Bob Bland

Manufacture NY x SBA InnovateHER Competition Starts Now!

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We are so proud to announce a new opportunity for funding women-owned businesses in the Manufacture New York community, in partnership with the Small Business Administration (SBA) and Microsoft:

Manufacture New York is teaming up with the SBA + Microsoft to host an InnovateHER Challenge in Brooklyn in November 2015. This is a pitch competition for entrepreneurs looking to develop innovative products and services that impact and empower the lives of women and families. In order to participate in the InnovateHER Challenge, entrepreneurs must have a business idea that meets the following criteria:

  1. Has a measureable impact on the lives of women and families

  2. Has the potential for commercialization, and

  3. Fills a need in the marketplace

The winner of the Manufacture New York InnovateHER Challenge will compete to pitch their idea in the Women's Summit National Finals in Washington DC. The Women's Summit will be held on March 16-17, 2016, and entrepreneurs will pitch their business ideas for up to $70,000 in cash prizes provided by Microsoft.

In order to compete in MNY's InnovateHER Challenge, businesses must:

  • Must be a majority women-owned and women-run business, incorporated in the USA

  • Must be in the apparel, textiles, accessories, home goods, beauty, wearable technology or contract manufacturing industries

  • Must be Made In USA, with strong preference for Made In NYC

  • Must be available for a live pitch presentation on Tuesday, November 22nd 2015 in Brooklyn

  • Early stage startups welcome, must be under $3M in annual revenue and under 25 employees

To compete, businesses must submit an application with 10 slide pitch deck by Thursday, November 12th at 12PM. From there, our all-star panel of judges will review and we will host a pitch event and reception with all business owners & judges on Tuesday, November 24th at 6:30PM. 

More details available in our Dropbox & in the online application, email us at if you have any questions!

WWD Exclusive- NYC to Invest $3.5M in Fashion Incubator in Brooklyn

Direct Link via WWD: http://www.wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-features/nyc-to-back-brooklyn-fashion-hub-8056820

New York City officials today will reveal plans to invest $3.5 million in a new fashion epicenter called the Manufacturing Innovation Hub for Apparel, Textiles & Wearable Tech.

Designed to drum up local manufacturing, create jobs and support up-and-coming designers, the 160,000-square-foot facility will be housed in the privately run Liberty View Industrial Plaza in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. To bolster research, design, development and manufacturing for New York's emerging designers and apparel manufacturers, the city, via the New York City Economic Development Corp., will award $3.5 million through its Industrial Modernization Initiative for the development of the space. That investment from the city will support the 110,000 square feet dedicated to job-intensive active manufacturing use. A total of $8 million is available through IMOD, with future allocations to be determined, according to city officials.

Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development Alicia Glen, NYC Economic Development Corp. president Kyle Kimball, Manufacture NY chief executive officer and founder Bob Bland and Salmar Properties cofounder Marvin Schein are expected at today's press conference to highlight how the unoccupied space will be modernized and rejuvenated.

With construction expected to get under way by New York Fashion Week in February, Ole Sondresen Architect, which has also designed spaces for Etsy and Kickstarter, will oversee the redesign, which is seen as a nine-month project. The space aims to house 20 to 30 businesses and up to 50 designers, Kimball said in an interview Tuesday. Of the total layout, 110,000 square feet will be dedicated to active manufacturing and the build-out should be about an 18-month project, he added. To highlight the significance of the investment, Kimball noted that there is about 1 million square feet of fashion manufacturing taking place throughout the Garment Center in Manhattan.

The hub is expected to create or retain about 300 jobs.

The creation of the Manufacturing Innovation Hub is meant to be a sign of the city's commitment to supporting fashion and manufacturing by encouraging innovation and partnerships between the public and private sectors, according to organizers. Kimball emphasized that beyond the resurgence in fashion and manufacturing and economic development, the initiative is meant to build a den of innovation where various companies from different industries, including tech-savvy ones, will share ideas. He pointed to 3-D printing specialists MakerBot as an example of another tenant that can help foster ideas.

The Manufacturing Innovation Hub for Apparel, Textiles & Wearable Tech will offer an assortment of services, including a workforce-development center to help turn out skilled workers who can earn well-paying jobs, a research-and-development center to help create innovative fashion and wearable technology capabilities, a small-run factory specializing in sample-making, a design accelerator to create an educated pipeline of fashion and manufacturing talent, and incubator space containing 12 private studios, classroom space, conference rooms, a computer lab, an industrial sewing room, storage and work areas for 50 designers. Housed on the fifth floor, the Manufacturing Innovation Hub will also have 30,000 to 40,000 square feet dedicated to the headquarters for Manufacture NY. Having recently moved out of its Garment Center pilot incubator-production space, Manufacture NY is temporarily occupying a 2,000-square-foot area in Liberty View until its new setup is complete.

Liberty View Industrial Plaza is a 1.1 million-square-foot, eight-story industrial building along the Sunset Park waterfront. Salmar Properties has completed significant renovations to the facility, including a new roof, windows, facade and utilities, in order to activate the building. The facility represents a key component of the city's Sunset Park Vision Plan and the overall industrial policy. IMOD was created to encourage the continued growth of the manufacturing sector by having private industrial owners transform underutilized spaces to help small businesses, which typically employ one to 10 people and occupy less than 5,000 square feet. This sector is the fastest-growing element of the city's industrial ecosystem. These companies are often too small for typical industrial floor plans on the market, so NYCEDC issued a request for proposals seeking transformative projects to address this gap. NYCEDC selected Manufacture New York and Salmar Properties, which operates Liberty View Industrial Plaza, to undertake the Sunset Park project. 

Manufacture NY strives to foster the next wave of businesses and create a transparent, sustainable global supply chain. Its Workforce Development Center, in collaboration with the Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corp., will provide opportunities for entry-level and advanced technical career pathways in a range of apparel-related sectors, with 50 designers receiving training and product-development assistance in the Manufacturing Innovation Hub's incubator space.

The Manufacturing Innovation Hub builds upon New York's suite of fashion initiatives, including the Fashion Manufacturing Initiative, a public-private program designed to support and promote growth of small businesses in the city's fashion and manufacturing sectors, as well as seed funding for the Council of Fashion Designers of America incubator, professional mentorship in design and fashion management and networking and educational programs. The fashion industry accounts for nearly 6 percent of the city's workforce, paying $10.9 billion in wages, and generating nearly $2 billion in tax revenue annually.

We've Moved!!

Interior View, Liberty View Industrial Plaza

Interior View, Liberty View Industrial Plaza

MNY has just moved back to Brooklyn after a very successful year in Manhattan's Garment District, to our permanent flagship location in Liberty View Industrial Plaza. We are expanding the Manufacture New York incubator, creative co-working space & product development facility into a full scale Manufacturing Innovation Center for Apparel, Textiles & Wearable Tech.

We can't wait to invite EVERYONE over for an introduction event in early November, so please be sure to sign up for the mailing list if you haven't already. The product development department is already back to full steam, and we are touring manufacturers on a daily basis. 

 

DIRECTIONS TO LIBERTY VIEW INDUSTRIAL PLAZA

Sunset Park, Brooklyn

Nearest Subway: 36th St N/D/R

Our new address is 850 3rd Avenue, at 31st Street. We're on the 7th floor! When you walk up to 31st street you will walk along the side of the building past Micro Center to staircase D. You will go in staircase D then continue through the building until you get to a freight elevator then you will come up to the 7th floor. We're along the back wall towards 2nd Avenue. This is a temporary entrance as the Third Avenue lobby is finished, appreciate your patience + looking forward to introducing you to our exciting new home! :)

 

NEW MAILING ADDRESS

Please update your records, all other email addresses & phone numbers are the same:

Manufacture New York

Liberty View Industrial Plaza

850 Third Avenue

Floor 3

Brooklyn, NY 11232

Manufacture New York Wins $50K SBA Accelerator Growth Fund Grant

Manufacture New York (MNY), a hybrid fashion incubator and factory for independent designers, has been named as one of 50 national winners of a U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) award.  MNY will receive a $50,000 grant as part of an Obama administration Growth Accelerator Fund competition looking to invest in job creators.

Said MNY CEO Bob Bland, “This is a tremendous honor.  We’re  very pleased that a sustainable business model emphasizing local design and production is now being recognized as pointing the way toward future job creation and a Made in America resurgence.”

MNY is one of only 50 winners out of 800 applications nationwide.  A panel of experts in entrepreneurship, investing, and business plans reviewed finalists from both within the government and the private sector.  MNY is the only New York City-based incubator to win an SBA award.

Said Bland, “We’re hopeful that this recognition of our hard work will help to inspire other domestic manufacturers to move forward. Local apparel production is indeed beginning a renaissance in New York City, and we’re grateful that the SBA is willing to contribute to our incubator’s ability to help local startups and entrepreneurs.”

SBA launched the 1st annual Growth Accelerator Fund competition in May 2014 to award “supplemental and critical capital to the operating budgets of entrepreneurial ecosystems across the United States.”  Special consideration was given to “any accelerator models which support manufacturing.”  Founded in 2012, MNY recently celebrated its 2nd anniversary during New York Fashion Week (NYFW), and has already been recognized for its innovative Garment Center Pilot Program in midtown Manhattan.  The SBA award will also aid MNY’s efforts to launch an innovative 160,000-square-foot manufacturing innovation center for apparel, textiles, and wearable technology in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

Said SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet, "The SBA is empowering accelerators and startups that are on the cutting edge of successful, innovative new endeavors.  We’ve seen the enormous success of the accelerator model in communities like Silicon Valley. We believe we can export this type of sophisticated support structure across the country to help start-ups become commercially viable and create jobs more quickly. I want SBA to stand for 'Smart, Bold and Accessible' and these accelerators encompass all three of these goals.”

For press inquiries, contact Steven Capozzola at or .

For more information on the Growth Accelerator Fund, visit: http://www.sba.gov/blogs/sba-launches-growth-accelerator-fund

For more information on Manufacture New York, visit: https://manufactureny.org

MNY Designer Profile: Heart & Noble

MNY Interview with Cristina Gabriele of Heart & Noble 

Heart & Noble's Fall/Winter 2014 Runway Show at Launch NYC Fashion Week

Heart & Noble is a London & New York City based bespoke jewelry label, created by Cristina Gabriele. Cristina has been working with Manufacture New York to build her brand and take it to the next level. With collections ranging from 3D printed acrylic designs to silver and gold necklaces, Heart & Noble is set to become the next big name in jewelry. We sat down with Cristina to discuss her inspirations and aspirations for Heart & Noble. 

MNY: How would you describe your collection in one word?
CG: Industrious.

MNY: What was your inspiration while creating your collection?
CG: Everyday, overlooked, under appreciated objects that scatter our world. 

MNY: What is the history of Heart & Noble and what started you along your current path? 
CG: I was always fascinated by design, production, and creation and often tinkered with explored the materials around me. I knew for quite some time that I wanted to start my own venture, and after 3.5 years of designing for someone else, it seemed the natural moment to jump!

MNY: What other designers inspire you? 
CG: Architects, Industrial Designers and engineers influence me tremendously, and of course, some clothing designers too, Rei Kawakubo and Issey Miyake inspire and energize me endlessly.

MNY: If you could have your pick of any celebrity to wear your designs, who would it be? 
CGI would choose a heart, and a noble... Anjelica Huston & Christopher Walken AND Tilda Swinton & Adrien Brody, if we are talking true celebrity.

MNY: How have Manufacture NY and LAUNCH NYC helped you along your path?
CG: I joined Manufacture NY because they are a team of dreamers AND doers, This is highly unusual. They aim high, execute to perfection and have a genuine passion for what they do. I too am this way. Being part of a collective like this allows you to accelerate your dream and the dreams of others simultaneously. Its an honor to be intertwined with such brilliant, kind people.

MNY: Where is Heart & Noble jewelry sold? 
CG: Currently:

1.) Wolf & Badger Dover Street, London.
2.) Wolf & Badger Online :  https://www.wolfandbadger.com
3.) Heart & Noble's Official Site : www.heartandnoble.com
And watch this space, as we will be joining our first US boutique this April!

MNY: What else would you like our readers to know about you and your brand? 
CG: We will always push the envelope.

Cristina Gabriele poses with her models at Fall/Winter 2014 NY Fashion Week at Launch NYC

 

Heart & Noble: we will have heart, we will be noble
Visit www.heartandnoble.com for more information