INDIANAPOLIS — PATTERN has been awarded $50,000 from the United Way of Central Indiana’s Social Innovation Fund in support of StitchWorks, a certified training program and workforce development effort that connects poverty-vulnerable populations, especially those re-entering the community from the criminal justice system, with in-demand jobs in the fashion/textile/apparel industry.
In collaboration with Ivy Tech, and Indiana Fashion Foundation, PATTERN will launch a new training curriculum to fulfill a need for workers in the industrial sewing industry, emphasizing recruitment of poverty-vulnerable individuals, recent immigrants and recent high school graduates. Jobs such as upholsterers, embroidery operators, PPE makers, and more are both creative and technical, most using software and advanced machinery in addition to hand skills.
StitchWorks aims to train at least 30 stitchers every year for the next five years and help create or fill 200 jobs.
In addition to job placements with local companies who make sportswear, outdoor recreation gear and home goods, StitchWorks itself will hire stitchers and take on small-batch contract work for small business owners and apparel designers — as a new social good enterprise.
Learn more about StitchWorks at stitchworksindy.com.
