Renee LeGendre
At the Columbus Fashion Alliance (CFA), the guiding mission is to create positive change for the people and the planet through the power of fashion.
The group strives to create educational pathways and provide resources to connect the community to the large retail industry in Columbus, says Yohannan Terrell, founder and executive director.
Alongside Harvard Business School, Ohio University and others, the CFA did extensive research to answer Terrell’s question: “How do we help the next generation of fashion brands and creatives to lead the way (in Columbus)?” The answer: Create a hub that brings them together.
The CFA and the Columbus College of Art and Design have a symbiotic relationship, says CCAD President Melanie Corn. Both organizations care deeply about strengthening the fashion ecosystem in Columbus, Corn says, and work toward that goal together whenever possible. So when CCAD was selling a building on the periphery of its campus, the school gave CFA time to raise funds and purchase the building for its new hub: The Loom.
The Loom
Renee LeGendre
The Loom is a maker space for fashion entrepreneurs, students and small fashion design companies, providing them with the tools they need to bring their ideas to fruition.
It also serves as a home base for the CFA’s community and educational programs, to which CCAD often brings faculty and alumni to speak and teach. Because the building is on CCAD’s campus, it is a close resource for students and a way for prospective students to get fashion experience before applying.
“I think The Loom is going to be a really exciting space for Columbus,” says Corn. “It will help make downtown Columbus a really vibrant and fun and creative city.”
The Loom is opening in three stages. Loom Version One, open now, offers event spaces, working spaces and select classes. Loom Version Two will include an innovation lab and office spaces for rent. Loom Version Three, which Terrell hopes to have completed by the middle of next year, will have a finished first floor with bigger social spaces, classrooms, conference rooms and offices.
Sewing community
Renee LeGendre
Terrell’s main goal is to use the facility to strengthen the fashion community, he says.
“The building is a building. People can work out of anywhere they want to work out of,” says Terrell. “But it’s building the community authentically together. We’re tapping into the cultural leaders, the fashion leaders, the learners, the entrepreneurs, and we’re starting to build tribes together.”
The opening of The Loom is just one of many efforts to strengthen the fashion industry in Columbus, Terrell says.
“We don’t have the mountains and the beaches and the rivers that some cities have. (We) don’t have the pro basketball, the pro football, things… that really drive a lot of economic opportunity to a city,” he says. “But fashion is that one thing we have… It has so many positive implications on this region.”
Ellie Keehn is an editorial assistant at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
