About Us
What is Northwest Sewn?
The mission of NW Sewn is to advance and support an inclusive, collaborative, and vibrant sewn-trades and circular textiles economy by creating the conditions for meaningful employment, increasing local manufacturing capacity, and industry collaboration.
Our work in the circular textiles economy aims to:
- Increase awareness within the industry community about opportunities within the circular economy through educational campaigns
- Facilitate regional connections through resource sharing and transparency to increase the stability of circular supply chains
- Build a community of practice that develops strategic partnerships in support of textiles circularity
We're Connecting Industry
Designers
Identify with manufacturers, retailers, and meet a community of practice.
Industry Partners
Bring your trade and resources to the textiles industry.
Manufacturers
Connect with designers, find sewers, and get access to resources.
Professional Services
Establish relationships and find clients across the sewn trades.
What We Do
In order to build a thriving, sustainable regional textiles economy, we are working to:
Build Capacity
building capacity to train more low-income sewers,
Connect
connecting those trained sewers to jobs with local manufacturers, and
Identify Opportunities
mapping the existing sewn-trades ecosystem to identify gaps, challenges, and opportunities.
The Work So Far
Since November 2015, this initiative has
- Trained 57 low-income immigrants and refugees as commercial sewers. Trainees have come from 10+ different countries, and 60% of students have been refugees.
- Through our partners at the UW’s Evans School, completed research on the factors that contribute to successful sewn-goods industries in several U.S. cities. Read the report here.
- Done an initial map of the state of the sector in the greater-Seattle region (assets, gaps, opportunities, and challenges. Through focus groups and online surveys, the project also researched market demand among independent designers and small-run manufacturers for a co-production sewing studio.
- Connected hundreds of industry players in person and through an online platform for collaboration and shared resources.
- Created a curriculum for advanced training with a product line from local manufacturer, Outdoor Research.
- Identified the challenges and opportunities surrounding transitioning to a circular business model for small business owners in Seattle’s textile industry, supported by funding from Seattle Public Utilities Waste Free Communities Grant. Read the report here.
Into the Future
In January of 2020, NW Sewn received approval for Washington state’s first registered apprenticeship program for Industrial Sewing Machine Operators. The employer site for that first program is KAAS Tailored, who have currently turned over their entire operation to sewing masks and PPE. Many of our NW Sewn businesses are similarly stepping up to support this effort to save lives.
