Meet the boss: 32-year-old Brenna Schneider. In three years, her Lawrence business has grown to 24 employees. By the end of this year she expects to triple her workforce. Long term her plan is to become a major apparel manufacturer with 1,000 jobs, but not just any jobs.
“You have families working fulltime jobs living in poverty and more jobs that are being created that place people in poverty,” says Schneider. “So how do we change that?”
Schneider starts by paying her workers above the minimum wage. She has also created a culture where learning is a priority. Speed and quality are important, but what she wants most from her employees is to continuously learn – technical skills and executive ones, like solving problems.
“Which kind of blows the model that’s being used around the world out of the park,” says Schneider. “You’re creating a production team who are thinking like engineers and entrepreneurs rather than just a machine operator.”
99 Degrees Custom, as the name suggests, fills specialty orders – everything from oven mitts to running jackets. Customers include start-ups and established brands like New Balance and Polartec.
Lawrence is one of the few places in the world where Schneider says she could make this business model work: the city’s old mills provide affordable space and Lawrence is home to a large population of immigrants, many of whom have manufacturing experience.
Marina Severino Corona is from the Dominican Republic where she worked for years in a curtain factory. At 99 Degrees Custom deliverables change constantly, as does her job.
“Everything I’ve learned here is new,” she says, “everything.”
It’s a new approach to an old-fashioned industry, one designed to position both employees and the city for the future.
“To become part of the innovation economy,” explains Schneider, “to become part of the future economy that give opportunity to be part of what we’re carving out as the next generation of jobs that America needs”
