Lingerie designer wants to build high-tech apparel factory in downtown Nashville
April 9, 2014 by admin
Filed under Latest Lingerie News
Kate Liegey, left, showing her Vintage Heartland lingerie line in China
E.J. Boyer
Staff Reporter- Nashville Business Journal
Nashville Fashion Week wraps up Saturday with a day of panels focused on growing the local industry, and one New York City-based entrepreneur wants to make sure it happens.
Kate Liegey, a 20-year veteran of New York City’s garment industry, is looking to build a high-tech, eco-friendly apparel factory in Nashville that could eventually employ up to 100 workers.
She’s still scouting space and raising money – she estimates she needs $1.5 million to launch the factory – but she’s determined to make it happen. Having spent time in North Carolina as a child, she remembers seeing apparel factories close up shop, and is determined to revitalize the American apparel industry.
“A lot of people talk about things but few people really do it,” said Liegey. “I won’t stop. This is my mission to make sure this happens.”
Liegey has met with local designers to gauge interest in the factory, as well as Tennessee Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bill Hagerty.
She plans to use the factory for manufacturing her own T-shirt and lingerie lines, but also wants to open it up to other local designers as well. After years of manufacturing overseas (both for her own company and those she worked for, like Tommy Hilfiger and Jordache Jeans), she believes the U.S. has the chance to usher in a new wave of smart apparel manufacturing, one where digital pattern making, 3-D printing and automation are the norm.
Liegey is scouting buildings in the downtown area to refurbish for the factory. She wants to include open glass walls so people can tour the factory, and a garden and wellness center for employees. She hopes to partner with groups like the Wounded Warrior Project for recruiting workers, and emphasized that these will be higher-paying jobs than the average apparel manufacturing job due to the factory’s high-tech nature.
E.J. Boyer covers the Music City’s tourism, hospitality and music business.
