About

Made in Old Town is about to become a world-class innovation campus for footwear and apparel. It is a creation engine that is catalyzing a shift in the industry – right in the heart of Portland, the world’s footwear and apparel capital. The project is owned by the Old Town Purpose Trust, which is dedicated to benefitting the Old Town / Chinatown neighborhood.

The Made in Old Town campus provides access to world-class equipment and a deep talent pool across brands, suppliers, and innovators, enabling them to make the next generation of footwear and apparel. Through innovation in sample-making, MiOT pushes the boundaries of technical, aesthetic, and environmental possibilities. 

In total, this mixed use development will encompass 323,000ft2 across nine buildings, including 80,000ft2 of advanced manufacturing and 110,000ft2 of workforce housing. The project will implement best-in-class sustainable adaptive reuse standards across the portfolio. Programs include community and culture-building as well as workforce development and training.

This is where the future is built – at the intersection of craft, community, culture and technology.

Who is Made in Old Town for?

BRANDS large and small become members of Made in Old Town through a tiered membership that promotes access for startups and minority founders. Membership includes access to campus resources, including the sample-making space, work spaces, and connections to the supplier ecosystem.

SUPPLIERS lease spaces in the tower. Here, they can show their materials or processes, network, and work with brands to integrate with footwear and apparel development projects happening in the sample room.

RESIDENTS of Old Town – current residents and future inhabitants of MiOT’s housing – access gathering spaces and community events, as well as ground floor retail. 

OLD TOWN SMALL BUSINESSES enjoy increased foot traffic as hundreds of employees and visitors come to Old Town every day. 

FOOTWEAR & APPAREL PROFESSIONALS connect with MiOT through entrepreneurship, internship, networking, learning, and events. Here, they find resources and community to build their career and their passion.

FAQ

  • The Team: The management team of Made in Old Town is composed of three lead managers and a director. 

    • Greg Bui was the former VP of Global Manufacturing at NIKE and over the last 30 years of building NIKE’s global supply chain has developed a deep working knowledge and set of relationships with the foremost factories and vendors in the industry. Bui serves as Trustee and Industry Manager, leading the initiatives work with the footwear and apparel industry.

    • Claire Juttelstad ran manufacturing for both Danner and Keen before becoming Under Amour’s Director of Manufacturing Innovation. She now serves as the HUB Director, managing the build out and daily operations of a fully-equipped sample floor at the heart of the Made in Old Town HUB.

    • Matthew Claudel is the founder of Field States, an urban design and strategy firm that unlocks new value as cities redevelop in light of technological change – with a portfolio that includes the cities of Boston and Vernon, the Michigan Central innovation district, and OMSI. Claudel serves as Urban Design Manager, leading the urban design and partnerships for this district-level development.

    • Jonathan Cohen is the founder of Equity Development Lab and owner of the Society Hotel. Cohen is a long-time advocate of community development in Old Town. Cohen serves as the Development Manager, bringing his twenty years of experience across construction, contracting, and real estate development. He manages the acquisition and redevelopment of the buildings that make up Made in Old Town.

    The Board: The project is steered by a Trust Stewardship Committee that is composed of established and emerging industry titans. 

    • Eric Liedtke was former Brand President for Adidas before becoming founder of UNLESS and now EVP of Brand at Under Armour.

    • Noel Kinder capped a 26-year career at NIKE in the role of Chief Sustainability Officer.

    • Elias Stahl is the founder and CEO of HILOS, a footwear startup local to Old Town and one of the originals to bring footwear manufacturing back to the district.

    The Partners: A district-level development initiative like this would not be possible without strong, cross-sector partnerships. Made in Old Town is committed to close working relationships across the public, non-profit, and academic sectors:

    • Public partners include the State of Oregon, Prosper Portland, Portland’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, the Port of Portland, and BusinessOregon.

    • Non-profit partners include the Technology Association of Oregon, the Old Town Community Association, SneakerWeek, and CityTeam.

    • Academic partners include Portland State University, Portland Community College, and the University of Oregon.

  • Made in Old Town is deeply integrated with Portland’s community, and we are actively building partnerships with local organizations as we move toward the campus opening. Please reach out if you are interested in partnering with Made in Old Town.

    Education: With higher education institutions, we are offering internships and work experience. We are also pushing innovation and action-research in both real estate and footwear and apparel.

    Events, community, and culture: With culture-makers and events organizations focused on footwear, sneakers, and apparel, we are promoting ideas, lifting up entrepreneurs, enabling networking, and becoming a hub for the footwear and apparel industry.

    Workforce development: Working with social service providers, training institutions, and career support services we are creating workforce development programs that serve people at all levels of the industry.

  • Made in Old Town is committed to inclusivity, not exclusion. We wholeheartedly welcome our neighbors and actively support the community. In fact, we are collaborating with social service organizations to develop training and workforce development programs that provide career opportunities as part of the recovery process.

    Over a multi-year development, the initiative will bring over 320 new jobs to Old Town, increase vibrancy, foot traffic and support all types of existing (and potentially new) businesses. An independent economic analysis projected millions of dollars of local economic development and significant impacts on the neighborhood’s growth and development.

    There are over 300 footwear and apparel brands in the Portland metro area, and Oregon is responsible for 90% of domestic footwear manufacturing exports. Supply chains depend on proximity and intersectionality. Before Made in Old Town, there was no central place for brands, suppliers, and manufacturers to gather within a single campus, providing sampling and testing capabilities and local production footprints.

    Prior to Made in Old Town, most Oregon brands did not have the capability to rapidly make footwear samples in-house, but we’re changing that. The Made in Old Town ecosystem also encourages startup formation and helps overseas suppliers choose Portland as the obvious place for US-based development. Made in Old Town will become the neighborhood gathering space and “third place” – not just for the footwear and apparel industry, but for the whole community.

  • Encouraging manufacturing employment in the district is consistent with statewide, regional, and city goals. Business Oregon, Greater Portland Inc., and Prosper Portland have all identified outdoor gear, footwear, and apparel as a target industry. The City of Portland’s 2023 Advance > Portland (a “call to action for inclusive economic growth”) calls for active public investment to encourage a series of desired outcomes and identifies athletic and outdoor as a competitive industry to focus on. That same report stressed the importance of building an entrepreneurial ecosystem to support small businesses. MiOT directly advances each of these stated goals and objectives. 

    Central City Task Force / Office of the Governor

    Outdoor Gear & Apparel Industry Development Strategy / Business Oregon

    Advance > Portland / Prosper Portland

    Central City 2035 / Bureau of Planning & Sustainability

    Old Town Activation & Stimulus Strategy / Old Town Neighborhood Association

    Regional Apparel & Outdoor Industry / Greater Portland Inc.

  • MiOT is owned by the Old Town Perpetual Purpose Trust, which is a way of ensuring that all profits from this initiative are reinvested back into the community in perpetuity.

    Perpetual Trusts are indissolvable and in-trust to a specific goal or purpose, in this case, the revitalization of Old Town and the advancement of a key industry for Portland. That ensures that any public funds that supported this initiative are not used to help private actors profit but instead are retained by the community and reinvested in the project.

    Perpetual Purpose Trusts (or PPTs) are an innovative structure that is increasingly used for values-led projects across the United States when pure for-market arrangements are lacking, such as the Kensington Corridor Trust in Philadelphia or the local East Portland Community Investment Trust at SE 122nd and Market established by Mercy Corps. Maybe most notably, Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard transitioned his company into a perpetual purpose trust in 2022 so that “the earth is our only shareholder.”