Pirozzolo-Mellowes Discuss Milwaukee Fashion Initiative

Jan Pirozzolo-Mellowes was quoted in a BizTimes Milwaukee article, “Fashion designers forming connections in new industry collectives,” about the Milwaukee Fashion Initiative, an organization she and fellow partner Cynthia Rigsby founded last year to connect and provide resources to designers and fashion companies in southeastern Wisconsin.

Pirozzolo-Mellowes said she got the idea for the initiative last year after attending Project ReUNITED, a United Way benefit reuniting the cast of Season 15 of “Project Runway” in Milwaukee with the help of Milwaukee fashion designer Linda Marcus, who appeared on the show. They did some research, checked with the Mount Mary University fashion program and downtown fashion makerspace Milwaukee Fashion Incubator, and invited a group of designers to join the initiative’s inaugural meeting in February.

“As IP attorneys and as a law firm, we’ve been able to do an IP 101, use of copyrights and trademarks, and we’ve done business 101 for some people who are starting up,” she said. “We have been trying to provide some education and resources and making connections, and we also have been working towards networking with each other.”