A New Solution for Local Manufacturing
Full-package production is a concept more prominent in Asia and Latin America, but a new company, La Fondamenta, is now offering it in downtown Los Angeles.
Apparel industry veteran Daniel Sadigh, chief operating officer of the women’s clothing company Sugar-Moods Ltd., launched a service six months ago aimed at helping smaller and up-and-coming apparel companies get a jump on the market.
“The idea is to reduce the overhead for a lot of these companies,” Sadigh said. “We have a lot of talented designers here [on the West Coast], but they are sometimes handicapped. Our experience can put them into the mainstream right away, rather than waiting five, six or eight years through a lot of trial and error. It’s a win-win situation.”
Sadigh has more than 25 years of experience behind him, covering all facets of the industry from sourcing, design, private-label and brand manufacturing to retail and wholesale sales and distribution.
He’s assembled a support crew that includes his wife, Bonnie, designer Liliana Fekete and technical consultant Mary Chang.
The company has a 30,000- square-foot facility at 3500 S. San Pedro St., about a mile south of the Los Angeles Fashion District. It is set up to offer design space, a sizable cutting room with support staff, high-grade cutting machines and an automated conveyor system for distribution.
Companies are using La Fondamenta for its full-package offerings or for piecemeal services, which could be for importing, patternmaking, sewing, data entry, warehousing, line sheet production or marketing. Sadigh said it had the depth to help younger designers or even more established ones with the support they need without their having to invest in real estate or equipment themselves.
Bonnie Sadigh’s experience extends from operations to creative services. She runs day-to-day operations at Sugar-Moods, and previously owned the New York clothing store So Fine. She graduated from City University of New York with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts.
“Her expertise in visual arts and her ability to incorporate them in a mixed technical media qualify her in successful implementation of work orders in a cutting-edge, service- oriented organization,” Daniel Sadigh said.
Fekete is helping with design consulting. She worked for several years in Europe and the United States. “She has worked with many of the best labels in the market,” Daniel Sadigh noted, “and her design packages are well-received by overseas manufacturers for their clarity and detail.”
Chang just joined the company from Jeantex Group Inc. and will offer technical support. She has been an investor, sewing contractor, manufacturer and consultant.
Sadigh himself has done private-label contracting for retailers and manufacturers such as Dillard’s, Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenueand Bebe. He has extensive offshore experience since Sugar-Moods shifted production to overseas manufacturing in the past seven years.
La Fondamenta’s cost structure is set up on either a flat-fee basis or as part of a revenue- sharing or percentage plan, Sadigh said.
The company has been working with a number of Los Angeles area designers, including David Cline, who produces an eponymous line as well as The Real Truth label— both women’s contemporary collections.
“It fits in very well with what I do,” Cline said.
“They have a cutting room and sample room, as well as shipping, so it’s exactly what I need.”
La Fondamenta is a member of Fashion Business Inc., a Los Angeles nonprofit that offers support and education for new and returning workers in the apparel industry. The company’s relationship with FBI allows it to open up a pipeline to newer companies that may find it difficult to get their operations up and running.
“It’s very hard for designers and companies when they are starting out, because they usually have no idea of what resources are available for pattern-making, sample-making or what have you,” FBI Executive Director Frances Harder said. “I know Daniel has lots of experience behind him, so we’ll see how it works out.”
For more information, visit www.lafondamenta. com.
