Project Alabama ..are back (updated)

[Lena]

Project Alabama Shuts Operations
By Rosemary Feitelberg

After six years, Project Alabama has closed its doors, but company founders said they would welcome a financial backer or buyer.

Founded somewhat on a whim by Natalie Chanin and Enrico Marone-Cinzano, the Florence, Ala., company was one of the fashion industry's unlikely success stories in recent years. Project Alabama relied entirely on a network of sewers in its home state to produce its handmade pieces.

Chanin, a stylist, met Marone-Cinzano, who works in real estate and finance, through a mutual friend and asked his advice about starting a business. Together they launched the company by selling 200 handmade T-shirts from the Chelsea Hotel here during fashion week in 2000. Barneys New York's fashion director Julie Gilhart was among Project Alabama's earliest supporters.

In addition to Barneys, the collection is carried by stores such as Bergdorf Goodman, Jeffrey and Ikram. Over the years, Project Alabama expanded its offerings to range from $350 T-shirts to $20,000 heavily embroidered evening gowns. There are also home furnishings. The company does not plan to ship its spring collection unless it finds adequate financing.

In recent weeks, Project Alabama has "slowly been cutting back its staff" from a pool of 150 workers in the field to 15, including office staff, said Chanin, adding all operations will cease for the time being.

Of the future, she said, "It's all still open right now. It depends what offers come our way."

Project Alabama's closing follows what has been a banner year for the company. The label staged its first runway show in Bryant Park last fall, and was one of three finalists for the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award for Fashion and one of 10 designers up for the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund in 2005.

But the business partners decided not to move forward because they were not in a position to take their business to the next level by hiring the necessary operational and managerial manpower, Marone-Cinzano said. But he and Chanin were upbeat about the experience.

"Every single one of us has said we're much better people for having been through this. We're looking forward to the future with great expectations," Chanin said. "We're really proud of what we've done."

Marone-Cinzano noted they were able to revive traditional stitching in Alabama. "This has been such a positive experience. Money has never been the issue. This company was not born to make money," he said.

To a large degree, the label's demise epitomizes the struggle companies face when trying to maintain domestic production. Chanin said, "Manufacturing in America is a bit going against the stream. We tried really hard to make it work. It just became very difficult, as anyone in the textiles industry knows. Made in America is almost a misnomer at the moment."

Neither founder has ruled out getting the business rolling again, but Marone-Cinzano said he would continue to work in real estate and finance, as he always has. He is also busy preparing for his friend Lisa Airan's wedding, which will be held at his home in Tuscany this weekend.

article and photo from wwd.com

 

[Meg]

Thats a bit sad. I remember when project alabama first started out ages ago doing really pure handmade clothing. I'm sad to see it go but it felt a bit directionless as of late. I don't like them showing on the catwalks.

 

[Scott]

To be honest,I adored their approach but when you charge thousands of dollars for the mot basic of shapes(let's not forget the initial t'shirts either),it's really not likely they would have longevity. They relied too heavily on the embroidery and charged luxury fashion prices for them.

 

[Lena]

it wasnt about embroidery.. embroidery is everywhere and is cheap, India helped doing this

PA was all about uniqueness and in this they succeded and left their mark already by doing things locally = expensively
this grow-or-stop situation is what makes so many indie designers stop business
their comment was so real

 

[fashionista-ta]

This is really too bad. I noticed a boutique here bought quite heavily from their collection last fall. I loved the story and values behind the line but I agree that it would have been nice if they'd been more fashion-forward ...

I wish they'd try to market the production skills to other designers ...

 

[ultramarine]

Hum ... I dunno but I think they needed a bit more of .. how to put it ...

Ok, Ill say! I dont like the name Project Alabama .. they should have used a different one!

 

[fashionista-ta]

^ I liked the name, it was a good descriptor of what the company was all about ... the problem was the clothes at the price point ... another issue was the clothes didn't photograph well ... another issue was the fabrics ...

 

[JJohnson]

wow this is sad... i know Ikram Goldman and Barney's stocked a lot of their stuff here in Chicago

 

[thesiren]

if this guy has a home in tuscany, can't he cough up the dough to make it happen? if they aren't in it to make money, of course...

 

[purechris]

this is sad sad sad

as many of you know on the board, I've always sung praise to them for what they've done. Not only in the fashion industry, but by employing not only people in rural Alabama, but also the technique of handwork from quilting communities. I think it's sad to see these people lose their involvement in the company. Especially if you've read or seen the pride that the locals working for them had in their work.

It was a very interesting approach to manufacturing and I must say it's disheartening to see it fall apart.

and Project Alabama.....the name could not have been more important or relevent to what they were doing!!!

but I think that many copied their ideas (without capturing the true beauty of what they were producing) and did it much cheaper......

.......watch out Libertine, you're next.......if you haven't already been killed by the knock offs and cheap reproductions......




thx for the article Lena

 

[zamb]

its unfortunate to hear this, i used to see their stuff at barneys (NY) and i really liked the constuction and intricate details that went into thier products.
i think to a certain degree, the prices were somewhat justifiable as the clothes were almost like couture.
However, im not sure what the owners wanted to do with this company.
one of the way of keeping a company like this afloat is to limit the category of products you are offering (no 20,000 ballgowns please) and focus on the core items.
effectively, dont grow the business.
the problem i have with this story is they are saying out of one corner of thier mouth that "money has not been an issue as the company was not born to make money"
but in the other corner, they are saying, they will not go forward unless they can find adequate financing (money?)............................

 

[softgrey]

this is sad sad sad

as many of you know on the board, I've always sung praise to them for what they've done. Not only in the fashion industry, but by employing not only people in rural Alabama, but also the technique of handwork from quilting communities. I think it's sad to see these people lose their involvement in the company. Especially if you've read or seen the pride that the locals working for them had in their work.

It was a very interesting approach to manufacturing and I must say it's disheartening to see it fall apart.

and Project Alabama.....the name could not have been more important or relevent to what they were doing!!!

but I think that many copied their ideas (without capturing the true beauty of what they were producing) and did it much cheaper......

.......watch out Libertine, you're next.......if you haven't already been killed by the knock offs and cheap reproductions......




thx for the article Lena

actually--i was wondering about them myself...
the last season i remember was that victiorian disaster...
and they weren't in ny this season...
no show, no appts, no presentation....
nothing...

is anyone really surprised by this though...?
the surprise for me is that they stuck around as long as they did...

i think the guy probably had to sink a lot of money into it and just wasn't willing to spend anymore...can't blame him really....
it sounds like it will be fun to start a fashion company...but as soon as the reality hits...it can be quite the opposite ...especially for someone who isn't really a 'fashion' person...

i wish them all the best in their future projects...
where is my invite to lisa's wedding??...

 

[thesiren]

is he not a 'fashion' person? it seems like he'd have to be for things to have gotten this far (although maybe he was okay with putting in money as long as he was turning mad profit). i remember reading a tiny blurb in vogue years ago, but it focused on the quiltmakers involved.

i hope lisa has a pre-nup. =/

 

[KhaoticKharma]

To be honest,I adored their approach but when you charge thousands of dollars for the mot basic of shapes(let's not forget the initial t'shirts either),it's really not likely they would have longevity. They relied too heavily on the embroidery and charged luxury fashion prices for them.

I was just about too say that... it was waay over priced.

Some of the stuff was ok, though, and it's always sad to hear someone's dream has failed.

 

[zamb]

[quote=softgrey]actually--i was wondering about them myself...
the last season i remember was that victiorian disaster...
and they weren't in ny this season...
no show, no appts, no presentation....
nothing...

is anyone really surprised by this though...?
the surprise for me is that they stuck around as long as they did...

i think the guy probably had to sink a lot of money into it and just wasn't willing to spend anymore...can't blame him really....
it sounds like it will be fun to start a fashion company...but as soon as the reality hits...it can be quite the opposite ...especially for someone who isn't really a 'fashion' person...

i wish them all the best in their future projects...
where is my invite to lisa's wedding??...


reading this thread and particularly your comment has made me want to start a thread with regards to something i have been thinking about for a while,

is the present structure of the fashion industry the main cause of the high rate of failure of fashion companies?

is there, or does there need to be a new way of doing business, that will ensure (or at least help)in the longevity, growth and profitability of small independent fashion companies.
is there a designer(s) who has a business with a model that is wholesome and healthy enough to be used as an example for small independent companies?

 

[fashionista-ta]

Agree with purechris, very sad to see the artisans lose their work ... Agree with zamb that the prices were justified ... the problem as far as I was concerned though was that though I didn't have an issue with the price, they weren't making what I wanted to buy for that kinda money ... they were fairly out of step (or so it seemed to me) with what was going on in the rest of the fashion world.

It seems to me though that here you have almost this atelier that's going down the tubes because Project Alabama is closing its doors ... I so wish that there were an avenue for them to hook up with other work. Goodness knows there's plenty of embellishment--why can't these good folks have a piece of the pie?

 

[allegra]

I'm sad to see them go - there was so much to like about them.

 

[soledad]

i agree that it was way overpriced.
the embroidery was pretty but i find their cuts left a lot to be desired.

 

[rach2jlc]

As others have said, I think they just priced themselves out of the market. The IDEA is fascinating, using local artisans and such, but there really isn't that great of a demand for such locality and for the high cost it requires. Let's face it, 99.9% of fashion fans are looking for a particular LOOK, not looking to make a conceptual statement about local use for completely hand-made garments. So, to get $350 for your tshirt, you've got to do something with the shirt ITSELF that is spectacular, NOT just something spectacular about where or how the shir was made (unless that comes through in the final product). The PA stuff I saw, while interesting, nevertheless did not hint as to its provenance, the shapes were fairly basic and looked like any of the 100 other places putting out "artisinal" styled garments.

John

 

[Scott]

I saw alot of pieces at Louis,Boston last year and as I said,the thing that really put me off their work was the lack of actual design in terms of construction and shape thereby putting these hefty price tags on the pieces. That's why I say they charged mainly for the topstitching. To me,it looked too generic;like stitched up Banana Republic clothes.