Alabama Chanin hosts a pop-up at The Factory for swimwear designer, Malia Mills, creator of the love thy differences™ movement. Mills, an innovator in swimwear design and marketing, focuses on bra-size fit and selling two-piece suits as separates, allowing women to match tops and bottoms to their individual body types. As part of this gathering, The Factory hosts a No Bullshit Breakfast, inspired by Mills’ New York City events of the same name. A roundtable conversation between Mills, Dana Thomas, journalist and author of Fashionopolis, and Natalie about the role of sourcing in fashion launches a weekend of events. The No Bullshit Breakfast is the first of its series, which aims to unite friends, guests, and community members for an enlightening morning, creating the space for learning and conversations that last beyond the event.
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The community picnic that starts at Lovelace Crossroads transitions over the years into an annual spring open house at The Factory, and, in 2018, is reintroduced as The Gathering—an expanded series of events at multiple locations across the community. The events are a time for employees, artisans, collaborators, supporters, and members of the community to gather and celebrate. The first annual Gathering features a Friends of the Café Dinner with chef Steven Satterfield, a Custom Design Workshop hosted by The School of Making, an evening cocktail workshop in collaboration with friends Brooks Reitz of Jack Rudy Cocktail Co. and Cathead Distillery hosted at 116 E. Mobile, a local venue and event space run by our friends at Single Lock Records. There are also mini workshops, a BBQ lunch celebrating the artisans, a booth with friends from Bluewater Creek Farm, a presentation of the history of the company with Natalie, a stenciling booth, tours of The Factory, and a special Swampette tour of Shoals music venues. The weekend wraps up with a family-style brunch featuring Nashville’s famous Biscuit Love.
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In collaboration with Burt’s Bees Baby, garments are designed and manufactured using scraps from the Building 14 manufacturing division. Small off-cuts of organic cotton jersey, rib, and waffle knits are reimagined into baby tops, cardigans, hats, pants and dresses, including hand-embroidered bees.
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In the summer of 2017, Natalie receives a call from dear friend Angie Mosier telling her that the Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts and Sciences is trying to get in touch with her about a residency. Natalie is awarded a month-long residency thanks to a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and settles into the North Georgia mountains for a month of creative exploration during June 2018.
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Erin Reitz joined Alabama Chanin’s design team in 2016. Today, she is the Design Director and has collaborated with Natalie on some of our most iconic collections.
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Alabama Chanin begins an ongoing collaboration with Patagonia as part of their Truth to Materials initiative. Natalie writes an essay entitled “What Remains,” published in Patagonia’s Truth to Materials lookbook.
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Alabama Studio Sewing Patterns is the fourth volume in the Studio Book Series, inspired by requests for a wider variety of garment patterns. The introduction allows that “some people want looser styles; some people want a wider selection of sleeve options; others want more sizes.” A beloved part of The School of Making, the book offers suggestions, tips, and instructions for altering patterns to suit individual preferences. The book introduces three new core patterns—the A-Line Dress, Wrap Skirt, and Classic Coat design and variations—and includes the patterns from all of the other Studio Books on a disc in the back of the book.
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![Alabama Chanin - Friends of the Cafe Dinner Series, 2014]()
The Friends of the Café dinner series begins at The Factory in June 2014. Featuring award-winning chefs from around the country, these dinners, benefiting the Southern Foodways Alliance and a range of other organizations, bring guests and community together to explore food, storytelling, and sustainability around a common table of curated, multi-course meals with wine and cocktail pairings. An extensive lineup of award-winning chefs, farmers, and culinary and libation connoisseurs partner with Alabama Chanin to host the dinners and create meals made from local, regional, and sustainable farms. Many dinners feature other elements—book signings, music, and storytelling—with musical performances by John Paul White, Cedric Burnside, and others, as well as partnerships with organizations like the Oxford American and Southern Makers. The dinners are often documented by photographers Abraham Rowe and Rinne Allen and are a celebration of the Slow Food movement that has deeply inspired Alabama Chanin’s slow design mission.
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John T. Edge is the founding director of the Southern Foodways Alliance, as well as an author and chronicler of the American South. Through the lens of food, John T. presents this region’s tumultuous social and agricultural past. Learning from this history, John T. charges Southerners with paving the way for a progressive, diverse, and honest future. John T. has long been a friend and collaborator through our Friends of the Café dinners, which benefit the Southern Foodways Alliance’s research and programs.
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Gael Towey is a storyteller, director, and creative whose passion lies in the process. She is the founder of Gael Towey & Co., an organization that celebrates and explores the power, beauty, and enigmatic nature of creativity. Gael is the producer and director of Portraits in Creativity, a series of short-form documentaries that share and preserve artists’ stories—tales of bravery, inspiration, loss, strength, fear, and finding the spark. We are continually inspired by her curiosity of spirit, ingenuity, and thoughtful creative voice.
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