Today we’d like to introduce you to Claudia Marzotto.
Claudia, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I have always been fascinated by the ‘engineering’ behind clothing. As a kid, I remember wondering how a garment could go around the curves of the body and fits so well… I think it was this curiosity that pushed me to learn Pattern-making. After High School in Agriculture and Zootechnics (which seems unrelated but it is not, and I tell you why later), I took an intensive course in Padova, my hometown in Italy – you would call it a College Degree probably and graduated in Pattern Making. It was 2009 by then and I decided I needed to learn English so I took my suitcase and flew to London where so many possibilities opened up to me. I worked for British and Italian fashion brands, as a pattern maker and seamstress, and I loved it.
Initially, I would only work as a Pattern-maker and Dress-maker but then I realize that many designers I worked for had great ideas but were lacking connections, technical background, and they had a hard time communicating with factories. I hated seeing the beautiful works we developed go wasted because of this. So I decided to start helping them more fully by sharing my connections with the Italian factories and communicating directly with them. In little less than one year, I put together a top-notch network of fashion professionals and factories and I was managing productions for my clients.
In 2014 my husband Alex and I moved to the USA, one of the greatest markets in the world and in 2016, we founded Moda Lab right here in Miami! Alex helped me tremendously thanks to his IT skills and experience in business development. The connection we now have are international. We can help clients from the Business Plan to Manufacturing and Digital Development. Also, we have recently added Footwear development and are working with sustainable factories around Europe.
Having studied Agriculture and the animals, I believe, put me in the right mindset to embrace and promote sustainability. I am a lover of nature and living creatures, so when we founded Moda Lab one of the main core value was exactly to help fashion be more sustainable, to offer our clients the resources they need to be sustainable and to inform and encourage our suppliers to see sustainability as an opportunity for growth.
Has it been a smooth road?
It required a lot of passion because it is was not always rewarding on the economic side. Alex, for the first year, was able to support the business economically and made it possible for it to take off. Another struggle was finding the right suppliers. It took us quite some time to get trustworthy and high-quality suppliers. It takes time to find people that have a professional attitude, not just a professional title.
Then opening a second office in Spain was a bit of a risk. Explaining to our clients that we were not going away but that we were instead opening new doors and opportunities for them was not easy, and some did not understand it, to be honest. But it paid off, because we are now able to manage more productions, have a higher market segment, and have a higher standard both sustainably speaking and quality-wise. The brands we serve now see the value of having a partner that has an international approach yet a very friendly one too. Somebody they can completely rely on because we have an international presence.
Moda Lab – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I think the unique thing about Moda Lab is that we follow the project from start to finish. This way, we really put our heart in it and every aspect we follow is well-coordinated and cohesive. Being involved almost on every level of our client’s business makes us more of a partner rather than just a service supplier and we get to understand their concept and target market as if it was ours.
We help to transform the customer ideas into a feasible project with the creation of the business plan that includes market research, financial projections, marketing & sales plan, as well as creating a powerful brand identity. We work one-on-one with the client to achieve high quality and perfectly fitted pieces. We take care of developing the concept, patterns, samples, tech packs, costing sheets, and basically each seam, with passion.
We have an international, trusted, and highly experienced portfolio of partner factories that we put at work for you. We find, organize, manage, plan, and inspect each production. We provide digital solutions from content creation to e-commerce, editorial, and app development. We help our clients present the product in an innovative and appealing way. Moda Lab has two studios: one located in North Miami and one located in Valencia, Spain to offer both Made in the USA and Made in Europe.
Having all the development aspects happening under one roof allows for a smoother and less stressful process, and being able to have access to international resources is key, especially during these unprecedented times.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I think we will see everything becoming more sustainable, and I am talking about business models being more human-centered, resources being used more thoughtfully and in general, a swift towards a less intensive system. In one word: slowing down, becoming more centered and mindful.
Contact Info:
- Address: Miami Office: 8325 NE 2nd Ave, Miami, FL 33138, United States Valencia Studio: Calle Almoines, 2, 46018 Valencia, España
- Website: https://www.modalab.biz
- Phone: 9545192001
- Email: info@modalab.biz
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moda_lab/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/modalab.biz/
- Other: https://www.pinterest.it/moda_lab/
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