TALA Gives Back to Fashion Students and Neighborhood Kids
The Textile Association of Los Angeles hosted its 49th annual scholarship luncheon on Nov. 16 in the Fashion Theater of the California Market Center.
Students from the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, Los Angeles Trade-Technical College, Otis College of Art + Design and the West Valley Occupational Center set up displays of their recent work, including sketches, finished garments and, in the case of West Valley, informal modeling.
TALA members awarded scholarship funds to students from each school, as well as one to the winner of the Betty Baumgarten Scholarship Award, named in honor of a former dean of Los Angeles Trade-Tech who left a portion of her estate in a trust fund for TALA’s scholarship program. Trade-Tech student Heidi Terese Merrick, this year’s winner, thanked the school and Department Chair Carole Anderson, saying, “The technical skills I’ve learned are beyond what I imagined.”
Steve Maiman, owner of Los Angeles–based children’s apparel manufacturer Great Escape and co-owner of junior manufacturer Stony Apparel, gave the keynote address.
Maiman has been in the industry since 1972 and has also worked for such companies as Security Textile and Cherokee Inc. He offered the students a few words of advice: “The real education is in the real world, where you can see what you learned in school and put it into practice.”
“Start small; you can always grow. I started in this business in one room.”
“If it isn’t broken, fix it anyway—it can always be better.”
Maiman and Stony Apparel partner Tony Litman are longtime supporters of several charitable organizations, including the Fashion Industries Guild of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, which named Maiman its Man of the Year in 1999. Maiman and Litman were named Friends of TALA in 2003.
“You have an obligation to give it back—some of it, anyway,” Maiman told the group. “It’s a privilege to be able to give to someone in need.”
Mark Lesser, president of the California Fashion Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the California Fashion Association, also presented a $3,000 donation to TALA’s scholarship fund. The donation represented a portion of the funds raised by the CFF at its first annual Charity Poker Tournament, held in July at the Hollywood Park Casino in Inglewood, Calif.
TALA’s next event is its annual Christmas party for local boys’ and girls’ clubs and community programs. The Dec. 16 party will be held at 3:30 p.m. in Suite A1375 in the CMC. The organization is looking for donations, including new toys and books for children ages 4–12. For more information, contact the TALA office at (213) 627-6173. —Alison A. Nieder
