Natalie is awarded the Eileen Fisher Women-Owned Business Grant. Founded in 2004 by designer and activist Eileen Fisher, the program’s mission is to support and empower women who share the organization's commitment to ethical, responsible, forward-thinking operations, and who are using their voices to make a positive impact in business and life.
The CFDA/Lexus Eco-Fashion Challenge is created to celebrate designers who are also industry leaders in sustainable design. Competing designers are judged on their commitment to sustainability and responsible production, ethical sourcing of materials, transparent practices, as well as style. At the 2013 ceremony, held at New York’s ABC Kitchen, Natalie is awarded the $75,000 grand prize, while runners-up Mark Davis and SVILU’s Britt Cosgrove and Marina Polo are each awarded $5,000.
In early 2013, the Alabama Chanin team completes a 10-year vision for the company inspired by Ari Weinzewig and the team at Zingerman’s and ZingTrain—a community of businesses in Ann Arbor, Michigan, known for their progressive business model. The vision statement includes a store, a café, and a machine-manufacturing facility—which come to fruition before the end of the year.
In 2013, Building 14 is founded as the machine-manufacturing arm of Alabama Chanin’s headquarters at The Factory. A natural expansion of Alabama Chanin’s hand-sewn ethos, the concept is inspired by the community’s history of manufacturing. Companies like local t-shirt manufacturer Tee Jays, and others, employed thousands in the northwest Alabama region throughout the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. Building 14 seeks to honor that history and community, while reintroducing machine innovation in a new and sustainable way and looking to the future of manufacturing.
