Iowa City’s first fashion accelerator opening this year

If you don’t immediately equate Eastern Iowa to a premier fashion hub, you’re not alone. That’s why Andre Wright — a designer, activist and community builder behind the global phenomenon of the Humanize My Hoodie fashion brand and the Black Liberation Space in downtown Iowa City — is creating a fashion accelerator this year at […]

If you don’t immediately equate Eastern Iowa to a premier fashion hub, you’re not alone. That’s why Andre Wright — a designer, activist and community builder behind the global phenomenon of the Humanize My Hoodie fashion brand and the Black Liberation Space in downtown Iowa City — is creating a fashion accelerator this year at the former home of Varsity Cleaners, 910 S. Gilbert St., a business that closed after 106 years last January. The goal, he said, is to build an ecosystem that builds up underrepresented voices in the community by teaching them critical skills and providing a space for community members to create. Interested participants from 14-25 years old can take educational courses at night and apply their skills in a dedicated incubator space during the day. “It’s difficult because there’s not a lot of resources here in Iowa City,” he said. “But what I’m hoping to do is change that and provide resources that have never been provided here before. I think if we can build up a nucleus…I think we’ll be shocked at how much talent we have here.”

Fashion for social change

From Waterloo, but living in Iowa City since 2003, Mr. Wright has been heavily involved in the arts and fashion scene for years, starting first as a marketing coordinator for Shive-Hattery and then serving as director of mentor connections for the Iowa City Area Development Group.  He has staged fashion shows and workshops in Iowa City and nationally, but he is best known for the Humanize My Hoodie campaign in 2017, a fashion brand created with lifelong friend Jason Sole following the killing of Trayvon Martin. Over hundreds of thousands of sweatshirts and other merchandise have been sold since then, with the brand even receiving celebrity shoutouts from the likes of singer John Legend. “We were very organic with building it,” he said. “I think when people are triggered emotionally, they want to share things and be a part of it. We didn’t have a marketing team that was pushing the brand. By having a conversation about the humanizing of black people and indigenous people, they gravitated towards our movement. “We were unafraid and unapologetic,” he added. He is also founder of Born Leaders United (BLU), an organization that he said has taken a backseat due to more recent efforts, but said they are looking to rebrand in 2023 to appeal to the youth. Now he envisions the Wright House of Fashion as a place to empower young people to take charge of their own future. The space will give students access to graphic design tools like Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. Some students may utilize the space to test brands and products they design in the pop-up retail incubator and screen printing and manufacturing area, while others could decide to hone their skills in the podcast room, at sewing stations or in the multimedia studio. Just 3% of graphic designers are Black, said Mr. Wright, noting he hopes the fashion accelerator will start to swing those numbers in the other direction.

Workshops will be available starting in February and running throughout the year in topics including circuit design light shows, 3D printing, branding and dye basics. Cey Adams, graphic designer and founding creative director of Def Jam Recordings, known for his work with the Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Jay-Z and more, will host a workshop in July. The space’s first quarterly fashion show will take place March 31. Wright House of Fashion is the natural progression, he said, of a similar area in downtown Iowa City that was called the Black Liberation Space. Donated by the former owner of Revival, Mr. Wright and Iowa City community members used the space to talk about freedom of expression, economic liberation and education in the aftermath of George Floyd. The group made pieces of clothing, had art exhibitions, created a podcast, offered unconscious bias training opportunities and created a documentary that was featured in the Paris Independent Film Festival and the New York Independent Cinema Awards.

Warner Music Group invests in Iowa City

The Wright House of Fashion will be home to an intimate class of 10 people that teaches fashion design and entrepreneurship from industry professionals. The first cohort of students participated over the summer with Warner Music Group Art Director Gordon Thomas, who has worked for artists such as The Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Madonna, John Mayer, Foo Fighters, Lizzo and more. Through biweekly Zoom sessions, quizzes and certificates, students learned about graphic design concepts and worked to make merchandise for Atlantic Records artists. Students designed merchandise for Canadian American artist Grandson for his concert in Chicago in October, and the students all got stage passes to experience the event. Their merchandise was the number one selling apparel during the tour, Mr. Wright said. “This was extremely revolutionary in our community,” he explained. “We had the number one music distribution label in the world working with kids in Iowa City for a major recording artist that has sold out tours all over the country.” For Warner Media, the project was an opportunity to diversify marketing efforts by understanding the buying preferences of a different part of the population, he said.

2023 outlook

Mr. Wright said he hopes the fashion accelerator will give a space for people to escape their daily lives, as he did when he was younger. “[Art] allowed me to alleviate impoverished situations because I was able to reimagine myself doing something else, whether that was through murals, painting, drawing or fashion,” he said. The Wright House of Fashion building was purchased in partnership with nonprofit Resilient Sustainable Future for Iowa City (RSFIC), an organization that aligns with his vision of employing sustainable practices. Currently the accelerator is attempting to raise up to $100,000 on building improvements and operational costs.  A larger capital campaign will be launched this year, where the nonprofit hopes to raise $1.5 million in fundraising to keep the business running; renovate the building to add the screen printing area, multimedia studio and retail incubator space; and hire three Black women, as reported by The Gazette. Final renovations won’t be complete until 2024. “I’ve never run a nonprofit; I’ve only worked for them,” he said. “I think I didn’t know what to do initially, right? I just kind of jumped in…now I’m in the process of developing a board and creating bylaws. It’s been an interesting process.”