Boeing. Microsoft. Amazon. Starbucks. These are just a few of the large, household names that are headquartered in Seattle. And while the Emerald City may be well known for its technology, biotech, and aerospace industries, the region also has an impressive fashion-design cluster.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Seattle ranks fifth—behind New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Boston—as a major area of fashion design and apparel talent. Seattle has 250 fashion designers as defined by occupation codes, a high concentration, and those designers are the elite corps of an industry that supports more than 50,000 jobs in Washington state.
Seattle isn’t new to the apparel industry. The city has designed and manufactured clothing since about 1898, when prospectors heading for the Alaskan gold mines stopped there for supplies. For years, firms like Eddie Bauer and Filson provided classic, sturdy outdoor clothing that was widely distributed and well-liked. And the region also has a long history as a supplier of animal pelts.
But the fashion industry there really picked up speed in 1973, when Walter Schoenfeld created Brittania jeans as a fashionable alternative to the dark denim Levi’s that were so popular at the time. In less than 10 years, Brittania Sportswear was selling 30 million pairs of jeans a year, and had a team of 40 to 50 designers and about 400 employees in Seattle. And while Schoenfeld sold most of his shares in the business in the early 1980s, the team he put together went on to start other companies that today are part of a business cluster generating about $16.4 billion in revenues annually, most of which are still centered in Seattle.
Consider Seattle Pacific Industries, the privately held company that produces Unionbay and Saltaire. Like most of the region’s apparel companies, its clothing is produced in Asia, shipped to Seattle and then distributed. “We can bring products into Seattle faster than competitors in the Midwest or East Coast [can],” says Stephen Ritchey, president of Seattle Pacific. “Our port is less crowded than Los Angeles and, logistically, Seattle is better for moving product in and out of Asia.”
Seattle businesses were among the first in the U.S. to use the local design/offshore labor model. The approach has continued to evolve to adapt to an industry where fashions can change overnight. According to Ritchey, everything is designed on a computer and then electronically transmitted to the factory for execution. This approach means fewer trips to factories and weekly deliveries of apparel (instead of shipments every couple of months).
Possibly two of the biggest players in Seattle are Nordstrom and Amazon. Nordstrom is more than a national fashion specialty store, it is a virtual fashion incubator with a product development group that works atop its downtown Seattle flagship store. And Amazon, with its recent development of its own private labels and focus on apparel, has become an industry game-changer.
Some apparel designers and wholesalers have small local footprints but wide distribution beyond Washington state. Galen Jefferson, for example, has been creating her Two Dog Island line of upscale women’s casual wear here since 1995. Working with just one assistant and producing in China, she sells two collections annually through independent representatives and regional apparel trade shows.
To be sure, Seattle’s fashion presence is tiny compared to New York and Los Angeles. Most designers still fly to Los Angeles to attend shows and buy their fabrics and other supplies. And there is a noticeable absence of widely attended fashion shows and trade shows.
But one thing that sets this region’s fashion sector apart is the networking and mentoring that takes place, often among competing companies. There is also a broad range of educational institutions providing talent for the industry, like Washington State University.
So how can Seattle’s fashion industry improve? Some would like to see the resurrection of the apparel mart that once flourished as part of the Seattle Trade & Technology Center on Elliott Avenue. Others envision such a Garment District-esque sector developing in the SoDo or Georgetown neighborhoods of Seattle, where many designers are based.
Rob Goldberg, senior vice president of marketing for Tommy Bahama, another Seattle-based apparel company, calls Seattle “an intersection of creative ability” whose relaxed, casual ethic influences designers everywhere. “Seattle is a community of first adopters—people who want to know what’s new,” Goldberg says. “They’re more open. They’re risk takers.”
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