ST. LOUIS — In the early 1900s, St. Louis was a fashion capital of the world, with a thriving garment district on par with New York City and Paris. Today, many of these industrial buildings along Washington Avenue are home to lofts and businesses, and one organization working to bring fashion back to St. Louis.
Welcome to The Collective Thread!
"We actually started in the Central West End and then moved to Garment Row, because there's such a rich history here, and we wanted to be part of the revitalization of St. Louis's Garment Row, and we are actually in an old production factory," says Terri Stipanovich, the founder and CEO of the Collective Thread.
Terri started the nonprofit with a mission to create living wage jobs for refugees in her hometown of St. Louis while revitalizing the commercial sewing industry in our city.
"When a person comes as a refugee, and maybe they're coming from refugee camps, these individuals might have grown up in a refugee camp. So, just becoming aware of that in St. Louis, that we do have a refugee and immigrant community and just being able to address that," she said.
This leaves limited job opportunities for refugees and their families as they arrive in our city. So, The Collective Thread started a sewing school.
"That's really where this started to bud in St. Louis. after starting the sewing school. I started getting approached by business opportunities to manufacture clothing," she said.
Which developed a business lane to create revenue for the nonprofit. After participating in a grant program, they received 450,000 dollars, allowing them to purchase state-of-the-art equipment like this automated Gerber cutting machine.
"It's a monster back there in the factory and it really has cut our time down in small batch manufacturing by having that automated cutting," she said.
Operating the monster machine is Lewis. Just a few months ago, he arrived in St. Louis with his family from El Salvador.
"He's received a raise. He's really happy in his job here. Having come to the United States recently, and you know, this place has really helped he and his his family also works for us. So it's really helped them in their adjustment time to St. Louis," she said.
It’s a collective effort at The Collective Thread. One that’s bringing jobs, industry, and hope back to our city.
The Collective Thread is located at 1310 Washington Ave, St. Louis, MO 63103.
You can find further information by visiting thecollectivethread.org.
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