A Second Time Around for Project AlabamaPublished: Thursday, April 26, 2007
By Julee Greenberg
Project Alabama, the young designer brand known for its intricate handmade designs, is back in business less than a year after closing.
The label, which shut last September after six years, has resurfaced with secured financial backing and a new production process.
Project Alabama previously relied on a network of sewers in its home state to produce pieces. This became costly and eventually drove the brand out of business. Now it is relaunching for fall under the design direction of Shannon Schmalfeldt, who has been with the company since its inception and worked alongside founding designer Natalie Chanin, who is no longer involved with Project Alabama. Enrico Marone Cinzanno, co-founder of the firm with Chanin, is still with the company as an investor, along with a new backer, C.G. USA, a New York-based investment firm that backs several fashion-related businesses.
Susan Correa, brand director for Project Alabama, was determined to revive the label, which she joined as a sourcing specialist about six months before the shutdown, and stayed to relaunch the business. Correa continues to head Electric Avenue, a sourcing firm she founded that also works with such brands as Vera Wang, Lela Rose and Yigal Azrouël.
"I first saw the product in Barneys and fell in love with it," she said. "But I was really intrigued at how they did their production, if each piece really was handmade in the U.S. It honestly seemed impossible to me that they were in business."
After meeting with Chanin and Cinzanno, Correa began looking for a factory in India to handle intricate work as Project Alabama became known for its fine cotton fabrics, beading and expert tailoring. Correa said she knew she had to find a "soul mate" for the brand. She eventually found a factory in India that became just as intrigued with the product, and now the Project Alabama collection is being made the same way as it always was — only with Indian manufacturing.
"We are using all of the same American-made fabrics, and all of the design is still done in Alabama, where Shannon is based," Correa said. "What we did was set up the same exact system in India as we used to have in Alabama. But since it is now in India, we are able to keep the costs down, which in turn allows us to offer the product to a new set of consumers."
project outsource to india sounds so totally on the point here 
Tell me this isn't yet another example of exploitation. Perhaps they should call their line "Mark Up"?
But i agree a lot with what you say clay. It was important as a PROJECT. There was a way to do the funding. ah well.
