Courtesy of The Bright Factory
The Bright Factory will focus on creating blank T-shirts that can be used for screen printing or everyday wear.
Meghan Forest Farmer has built a career as a professional fashion stylist in Fort Worth, curating wardrobes and styling photo shoots while also making efforts to promote sustainable practices. Outside her day job, she works with local nonprofit The Net, visiting women in jail and hearing their stories.
It was through these regular visits that Farmer had an epiphany for her next venture.
"We would just go, love on the ladies, let them know there's people on the outside of jail that are thinking about them, praying for them, that care about them, that they're not forgotten," Farmer says. "So often when I talk to them, their stories of life, of what they were hoping to do when they got out, were very similar. They want to get out, get a good job, take care of their family."
The problem? Women coming out of jail are often hard-pressed to find employment. According to the Prison Policy Initiative, a nonprofit criminal justice advocacy group, formerly incarcerated people are unemployed at a rate of over 27%, which is "higher than the total U.S. unemployment rate during any historical period, including the Great Depression."
Hence, the idea for The Bright Factory was born — a manufacturing company that employs formerly incarcerated women to create solid-colored T-shirts for screen printing or everyday wear.
"The Bright Factory idea was born from that — seeing that we can potentially disrupt the fashion industry in the way that things are done right now within garment manufacturing. There's not a lot of it in the U.S., a lot of it is overseas ... we can restore some of that manufacturing here, we can provide jobs to women who potentially are looked over, and we can also do things ethically, sustainably, change the model a little bit to where we're still making amazing quality products efficiently but treating people well and creating an environment people want to work in," Farmer says.
The company is not yet operational; in order to launch, Farmer has created a Kickstarter campaign (backthebrightfactory.com) whose link will go live on Sept. 1. Those who donate will be funding the first production run and will receive the first T-shirts produced by The Bright Factory.
"We have samples made, we know what the T-shirts are going to look like, we have patterns, we are ready," Farmer says. "As soon as crowdfunding happens, we'll be able to get inside a building, start getting the equipment set up, and hiring ladies."
While the official website, thebrightfactory.co, has not yet been launched, those interested in following the company can find The Bright Factory on Instagram (@thebrightfactory) and Facebook (@thebrightfactorytx).
