OFW is thrilled to announce that 7 of our designers for the Fall ‘24 Season will receive grants from the OFW Investor’s Circle. The Investor’s Circle was started in December 2023 by former OFW Producer Brook Hudson and OFW Casting Director Alyssa Dilts. This season we raised ~$3,500 to give to our designers, equaling 7 total grants for the season.
Grant recipients were selected based on a five-minute pitch that was given on Zoom to an audience of generous Investor’s Circle donors. Each donor gave a yes or no vote to each designer. The 13 designers with the highest number of “yes” votes received a grant. Donors were told to imagine themselves holding a $500 check. Would they give that check to the designer after hearing their pitch?
Donors to the Investor’s Circle will have another opportunity to get to know the grant recipients at a Preview Event scheduled for July 28th. All grant recipients will be there with completed collections, and donors will be the first to see the fruit of their investment before it hits the runway.
Here is the list of $500 grant recipients for the August 2024 Season:
Elsie's Attic | Nicole Daberkow | Follow on Instagram
ELU by Elon | Elon Kebede | Follow on Instagram
Judy Bales Design | Judy Bales | Follow on Instagram
Laboure | Morgan Laboure | Follow on Instagram
Rachel Marie Hurst LLC | Rachel Marie Hurst | Follow on Instagram
RÜTD | Rylie Smith | Follow on Instagram
Many of our designers will be using these grants to level up their fabric quality, scale production, purchase new equipment, participate in more shows, increase marketing capabilities, update websites, and provide the resources and flexibility needed to level up their businesses as a whole.
The next round of funding for the Investor’s Circle is scheduled for October 1-31st, and will support designers selected for the February 2025 season. Congrats to all of our grant recipients!