Hello, I am Britt! I founded Portland Garment Factory in 2008. PGF is a full-service creative design and soft goods manufacturing company. We specialize in making inspiring brands come to life in the real world! We serve brands, interior design, architectural, retail, sports and other engaging industries!

>What sets your businesses apart?
We are a certified BCorp which means that PGF is built on a triple bottom line foundation: People, Planet, Profit. We are one of 1% of factories worldwide that adhere to this high level service to our people and commmunities.

>What are you looking forward to in the next 6 months?
PGF has a sister company! We acquired and rebranded the Oregon Natural Fiber Mill (OnFM). This new-to-us company is over 40 years old. Started in 1979 in Portland. Using turn-of-the-19th-century milling equipment, we process US-grown organic cotton and wool, and then cut/sew beautiful springless mattresses, toppers, pillows and interior decor of all sorts! We are working on bringing OnFM to the D2C market by Christmas.

>What was your first job?
I flipped my first car at 15, a 1965 Mercury (white/red interior-3 on the tree), worked nights in medical records (next to the morgue) in the basement of the hospital in Vancouver, WA.

>How do you see AI entering your field?
I see clients leaning into AI to convey visuals but they are not aware that this is not design. Similar to the way that ripping a page from a magazine is not design. This immediately devalues but does not REPLACE the design process (this analogy works for many industries). I see folks using AI as a tool to better communication but I worry about the flippant nature (and unknown result) it will have on future generations when it comes to data farms (energy storing has huge climate implications) as well as how younger generations learn and engage with the physical world. I wonder if people would be concerned if future generations could better prompt a bot to create an image than to simply draw with paper and pen a happy sunset—same idea for creating a meal plan but but having no idea how to make a simple salad.

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Britt joined EO Portland in 2019. Interested in joining a community of business founders? This could be your year! Learn more.