Evans Group Launches Training Program, Partners With City of Oakland to Create Jobs
The Evans Group, a Los Angeles–based boutique manufacturer that has built its reputationon high-quality production and community-building efforts, has announced two new projects that will benefit California’s apparel-manufacturing industry.
In partnership with designer Luis Diaz of Luis Diaz Designs, The Evans Group willlaunch a series of sample-making and pattern-making classes for contractors and individuals looking to quickly enhance their staffs’ skills. The three eight-week courses will include European-style high-end sample-making, basic pattern- making and advanced patternmaking and draping.
The idea stemmed from courses Diaz, a former longtime high-end contractor, gave to The Evans Group sewers. “We hired Luis to give classes in-house for our sewers. The classes were incredibly successful for us. We had samplemakers who in two weeks could skillfully make a pant pattern,” said Jennifer Evans, founder of The Evans Group. “We found the niche of high-end production to be very successful for us—and if other Los Angeles manufacturers had access to these skills, it would benefit them as well.”
Limited to five to 10 individuals per class, the intensive program could also be useful to designers looking to further train their own patternmakers and production staff, Evans said. Classes are set to begin in March and will be held at The Evans Group headquarters in downtown Los Angeles.
A second collaboration funds The Evans Group as the recipient of a grant from the city of Oakland, Calif. The Unity Council, a division of Oakland’s Community DevelopmentDepartment, has given The Evans Group the funding and green light to create a vertically integrated development and production facility in the city.
The program, which will include a training program identical to the classes being taught by Diaz, is slated to create 70 welfare-to-work jobs over the next two years. “This is a big deal for us, and it would help revitalize apparel manufacturing in the Bay Area, where designers have very limited resources,” Evans said.
For more information on The Evans Group’s training program, call (213) 626-4377.
—Erin Barajas
