(Continued) There have always been
a lot of genuinely talented people
here who design their own clothes
and can run the daylights out of a
sewing machine. But until recently,
they just didn't have the resources or
platform to showcase their work or
take it to scale in the marketplace.
Enter freelance writer and industry
veteran Karen Buscemi. She has
authored 7 books. For more than 17
years she wrote for leading fashion magazines and newspapers such as Self, Women's Health, The Huffington Post, Figure, Successful Living, The Detroit News, and a number of local magazines. While writing and working around the city she kept noticing that industry talent was leaving the state, almost always for New York City or Los Angeles. She grew frustrated with Detroit's inability to realize its potential in the fashion industry. "People who dreamed of a fashion career felt they just couldn't make it here," Buscemi said. To help remedy the problem, Buscemi founded the Detroit Garment Group (DGG), an organization that supports Detroit's fashion industry in a variety of ways. For starters, DGG runs a business startup program out of Detroit’s acclaimed entrepreneurial incubator complex Tech Town, which has mentors and services for the various aspects of running a fashion business, including access to industrial sewing machines and design studios. "Michigan has a lot of colleges that have really good fashion programs," Buscemi said, "but not one offers a business program. They just teach the craft and graduate students, but don’t give them any actual real world fashion business guidance or instruction so they know what to do with the skills."
40