A New Non-Profit Aims to Help Preserve American Craft

Since she learned how to make hats at Parsons, Gigi Burris O’Hara has become the milliner to the fashion set (and a CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Finalist), known for her elegant hats and headbands. When she started her business, she became passionate about American craftsmanship thanks to a factory called Albrizios. The third generation family-owned business, who she still collaborates with today as her business has grown, uses a handmade technique to make hats in Brooklyn, New York. “The way we produce is blocking by hand over carved wooden blocks, and the technique has not changed for centuries. It’s a very niche skill set and it’s an honor to play a small part in preserving it,” Burris O’Hara says. But now, she’s taking her desire to preserve American craftsmanship a step further by founding the non-profit Closely Crafted.

Closely Crafted’s mission is to raise awareness of designers who produce in America and, eventually, to sponsor apprenticeships for young people to learn the trade. As Burris O’Hara explains, it’s crucial to make tailoring, millinery, pleating, and other kinds of work essential to the fashion industry a viable career option for the next generations. They’re up against decades of decline in the United States. According to Business of Fashion, in the ’60s, 95% of clothing purchased in the States was made in the States. As of 2015, that had switched, and 97% of clothing was now imported. “Factories and ateliers are closing, and with that decades of knowledge vanish along with them,” says Burris O’Hara. “There is an age gap in the talented workforce, and we hope to preserve this know-how through supported training programs focused on a new generation of young creators. The preservation and transmission of skill sets across generations is crucial to sustain our ability to support an American fashion industry that makes in the United States.” 

Burris O’Hara is joined in her mission by board members and special advisors including Representative Carolyn Maloney, Markarian’s Alexandra O’Neill, Public School and AnOnlyChild’s Maxwell Osborne, and slow fashion pioneer Natalie Chanin. Chanin puts the mission of Closely Crafted into perspective with the supply chain crisis that has put many businesses that produce internationally in a bind since the coronavirus pandemic began. “We need to be able to feed, clothe, and shelter ourselves and each other,” she says. “When we get to the point where that’s not possible, we’re in great jeopardy.” 

Osbourne emphasizes how it’s helpful for a designer to know who makes their clothes on a personal level, and vice versa. “When you build a relationship with local factories and factory owners, you want to see them succeed, and they want to see you succeed.”