Jane Hamill | Podcast

How do you know if a startup apparel brand will succeed or not? You could ask Mindy Martell because she's help launch thousands of small apparel brands. My guest today is Mindy Martell and she's the owner of an apparel factory in Minnesota and is the founder of The Apparel Academy,  dedicated to educating people on starting their clothing line. She has a ton of experience working in overseas factories, In fact, she tells me a heartbreaking story about working conditions in a factory in China. Workers who lived on-site, wifi that's shut off at lunch so the employees cannot access it, incredibly low pay and long hours. My jaw dropped as she revealed the true working conditions she witnessed. Mindy's experience was about 15 years ago and we can only hope things have changed since then. We also discuss a ton of other topics from why Mindy started her own factory in the first place, how she chooses what products to manufacture in her factory, to why you should build a following before your product is even ready.