In 2008, Britt Howard had an idea: a one-stop-shop studio in her home of Portland, OR that could design and build. With that, a new B Corp was born: Portland Garment Factory, and its more experimental design arm Studio Howard.

Despite the name, Britt isn’t only in the business of garments—she’s got “big idea energy.” Portland Garment Factory (PGF) and Studio Howard have brought bags, sculptures, and even medical device prototypes to life. 

“Our niche is no niche,” Britt says.

PGF’s latest project? Cotopaxi’s new Renovo Collection. PGF takes pre-loved Cotopaxi products—think past product samples and products at the end of their lifecycle—and upcycles them into new one-of-a-kind pieces.

With Renovo ready to drop, we sat down with Britt to talk about life at her “lady owned,” zero-waste studio.   
 

Cotopaxi: How did PGF come to be? 

Britt Howard: When we started, I was 25 and I really didn’t know what I was doing. I knew what I wanted to do. I was very inspired by the slow food movement and the slow fashion movement. In that way, I was really setting out to work with small designers and be a creative hub for helping people in any part of their project, if not all of it.

How has PGF evolved since it first started? 

When it was smaller, it was all me. We could charge less. But what I learned is that in order to develop a project properly, we needed to charge more. We’ve implemented other things over the years. We had a program called emerging entrepreneurs, where we could take on smaller-scale designers, focusing on BIPOC designers. We still really want to serve the people who helped get us where we are. 
 

In 2021, the building you were renting burned down. How did that fire impact PGF? 

We had a total loss fire in 2021. That’s why we have all-new equipment. We bought a building 20 blocks away. We made a lot of lemonade out of the situation. We started a GoFundMe for the building.

Tell us about PGF’s mission.  

Our mission is to ideate and produce creative experiences in the real world. Essentially, that means creating work with intention and serving our community in a genuine way. We’re up-ending the traditional factory model through environmental sustainability. Using our heart to lead what we do, how we work, who we work with. For me, the mission is mostly about my employees and less about the products we put out. Everyone that works here has a big heart.
 

Describe how PGF approaches waste. 

We’re a zero-waste factory. All scraps either go into a scrap pile that we can cut other things from, or they get shredded into grind that we put into pillows and pet beds. When we do upcycled projects like Renovo, we’re using materials typically from a product that needs to be downcycled or upcycled.

How do you hope to change the fashion industry—and the world—for good?  

The point of the business is to create inspirational products and projects, put them in the world, and inspire people—and do it with a sustainable lens. I want to show up in a radical way, doing things other people think can’t be done in this industry, because it’s a very old, and fairly oppressive industry that’s been built on the backs of people of color and women.  

Tell us about some PGF projects that you’re proud of. 

I really like the Marie Watt project we did last summer. She’s an indigenous artist from Oregon. We worked together on these sculptural jingle clouds. It had deep meaning and it was a real challenge to build it. I love that about art—you can just know that it’s beautiful and that’s enough.

I also really love working with Tillamook. We made a boombox-shaped cooler for cheese and we made a wearable cheddar cheese capsule collection. It sold out right away. We had pants with insulated pockets where you can put your cheese. It got on the Drew Barrymore Show and Britney Spears posted about it. 
 

What are your favorite types of materials to create from? 

My favorite things to work with are materials that have a story behind them. We made these beautiful sound baffles that were 100% upcycled for the Tomorrow Theater. We shopped in our factory for extra material and then shopped at our own homes to find like an old towel or whatever. We also went to the Goodwill bins and bought old blankets. We washed it all and cut it up. It’s cool that this used to be a blanket or my grandma’s dress and now it’s a shawl or whatever. I like making stuff out of other stuff.

Why was the Cotopaxi Renovo Collection a good fit for PGF?

I am really proud of this Cotopaxi project. It’s been a long time coming. The reason why it means so much to me is that it touches all my favorite things about what we do. It involved almost everyone. Sometimes we have projects that are already designed or we already have materials. Everyone loves it. People feel connected to it. 
 

From your POV, what’s unique about Renovo? 

It’s cool to have a brand that’s a trendsetter and sticking their neck out there and putting their money where their mouth is. Upcycling product is expensive and it has to hit all the marks. It needs to be wearable, functional, and speak to the brand’s ethos. You could do that by faking it. A lot of brands make colorful, crazy things. But this is truly American made, upcycled, pre-worn. It’s been a labor of love. I find it really inspiring.

How do you see Cotopaxi and PGF partnering to evolve Renovo going forward? 

The next phase is to make things that are less labor intensive so they can be more affordable and accessible. It can’t always be higher-end jackets. How can our designs be for the people?