Saint Louis Fashion Fund

While celebrating the many recent accomplishments of its first five years, Saint Louis Fashion Fund (SLFF) will embrace a new strategic vision in 2020 that focuses on three primary pillars of programming:

• Cultivating St. Louis' Creative Community of fashion designers and other industry professionals by providing them with networking and educational opportunities, hosting free, public programs that bring diverse audiences together in collaborative conversation, promoting technology advancements within the field, and propelling emerging designer businesses to the next level as part of its Fashion Lab program.

• Serving as a Catalyst for Economic Development in St. Louis by bringing established design and manufacturing businesses, like Evolution St. Louis, to St. Louis to expand their operations and by exploring collaborative opportunities between those businesses and members of St. Louis' Creative Community. In addition to Evolution St. Louis, the Fashion Fund is in discussions with, and anticipates attracting, a second such manufacturing facility to St. Louis in 2020.

• Revitalizing St. Louis' historic Garment District on Washington Avenue and establishing the neighborhood as a fashion destination on a national level. The Fashion Fund continues its work with local, civic agencies and businesses to enrich the look and feel of the Garment District through a comprehensive re-branding initiative that will include improved lighting and signage, and additional working space for local designers and creative professionals.

From its inception, Saint Louis Fashion Fund has been committed to providing emerging fashion designers with the resources they need to grow their businesses here in St. Louis while promoting their brand concepts on national and global stages. Over the last five years, SLFF has been the operational home of more than 10 startup business and brands, many of whom have grown - as expected and hoped for - beyond the organization's incubator model.