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The nonprofit Saint Louis Fashion Fund announced Tuesday that it plans to launch a new venture, The Design Co-op, to "embrace more of the broader fashion and design community by creating a collaborative, rental work space for six fashion and design businesses." It also announced it will be discontinuing its Incubator program for new designers to pivot to this model. The Fashion Fund graduated its first class of designers from the Incubator earlier this month. They will end their residency in December.

In a press release, Saint Louis Fashion Fund executive director Kathleen Bibbins explained that the co-op will be a combined studio and showroom/retail space initially.

"We’ve heard from countless young designers including the inaugural Incubator class how important community collaborations and connections are to the success of creatives in the business," Bibbins said in the release. "The Design Co-op will provide these resources and opportunities. Details are still being finalized for the Design Co-op, and we will have more information which will be posted on our website later this year as we continue to develop the program,” she said.

Years ago, St. Louis had a more vibrant fashion and retail scene. The Fashion Fund, located on Washington Avenue, launched in 2014 and hosted the incubator—offering a "two-year program in business, fashion, merchandising, and retail to six designers selected through a national search"—in part to revive it.

"In the end—within 5 years—we expect to create a collection of successful stand-alone St. Louis-based fashion companies, with sustainable business models that are attracting funding from local or national venture capitalists," its website states.

The inaugural class of designers included Agnes Hamerlik, Allison Mitchell, Reuben Reuel, Charles Smith II, Emily Brady Koplar, and Audra Noyes. Mitchell is launching a handbag line at Bergdorf Goodman.

In March 2018, Kathleen Bibbins took over as the Fund's executive director after former director Eric Johnson resigned. Bibbins is a former vice president at Maritz.