On Thursday, March 29, 2012 Macy’s unveiled the new Fashion Incubator San Francisco work space which includes offices for the six designers in residence. This highly anticipated event attracted local celebrities such as “Da Mayor” Willie Brown and David Chui from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

The Fashion Incubator San Francisco includes 3,500 square feet of workspace for six emerging designers who have access to their own professional-grade workroom, showroom, classroom and offices. The designers moved into the workspace this month and have just begun to create their spring 2013 collections.

The Fashion Incubator San Francisco or FISF was founded in 2011 as a non-profit to help turn talented designers into successful San Francisco entrepreneurs. The unveiling of the FISF workspace marks the beginning of an era for the non-profit as the first class of six designers begin their journey to launch their spring 2013 collections, followed by their fall 2013 lines.

The programs offers designers the right business education and tools to give them the skills they will need to continue and grow their businesses after the twelve month program ends. The ribbon “unzipping” ceremony revealed an incredible workspace which included production equipment such as straight stitch machines, hemmers, sergers, work tables, a large cutting table and gravity irons.

Executive Director of FISH and Co-Founder of Jeanne-Marc expressed her enthusiasm for the program: “We are thrilled to kick of FISH’s inaugural program and welcome the six Designers in Residence to the San Francisco fashion and business communities and to their new home at our facility. Through FISH, these designers will be able to tap into the many local resources and talents that the San Francisco business community has to offer, and we look forward to the opportunity to one day helping them establish businesses of their own.”

The Fashion Incubator San Francisco six Designers in Residence are:

Justin Jamison: progressive urban wear for men

Tamara Jaric: women’s urban outerwear embellished with couture details

Bethany Meuleners and Sabah Mansoor Husain: working together on Bohemian-Luxe women’s wear with artisan handicrafts and global influences

Tony Sananikone: “women’s wear reflecting empowerment and beauty

Paloma Von Broadley: embracing “slow fashion” through hand-made, sustainable patterning, sewing and knitting

Fashion Incubator San Francisco is a non-profit organization located in the executive office building of Macy’s Union Square in San Francisco. For more information, please visit fashionincubatorsf.org

*Original version of this article was written and published by Cathy on Examiner.com