Portland Apparel Lab (PAL)

Portland Apparel Lab (PAL)

PAL is a design support team here to get you production-ready.

PAL is committed to supporting Portland’s growing community of fashion and sewn product designers and entrepreneurs. Our industrial prototyping studio pairs design services with apparel business mentoring. We leverage our combined experience and industry contacts to help motivated entrepreneurs successfully navigate the path from idea to market. Our approach connects designers to one another and local apparel-related businesses, resulting in a stronger, more vibrant fashion and sewn goods economy in the region.

Founded out of necessity

Five years ago, despite a talent-rich and diverse apparel design community, Portland lacked the services and industry relationships necessary to grow successful brands. Something needed to change.

Dawn Moothart is the founder of Portland Apparel Lab and guru of sewn-goods product development. An engineer at heart, she works with designers and innovators to get their prototypes built and ready for manufacturing. From her first franken-pattern 25 years ago, to honing her skills in the digital age, Dawn brings her love of math, art and user-experience to the PAL shop. Through PAL she can offer mentorship, services and industry relationships to the apparel design community in Portland.