Meet the Agency: ACME Design New York

At a glance:

• Specialty: high-end, designer fashion, ready-to-wear
• Minimum order quantity: None
• Location: New York City
• Ideal client: Beginners, Small Businesses, Big Brands
• Factory profile: https://makersrow.com/acmedesignny

When and how did your factory start?
After working in both the design and technical departments in corporate fashion companies, Acme Design was founded with the intention of building a platform where designers at all levels of experience would still be able to build a successful collection. With a passion to support domestic manufacturing the New York City garment district, our goal is to give a voice to small designers in an industry in need of diversity. We use our knowledge built from experiences in development through to production to guide new and existing designers so they can better navigate the trials needed to build a successful brand.

What is your specialty?
We specialize in ready-to- wear with a focus on high-end, designer finishes. Our factory is located in the heart of garment district in New York City, allowing us to have greater control to help identify issues in their inception to minimize their impact. We have built a network of both domestic and overseas fabric and trim suppliers and use these partnerships as resources to source the right materials for each designer’s collection. We attend fabric shows each season and tailor our sourcing needs with our designer’s collections in mind.

Do you work with beginners? Small business?

Yes! Working with new and emerging designers is one of the fundamental core practices of Acme Design. Our factory does not have minimums, and we offer full services from design development through to production. We allow the designer to choose which services they would like to outsource. Our services can begin with mood board development to sketching to tech packs. Or if the designer can supply all these steps, we can offer our services during technical development, and create patterns by hand (paper pattern) or digitally (through Optitex) for sample making.

What makes your factory unique?
We pride ourselves with becoming a part of a designer’s design team, with the designer leading our team as our creative director. We believe open communication is key to a successful brand, and are very comfortable with working with designers who are not based in New York. We understand a designer’s point of view, and our strength is in our ability to carry out new ideas while preserving a designer’s vision from development through to the production stages.  As a team, we help address issues that brands face at the early stages, and advise on a strategy to move forward the project in the most cost effective way.

Why should entrepreneurs make in America?

While it is no secret that domestic production can be more expensive than overseas, entrepreneurs should also think about why the cost of making garments in America costs more. Labor regulations, livable wages and workable health conditions play a major part in calculating costs, but ‘Made in America’ also stands for artistry. ‘Made in America,’ regardless of current political landscapes, still stands for quality, craftsmanship and pride. The control you are able to have on your project because you are able to visit the factory or articulate your exact design is invaluable to the final outcome of your samples. For entrepreneurs who are looking to build a business, often the minimums for overseas factories are too high for businesses still building capital and the lead time too long for sampling or production. Investing time and money into unusable merchandise, designers don’t realize how exposed they are to costly mistakes until valuable time and money are already lost,
sometimes at an irreversible cost to the brand.

Fun Fact!
Every season, in addition to attending New York fabric shows, our team travels to Paris to attend Premiere Vision to build our network of fabric and trim suppliers. Attending PV Paris exposes us to the new collections from mills around the world, and we gain insight on trend forecasting while also find inspiration through new technologies, innovative design, colors and fabrications. As product developers, we believe a designer’s creativity shouldn’t be limited to what they have available! We love being

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