The Hidden Stitch: Angela Kim of The Factory 212
March 10th, 2011 § 11 Comments
Angela Kim of The Factory 212
Strangely enough, I found today’s Hidden Stitch interviewee through the classified section of WWD. The listing, for a sample room called The Factory 212, showed an email contact (angela@thefactory212.com) underneath its description of services. I thought that it was interesting that someone had clearly branded their sample room, and was asking those who were interested in her services to communicate via email, which can be somewhat rare in the Garment District.
Nevertheless, when I walked into Angela’s studio a few days later, I was expecting to see an average, slightly gritty Garment District sample room. I was pleasantly surprised to find a clean, modern space, and an entrepreneur who is bringing next generation thinking to how to move the Garment Center forward.
The Factory 212
Angela Kim is the owner of The Factory 212 and the designer of the contemporary line Robb and Hugo. She graduated from Purdue University and from FIT, and has spent 14 years as a designer in New York City. After moving into her current location on 38th St., young designers began to approach Angela for assistance on technical design questions, sample making and small production. Although she was already busy with her own line, she realized that she not only enjoyed helping younger design entrepreneurs, but that she could also help modernize the way they worked with Garment Center work rooms.
Factory 212, in its present state, is a place where young designers can come to have patterns, samples and small production runs made by Angela’s in-house sample makers. Designers are able to communicate with Angela via email and text with ease and speed. With her wealth of technical knowledge and production expertise, she’s also able to nurture the young designers she works with by giving them real world design lessons. As someone who has “been there, done that”, she’s able to empathize with her clients. A proud “Made in the USA” advocate, Angela is also assisting her clientele with sourcing domestic fabrics, trims and notions.
Angela, in my mind, is just what the Garment District needs right now. She’s bringing old-school expertise and skill together with modern communication, guidance and fair pricing. She’s already signed the lease on a larger space in the same building and has plans to expand her staff and her service offerings even further.
The Factory 212's Sample Maker, Macy
TP: How did the concept for Factory 212 come together?
AK: Before starting my line, Robb and Hugo, I spent 12 years designing for other companies. I knew what a challenge it was for young designers to search for sample rooms to get their samples made. Many times, there are language barrier challenges between factory owners and designers. If a designer has a question, the factory will typically stop working on the sample until the designer comes back the next day to answer. Overseas factories on the other hand, are very tech savvy; they’re emailing you all the time, and it’s a much more efficient process.
When I started Robb and Hugo, designers in my building began to come to me to ask for help because I had sample makers on staff and in-house production. It was a men’s designer who first came to me. Because men’s and women’s wholesale markets are on two different schedules, I was able to help them out. I was actually charging them less than other sample rooms and could just text the designers if I had a question.
Designers these days are so busy; they’re dealing with PR, they’re dealing with wholesale sales, and then on top of that, they have to sit on top of their sample rooms. They just don’t have time for that. Soon after the menswear designer, I had a lingerie and sleepwear designer come to me for help. She was so happy with my work that she told two friends, and now I’m hiring more sample makers and we’re moving into a bigger space. I’ll still focus on Robb and Hugo, but we’ll also have room for the sample room, which is called The Factory 212.
I know a lot of young designers are 25 years old or younger and they don’t perhaps have a lot of production or technical experience. I’ve worked for many companies, I’ve handled overseas production, I’ve done domestic production, I’ve been involved in many small companies, I really know my stuff. So this is a way I can help young designers. First things first, they need to get their samples done, and they need to get their small production done.
I’m also very pro-Made in America, and for Robb and Hugo, we make everything domestically. I’m always encouraging designers to try to do the same. You’re really not saving doing things overseas; you have to ship everything and prices have gone up and you don’t know what you’re going to get back. It’s best to start here and hopefully you can stay here. If you do, you know your quality is good, that your production will get done. You know what you’re getting. I also work with all American mills and often refer designers to them. An overseas factory will often promise to do everything for a designer, from sourcing, to samples to production. Here in NYC, one person does the cutting, another does the sewing, and another does the marking and grading. It’s hard to put all pieces together. When we move into the bigger space, we plan to offer a sort of package deal for designers, one that would resemble what they would get overseas.
TP: Where did you work before you started all of this?
AK: I went to Purdue University, and I also went to FIT. I worked for many companies after graduating, including Mother’s Work. I also worked at Work Order, which is a contemporary pant line. I was the designer for them. The pants were primarily sold to Neiman’s, and Saks. After that, I got married and had a baby. Once my son entered pre-school, I wanted to start my own line. My husband’s name is Robb, my son’s name is Hugo, that’s where the name comes from. The line is all about knits, and comfort, and looking good. The fabric is mainly done in North Carolina. We just added denim. We do a lot of cotton and micro-modal, stuff that can be done here in the US. All of the denim rivets are done in Kentucky, and the zippers are from Atlanta.
Robb and Hugo
TP: Are the young designers you’re meeting technically savvy design-wise?
AK: Many are lacking design terminology, but they have great ideas creatively and business-wise. Sometimes they just need help with the technical side. I try to make them understand that it takes time to build a business; actual success doesn’t happen overnight. I always tell them to put their money in their product first. For instance, Free People just placed an order on my pants without knowing anything about my brand. They just loved my product, and that’s what sold. Showrooms aren’t doing it for me these days. Good product is good product and will sell if you make the effort.
I have a friend, who is a professor at NYU, who teaches MBA students, and he always says that entrepreneurs should sell their own products when they start a business. Once you get going, then you can start having people help you, or you get into a better showroom because now you’ve laid the groundwork and they can take you to that next step of working with big department stores. You can keep everything tight financially if you do things yourself at the beginning. This business is about lasting, it’s about figuring out what the buyers like about your product, and whether you’re going in the right direction. You might have to alter your vision or your plan a little bit as you go along.
TP: You mentioned that you are a big proponent of Made in the USA. How can we both preserve, and modernize, the Garment District?
AK: I think one reason that the Garment District has gotten in trouble is that salespeople have kind of taken over. They come from a sales point of view, and not a design point of view. As designers, sometimes we’re trying to show off, like, “Look at what we can design, look at what we can make”, but sometimes the customers out there just want clothes that are very easy or cheap. Salespeople are taking the orders, and quickly promise the less complicated or less expensive item without really understanding what it will take to produce it on a timeline. They just assume the company will call up an overseas factory, who will make the pattern, cut and sew the production, they’ll just get it done, ship it out, and it’s very easy. I think that was really part of the problem.
Again, I’m really pushing domestic production, and finding that designers here want that. They love seeing and being part of the process here. I hope I can help more designers help the Garment District. By extension, I hope to help local zipper and thread suppliers, fabric reps and mills (there are some in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Los Angeles, and factories in Pennsylvania, and here you’ve got Brooklyn, Long Island City).
If more people in the Garment District used the internet, it would help. If they were able to use email and texting, it would be great. Part of this problem is generational — and if so, these Garment District factories and suppliers’ children and grandchildren should help them. If not, then new companies should come in and modernize things. This fell in my lap, but I’m glad it did.
When I started working in the Garment District, it was much larger, and busier, and there rolling racks everywhere. The people I learned from were old school; I saw the cutting rooms, and the production. It’s shrunk so much, even in the last few years. It’s really upsetting. I hope that if I can keep growing the business, and that I can help create jobs for the very talented people who are out of work right now.
TP: Any advice for young designers in general?
AK: If students coming out of school are planning to start their own businesses, they need to know about things like factoring, capital, and the technical language needed to speak to factories. Not everyone is like me; most will try to take you for every dime you’ve got.
TP: Over time, could you guys handle small production?
AK: We do. Now we do 20, 30 pieces, up to 100 pieces. As we grow and get bigger, we’ll be able to handle more. I also know some factories here that I like that if we’re too busy, I can give the work to. I’m a bit of a sourcing guide, work and fabric-wise.
Great article and resource information. I think I might just reach out to her and pass her info on. Thank you.
Thanks and you should, she’s lovely.
Great article and wonderful resource. She’s definitely found a great niche that is needed for young designers/entrepreneurs as well as for promoting USA production and for rebuilding the garment district. . .
What a godsend–and an innovative one, at that! Angela Kim is brilliant in using her experience, talent, insight, skills to support her own work, others, the garment center and american made garments and production at large. What a beautiful asset we have in her!!
[...] TruthPlus: The Hidden Stitch: Angela Kim of The Factory 212 [...]
Angela Kim seems like an incredible woman. I am glad that three are smart people out there who are looking to do the right thing for the community. We need more Angela Kims in this world.
I completely agree with your last sentence! Angela Kim is in fact a pleasurable and intelligent woman. I’m a huge supporter of American made products.
[...] Angela Kim of Factory 212 suggested that I meet with Ned Pilchman, President of Marteva Textiles and American Fabrics International. Mr. Pilchman has been in the textiles business for over 35 years, and is a veritable expert on the history and the current state of the domestic textiles industry. American Fabrics International, based in Greensboro, North Carolina with sales offices in the Garment District, is an east coast manufacturer of knitted fabrics and specializes in fabrics that are prepared for garment dyeing. Here’s a list of the fabrics and services Mr. Pilchman offers to apparel designers and companies: [...]
[...] Angela Kim of Factory 212 suggested that I meet with Ned Pilchman, President of Marteva Textiles and American Fabrics International. Mr. Pilchman has been in the textiles business for over 35 years, and is a veritable expert on the history and the current state of the domestic textiles industry. American Fabrics International, based in Greensboro, North Carolina with sales offices in the Garment District, is an east coast manufacturer of knitted fabrics and specializes in fabrics that are prepared for garment dyeing. Here’s a list of the fabrics and services Mr. Pilchman offers to apparel designers and companies: [...]
[...] the public would begin to get an idea of what it takes to produce a garment. But as we’ve discussed before on Truth Plus, this kind of campaign might be challenging for various reasons; few Garment District business [...]
I think this is really wonderful! I wish I had someone like this to help me when i was getting started. All the best!!