express
The New Blak
STORY AND PHOTOS BY MIRANDA MCDONALD
Two years ago, Sellersburg resident Amanda
Dougherty founded The New Blak, a local, eco-
friendly clothing brand, with the idea that fashion
can not only be created locally with sustainable
fabrics, but that it can also be used as a tool to
support, encourage and empower women.
“I launched my business to help spark a fashion
revolution,” she said.
Each piece of clothing is handmade in the
company’s personal studio space at Oxmoor Mall
in Louisville by a group of women that Dougherty
affectionately calls her “girl gang. We provide a very
different experience… . When a customer comes
into the store, they have the opportunity to meet
the fashion designer and company owner, and
speak with the stylists. They are also introduced
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EXTOL • JUNE/JULY 2017
to the team of seamstresses,” she said. “We want
to unveil the idea that fashion doesn’t have to
be an automated manufacturing process. It is a
personal experience between a seamstress and
the cloth itself.”
The Cost of ‘Fast Fashion’
Dougherty noticed that this personal experience
and the connection customers have with the
clothing they buy was completely lost when she
worked in retail management for several years. She
was so astounded by how quickly trendy clothing
was being produced and the low price point that
it was being sold at that she decided to research
garment factories.
Daugherty soon realized workers in many of these
establishments are exploited in order to produce
poorly-made garments that are created with
materials that are also harmful to the environment.
In fact, she discovered that these materials are so
harmful they contribute to making the fashion
industry the second most damaging industry to
the planet.
It was after this realization that Dougherty
decided to make it her mission to help spread the
word about the true cost of what’s known as “fast
fashion,” and be one of the clothing brands that is
striving to use eco-friendly materials.
“It can take polyester up to 200 years to break
down in the environment. With the rate that we
buy, throwaway and repeat, we will eventually