Model and make: Start-up opens up manufacturing

New York – Launched last October, the new website Maker’s Row helps emerging designers bridge the gap between funding and manufacturing, with a focus on producers based in the US.

Founders Matthew Burnett and Tanya Menendez realised that many young designers, fresh from successfully prototyping their ideas and funding them on Kickstarter, were wasting their hard-earned seed money on false starts with producers in Asia.

Cost was not the only reason designers were looking overseas. US manufacturers tended to have poor marketing and bad websites, which could make US production seem equally daunting.

Maker’s Row intends to change this perception by providing a user-friendly, centralised resource that profiles manufacturers and breaks down the production process into clear stages. Short video profiles add to the sense of transparency.

Consumers increasingly demand transparency in the supply chain, as seen in our At the Source microtrend. As Millennials start their own businesses and as maker culture grows, we can expect an even clearer view of the production process.