinnati he just started another chapter of BDC.”
The Black Design Collective also has chapter interests in Detroit and San Francisco, he said.