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"Success comes to the underdog who doesn't let sleeping dogs lie...
...AND INSTEAD SHAKES UP THE MARKET BY DOING THINGS DIFFERENTLY" ~Sir Richard Branson
#BeDisruptive #RockTheBoat #BeDEFIant
(DE-FI) Global INC: Fashioned in (DE-FI)ance
The Fashion Pipeline: Fashion Careers Start Here
The black sheep that's not for sale, not interested in being a part of your clique, nor are we interested in winning any popularity contests.
What started off as the Dayton Emerging Fashion Incubator (DE-FI) in 2013, is now (DE-FI) Global INC which has 7 subsidiaries, 14 signature events, and inspired 1 non-profit.
First Flight, Now Fashion is more than just our catchphrase...it is the runway that has led to 95% of our events and experiences being sold out and cleared the way for over one thousand careers in fashion to takeoff.
So where can you find (DE-FI) alum? Here's the "short" list:
Started from the bottom, now we're here!
1. Versace
2. Saint Jesus
3. Saral Zens
4. Savage x Fenty
5. Nike
6. Kohl's
7. Michael Kors
8. ASOS
9. When Smoke Clears
10. Marc Jacobs
11. J.C. Penny
12. Meijer
13. Ulla Johnson
14. Calvin Klein
15. Milan Fashion Week
16. New York Fashion Week
17. Paris Fashion Week
18. Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week
19. InStyle Magazine
20. Vogue Magazine
21. Vogue Italia
22. Ebony Magazine
23. Ellements Magazine
24. Shape magazine
25. FIDM
26. Kent State
27. UC DAAP
28. SCAAD
29. Ross Dress for Less
30. L Brands
31. Forbes Under 30 Fellows
32. The Grammy's
33. The Oscars
34. The Tribeca Film Festival
35. ABC
36. Hallmark
37. HBO
38. Netflix
39. Broadway
40. Art Hearts Fashion
41. Council of Fashion Designers of America
42. Samuel Adams
43. Adidas
44. Women's Wear Daily
45. Sephora
46. White House Black Market
47. Carters
48. Harper's Bazaar
49. Under Armor
50. The Rockettes
(DE-FI) Global INC is a privately held, self-funded Fashion Incubator owned and directed by Dayton,Ohio native, resident, and former model Caressa L. Brown. After working behind the scenes of NYFW and Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week with the CFDA's volunteer team from 2013-2018, in 2021 Caressa was honored to become a founding member of the CFDA Connects Program, where she and Designer Alum Aceani Michelle sat on the Leadership Committee in the inaugural year and are current voting member of the CFDA Fashion Award's Guild.
With a focus on fashion, talent, media, and events, we develop and support individuals and their teams seeking a career in the fashion industry by connecting them to like-minded individuals and providing affordable access, resources, and opportunities to advance their careers via the Dayton Fashion Week Incubator and The Cincinnati Fashion Incubator.
Our designer incubators are set up in 7 stages:
1) Foundation Building
2) Team Building
3) Strategic Planning
4) Behind the Seams
5) The Blitz
6) The Collections
7) CFDA Resources
It's never business as usual for us and you'll never have the same experience twice. (DE-FI) Global INC's events and programming are tailor made to provide participants, contributors, and patrons alike a distinctive and captivating opportunity to witness tomorrow's fashion stars at the birth of their careers, follow them throughout the process, and at the culmination of their fashion career, you'll have the chance to say, "I knew them when...". So if we tell you to #RememberTheirName; believe us, take notes, sit back, and just watch. No other regional fashion organization has developed and produced the number of success stories as (DE-FI) Global INC, making the Southwest Ohio region The Fashion Capital for the development and success of fashion based talent across multiple disciplines.
An organization so influential in its practices, strategy, and proven results that it reshaped how other regional fashion organizations across the world operate. Headquartered in Dayton, OH, we support, strengthen, and expand the fashion industry throughout Southwest Ohio including our sister city, Cincinnati which is 45 minutes south of Dayton. We do this through a combination of our Fashion Pipeline initiatives which includes:
Our programming supports supports aspiring and emerging fashion professionals through promotion, business support, resources and member privileges whose influence alone will amplify your mission as a designer; expand your reach as a brand; increase your awareness of the fashion industry; and strengthen your business connection, commerce, media and trade in the American fashion industry and globally.
Designers selected to participate in the Dayton Fashion Week Designer Incubator or the Cincinnati Fashion Incubator experience will also benefit from the following services via the CFDA including
Runway 360, general education & professional development, and a pipeline to CFDA membership for qualified designers.
Comprised of accomplished fashion industry professionals, business owners, and community leaders, (DE-FI) Global INC is far from polished; we are not your stereotypical, posh, or face giving fashion organization. We amplify influence and opportunities for aspiring, emerging, and independent apparel and accessory designers, as well as costume designers by promoting mentorship, entrepreneurship, collaboration, team building, community, and scholarship. In fact, before we even get into the creative aspects and business of fashion, our unorthodoxed approach starts with foundation building to ensure that our talent is equipped with the tools needed to navigate the not so pretty side of the fashion industry. It takes more than talent and looks to be successful in fashion, therefore, we start our talent off in our incubators by focusing on developing and/or fine tuning the following areas:
- inner beauty
- knowing your worth
- goal setting
- having the proper support system
- coping with rejection
- managing stress
- proper nutrition
- health and wellness
- work/life balance
- and more!
Our vigor has been a hub for innovation and creativity that has often been imitated yet our formula for success has never been duplicated. For nearly a decade, the crown jewel of our company, the Dayton Emerging Fashion Incubator affectionately known as (DE-FI) and pronounced "defy", served as the first-of-its-kind one stop organization that re(DE-FI)ned what it meant to put community first, live out your wildest dreams, and supporting the needs of emerging fashion talent as a whole at the same damn time. And it was done in one of the least likely cities you'd ever expect to find a successful and thriving fashion community...yet here we are in Dayton, OH making it happen; and in 2023, we're adding some Gems to the crown of the Queen City of Cincinnati.
(DE-FI) Global INC ultimately fosters a viable, nurturing, independent, and self-sustaining fashion community in Southwest Ohio. With a focus on removing barriers, particularly the financial barriers that prevent many from succeeding in the fashion industry, our work is inspired by the struggles that Caressa L. Brown, (DE-FI) Global INC's Owner/Director faced in her one time promising career as a model.
(DE-FI) Global INC Owner/Director Caressa L. Brown uses her story to help others pursue their dreams
Fashioned In Disruptive and Economic Progress
You Either Win with Us, Or You Watch Us Win
BE A WITNESS to the newest cities experiencing the evolution of emerging fashion. When we first launched, the goal was to serve as a springboard for Dayton area talent to connect with other fashion weeks and opportunities across the country, however, making that connection wasn't as easy as we had hoped and found that those other outlets weren't interested in sharing the spotlight. Locally, we found ourselves being dismissed, ignored, blocked, mitigated, gate-kept, and even sabotaged by the various small business owners, local government agencies, even community leaders who were uncomfortable with our rapid success, continued growth, outside the box operations, refusal to conform, and our in your face (DE-FI)ant attitude. So, we gathered our supplies, built our own platform and blazed a path and legacy of our own that those who tried to stop us and/or refused to acknowledge us, now duplicate or copy and paste directly from our blueprint.
For nearly a decade the self-funded (DE-FI) Global INC has transformed into a gate busting, door holding, accepts you as you are and where you are kind of organization that has built a solid reputation for developing world class talent and producing uniquely immersive fashion experiences with a style that is raw, in your face, open, honest, transparent, and (DE-FI)ant. A style that paved the way for fashion professionals to live out their dreams throughout various stages of life.
In doing so, we also built a sense of community, we curated ideas, we disrupted the status quo, we identified the problem then we initiated change. We've (DE-FI)ed all odds, every naysayer, every critic, every doubt, every fear, every rejection, and made the next level our floor. We did not re-invent the wheel, we changed how the wheel was used ultimately putting a global spotlight on Dayton’s emerging and advancing fashion industry and talented work force. #WeDidItOurWay
#ThisIsOurHow #TheEvolutionOfDEFI #ItJustKeepsGettingBetter #TheFashionExperience #LetsGetIt #CincinnatiFashion #DaytonFashion #TheBluePrint #DesignerIncubator #WeInside #TheNextLevelIsHere #RemovingBarriers #ConceptToCompletion #TailorMade #MoldCreator #BeTheOriginal #LetThemModelYou #CFDA #CFDAConnects #FashionCareersStartHere #TheFashionPipeline #FashionAdvancement
#DontWaitForPermission #DontApologize
#BeDisruptive #BeDEFIant #BreakEveryRule #ThisIsOurHouse #WhatDoYouDEFI #FirstFlightNowFashion
Expertise
Talent Development and Management
For nearly a decade we have helped to launch the careers of over 1000 models, designers, photographers, HMUA's, writers, sewists, and more. We have helped them navigate the frequently changing fashion industry to build lasting careers and businesses.
Fashion Operations and Advisory
Headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, (DE-FI) creates, designs, and executes strategic plans for fashion careers that pave the way for transformative, innovative, memorable events, and experiences with support from CFDA Connects programming making the Miami Valley and Southwest Ohio the fashion capital for talent development.
Experience and Event Management
We own and/or produce more than 10 signature events, from live fashion shows, to community engagement, and brand building educational series that merge culture, art, music, culinary, and lifestyle.
Media Production and Distribution
We are a content platform specializing in development, production, marketing, and distribution of fashion related talent and work out of the Dayton and Cincinnati region.
Creative Marketing and Branding
A marketing business providing experiential, impactors, influencers, and public relations expertise for fashion based talent in Dayton and Cincinnati but not limited to our region.
Our Ultimate Goal: Made in the U.S.A.
Beyond the glitz and glamor, the fashion industry is a Top 10 employer in the U.S. and is a $900 Billion dollar a year industry, Columbus and Cleveland have all benefited from the fashion industry. Why not Dayton and Cincinnati? From having headquarters of top fashion brands call their cities home to manufacturing internationally recognized brands. According to the 2020 census, the median household income in Dayton was $32,540 for Cincinnati it's $45,235; 30% of Dayton's residents live in poverty, for Cincinnati it's 24.7%; and out of 248 cities in Ohio, Dayton ranks 12th for childhood poverty, Cincinnati is ranked 28th; Montgomery County ranks 19th out of 88 counties for childhood poverty, Hamilton County was in the top 1/3. Our communities could really use better paying jobs and a more diverse economy.
While producing world class talent has been the pinnacle of our success, growing Dayton's market to benefit from the economic powerhouse that is the Fashion Industry has been met with challenges. Most notably the lack of support from our local government and government agencies. The governments of Midwest cities like Columbus and St. Louis are actively working to retain their fashion based talent; the St. Louis government is paying $50,000 for designers to move to St. Louis; Columbus has invested over a half a million dollars to retain fashion designers in their city since 2020.
In 9 years, we've had zero support, backing, or acknowledgement from the City of Dayton or Montgomery County and it's not due to a lack of trying on our end. The fashion industry presents immense opportunities for investing in garment manufacturing; one of (DE-FI) Global INC's longest held goals has been and still is to bring garment manufacturing to the Dayton and Miami Valley areas. Did you know that garment manufacturing requires less capital intensive with high investment to turnover ratio? The output of U.S. textile manufacturing (measured by value added) totaled $18.79 billion in 2019.
According to U.S. Joint Economic Committee, the U.S. apparel manufacturing industry employs more than 144,000 people. While occupations such as sewing machine operators, tailors, and textile machine operators still earn lower wages; higher paying garment manufacturing occupations such as market research analysts and marketing specialists earn an average of $59,750 annually, garment manufacturing computer based professionals earn $67,110/yr., and other production stages such as fabric and apparel pattern-makers earn an average of $53,800 annually.
Help Our Cause
Due to financial hardships, we have several participants in our incubators who are unable to afford the cost of the services that we offer. We never turn anyone away due to their inability to pay. Your support and contributions to The Art of (DE-FI)ance Fashion Fund allows us to keep our services affordable and provide hardship grants to participants in need.
