What is Fashion Lab?
The Fashion Lab is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing hands-on experience and real-world exposure to the fashion and retail industry for high school students from underprivileged and/or at-risk backgrounds. It is a voyage of self-discovery that may or may not culminate in fashion careers, but will promote the positive personal values so essential to redirecting young lives.
How does it work?
At The Fashion Lab, workshops and seminars are conducted by fashion and retail industry leaders and other seasoned professionals in the field. Combined with visits to exemplary fashion workplaces and marketplaces, the program enhances and enriches the students’ creative talents, while allowing them to explore their potential career interests in authentic settings.
Who can participate in The Fashion Lab?
The Fashion Lab is available to senior high school students and college students in the New Orleans area. The Fashion Lab is especially dedicated to providing opportunities for students from from those communities impacted directly or indirectly by Hurricanes Katrina and/or children of underprivileged backgrounds. Auditions for The Fashion Lab 2008-2009 are over. Please APPLY TO JOIN and your application will be put on the waiting list for next year.
How did Fashion Lab originate?
To find out information about how The Fashion Lab originated, see our HISTORY section.
How will Fashion Lab help new Orleans & Louisiana?
For the City of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana, the post-Katrina cultural economy received a boost through the promotion of its emerging fashion industry in which the student participants may well play a mutually rewarding part as premier designers or retailers in the future.
Where does Fashion Lab operate?
The Fashion Lab currently operates in New Orleans, Louisiana. Buoyed by its success there, The Fashion Lab team has initiated plans to build upon that model to establish programs in selected cities across the country where there are other “children of the storm” of inner-city life. The projected areas of expansion in 2008 and beyond include Houston and New York City, with Chicago and Detroit as other potential targets.
How does Fashion Lab generate funding?
The Fashion Lab was initially supported as a public-private partnership with funds provided through the State of Louisiana, as well as other in-kind contributions from concerned individuals and businesses in the private sector.
Now the survival of the The Fashion Lab depends solely upon our ability to raise funds from corporate and other private sources. Only with your help will The Fashion Lab be able to continue to provide life-changing fashion and retail training opportunities for talented young people with the promise of a brighter future. Find out how to DONATE today.
How can I become a volunteer?
To find out information about volunteering for The Fashion Lab, see our VOLUNTEER section.
How can I get more information?
For additional information, see the other sections of this Web site, or write or phone our headquarters:
The Fashion Lab
P.O. Box 56968
New Orleans, LA 70156
Email:
info@fashionlab.org
