When Veronika Scott of the Empowerment Plan came to us as a bright-eyed social entrepreneur last year, we had no idea what we were in for.  All we knew is we wanted to be involved.

It's been a year of helping her to secure materials, finalize patterns, lay out a production floor, consult on electrical needs, put a sewing process together, cutting parts and eventually assemble them. But here we are, helping her make a difference in the lives of Detroit's most in need.

Veronika's project has utilized nearly every process we have in the plant, from prototyping, through developing patterns and cutting quilted parts on our Gerber and sewing finished coats. Our staff even put back together a 50-year old quillting machine to make the process possible.

See the complete article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/01/fashion/young-designers-focus-efforts-on-homeless-population-in-detroit.html?pagewanted=all&smid=fb-share

Fairway Products is keeping busy by assisting The Empowerment Plan while they get their facility set up and people trained.

If you haven't had a chance to read about the project, visit the website at http://EmpowermentPlan.org

We at Fairway have always had a soft spot for small business and entrepreneurs. Heck, we were all once that "start-up" or "new business" out there. One of our best capabilities is the way we can help small and upstart businesses with product development and preparing both the product and our client to get into the market. Our prototyping ability and the way we can do small-run manufacturing make it easy for you to get your product in the hands of your customers.