SF Made – developing San Francisco’s manufacturing sector
sfmade logo
On a recent visit to TechShop, I encountered a flyer for an organization called SF Made.
Founded just last year, in 2010, SF Made posts the following mission statement on its website:
SFMade’s mission is to build and support a vibrant manufacturing sector in San Francisco, that sustains companies producing locally-made products, encourages entrepreneurship and innovation, and creates employment opportunities for a diverse local workforce.
Here’s the rest of their blurb about themselves from their website’s about us page:
Our vision is a more diverse and sustainable local economy, where companies who design and manufacture products locally thrive, in turn, creating quality jobs for people from all walks of life and contributing to the overall economic and social vibrancy of our City.
SFMade engages directly with entrepreneurs and growing small companies, all of whom are headquartered in and manufacture within San Francisco, offering industry-specific education, networking opportunities, and connecting these companies to powerful local resources. By building strong companies, SFMade helps sustain and create job opportunities for the City’s low-income communities and individuals with less typical education, experience, or skills. We also work with manufacturers directly on workforce issues, including connecting companies to local hiring resources and job training programs and connecting their workers to relevant local resources and assistance.
In addition to working with manufacturers and their employees, SFMade engages with the larger San Francisco community, offering educational workshops, factory tours, and other programs designed to heighten the public awareness of manufacturing, the craftspeople they employ, and their collective role in the local economy. SFMade also collaborates with both the public and private sectors to define and enhance the local infrastructure -from access to capital to industrial land use policy -required to support a vibrant manufacturing sector. In our work, SFMade seeks to develop and share a model for manufacturing incubation that other major US cities can use to catalyze their own local manufacturing sectors.
I am writing about SF Made because I think it’s great there’s an organization encouraging manufacturing in San Francisco. I think San Francisco is a vibrant, fantastic and richly diverse city, and I am thrilled to live here. I believe lots of people think it’s not possible to cost effectively make physical products in San Francisco. I don’t know about the cost effective part, but people certainly make desirable products in the City, like the famous McRoskey mattress, which has been made in San Francisco for 111 years.
Timbuk2 factory floor
I learned that Timbuk2 bike messenger bags are made in San Francisco. I grabbed the Timbuk2 factory floor picture above from the SF Made website.
One of the best beers I’ve ever tasted is made in San Francisco – Anchor Steam Beer.
SF Made is run by Kate Sofis and Janet Lees. They’re on the list of people I hope to meet this year.
If I start the shipping container eco house business I’ve been plotting, I’ll make them in San Francisco. Why not? I’m making an eco bus conversion in my driveway at home!
