Last Friday, MakersValley received a $50,000 award from Arch Grants. This Grant, awarded to 96 startups out of a competing 3,000+, will give MakersValley the power to bring new membership benefits to our amazing community of designers.
Based out of St. Louis, Missouri, Arch Grants hosts a global startup competition that provides equity-free grants and pro-bono organizational support to entrepreneurial innovators. Arch Grants launched its program in 2012, and as of 2016, has enabled greatness for 96 companies, 85 of which still operate, and 84% of which still thrive in Arch Grants host city, St. Louis.
So, what’s next for MakersValley now that we’ve made it big in the Midwest? We’re taking those funds and investing them in building a mobile app for you, plus adding a new MakersValley service customized around new designers.
Our Mobile App
Imagine having your manufacturer close to you – so close that they’re in your pocket, and you’re in theirs. That’s what we hope to enable with the up and coming MakersValley app. The new app will offer the same transparency, ease-of-use, and on-point project tracking as the MakersValley web platform, but now, all it will take is the click of a button to respond to automatic notifications and manage all of your MakersValley Projects straight from your mobile device. For our Makers, especially those with multiple Projects in play, this accessibility is key.
Our New Service
You’re already familiar with our MakersValley Bring to Life service:
- You have a project idea.
- You get a pattern/sew-by sample/tech pack, by working with a local patternmaker or product development consultant. This details every aspect of your design (i.e. fabric, stitching, accessories).
- You subscribe to MakersValley and create a new Project on the MakersValley platform, where your design (pattern/sew-by sample/tech pack) gets matched with a high-quality Italian manufacturer or artisan who can bring it to life, with no minimum orders, at factory price, and helped along by a dedicated account manager to oversee quality and keep things on track.
Now – no pattern? No sample? No problem!
In the coming year, thanks to our Arch Grant, we will be launching a new service to complement Bring to Life:
Be Inspired. Be Inspired addresses one of the biggest challenges we heard from our community of Makers – getting a pattern or sample. Soon, the Be Inspired Catalog will allow you to browse and choose from hundreds of curated white label samples organized by product type and 100% Made in Italy, by Italian manufacturers and artisans, in the MakersValley platform. You can use any of these Be Inspired samples as the starting point for your MakersValley Project, and build on top of them to create a customized product with your own label, fabric, trims, and design details. In the end, you can save time, save money, and most importantly, be INSPIRED!
As we continue to open our Valley to more creatives and makers, we hope to keep hearing from YOU. You are the reason we do what we do, and your feedback is the tool we need to keep making our Valley the best community for amazing fashion rock stars like you!
Start Your Own Private Label Clothing Line Today
Comments