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Bringing Fashion Back to St. Louis

Did you know that St. Louis, Mo., was a fashion hub from the turn of the 20th century until the end of World War II? Now there are significant efforts to reestablish the city’s fashion prominence, led by the Saint Louis Fashion Fund. We spoke with co-founder Susan Sherman, and the CEO of high-tech knitting manufacturer Evolution St. Louis, Jon Lewis, to learn how their initiatives are progressing.

Monday, August 31, 2020

The global pandemic is accelerating needed change in the textiles and apparel supply chain, but it’s also putting the brakes on many of the initiatives that were helping to drive change forward. But there is good news coming out of the fashion front from St. Louis, where the Saint Louis Fashion Fund closed down briefly early in the pandemic but is now back at work helping to re-establish St. Louis as a fashion hub, a position it held only second to New York from the turn of the 20th century until post-World War II. We spoke with one of its founders, Susan Sherman, and Jon Lewis, CEO of Evolution St. Louis, a high-tech knitting facility the Fund has attracted to St. Louis, to learn more.

WhatTheyThink: Susan, can you start by giving us some background on the Saint Louis Fashion Fund?

Susan Sherman: The Saint Louis Fashion Fund was founded about seven years ago to support emerging designers and promote fashion education and outreach in St. Louis. A lot of the younger generation was not familiar with the history of St. Louis as a fashion hub, and among other things, we wanted to change that. We were formerly located on Washington Avenue in downtown St. Louis (the Fund will be moving to a new location in the City soon), which used to be known as Shoe Street USA.


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About Cary Sherburne

Cary Sherburne is a well-known author, journalist and marketing consultant whose practice is focused on marketing communications strategies for the printing and publishing industries.

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