According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, between 1990 and 2011 the U.S. lost 750,000 apparel manufacturing jobs. A new company based in Rifle is attempting to get some of those jobs back.
The Whole Works is a new sewing facility that provides skilled sewers to designers of softgoods and clothing. Besides training people to sew and creating jobs, the company recruits sewers from GarCo Sewing Works, a design training center and entrepreneurial learning lab in Rifle operated by Colorado Mountain College in partnership with Garfield County.
In November, The Whole Works founders Kelly Alford, Sadye Harvey, Julia Marshall and Janie Rich launched a fundraising campaign on the crowdsourcing site, Kickstarter, with a goal of raising $35,000 to cover sewing machines and supplies and facility improvements. As of Nov. 17, more than 95 donors had pledged more than $15,500. The Whole Works has until Nov. 29 to raise the remaining funds in order to receive any of the pledged money.
To learn more about the Kickstarter campaign, go to https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1560932422/thewholeworks. For more information about Colorado Mountain College’s GarCo Sewing Works, go to garcosewingworks.com.