Ethos
Production Mode is designed in Chicago by Jamie Hayes.
Our design philosophy is one of slow fashion. Our process starts with the provenance, quality, and uniqueness of materials and techniques. Our pieces are ethically-made, built to last, and imbued with authenticity and beauty.
Collaboration
Each collection begins with an artist collaboration to produce custom materials which we use to create our pieces. Collaborating with visual artists, textile designers, musicians, artisans, performers, and dancers allows these uniquely created materials to shine, while carefully considering the body and its movement.
Production Mode’s collaborators include:
Ethical Manufacture
We choose to produce in small batches to allow for greater flexibility and creativity in design and tighter quality control. We also cut in house and employ stitchers directly (without the use of contractors or piecework) in order to ensure that garment workers in our supply chain are paid a living wage.
In addition, producing in small batches allows us to minimize ecological and financial waste, and gives us the freedom to customize and make items to measure. We invite you to see our collection and process in-person. Visit our atelier in Chicago’s North Center neighborhood at 3868 N Lincoln Ave.
Based in Chicago, Jamie Hayes’ interests lie at the intersection of fashion, art, labor, and identity.
Her approach is both collaborative and customized. She believes that clothes should fit one’s body (not the other way around); that people should wear what flatters and interests them rather than what someone else dictates is fashionable; that style is a form of self-expression; and that everyone in the chain of production of clothing should be paid a living wage. She has explored these topics through her academic studies, earning a B.A. from Washington University in English Literature, a B.A. from Columbia College in Fashion Design, and a Masters in Social Work from the University of Chicago. She has worked in the fashion industry since 1999, and in the field of immigrant and labor rights since 2009. Her recent work merges these two paths: she has designed for fair trade organizations including SERRV, Intercrafts Peru, and Threads of Yunnan, and has volunteered as a Campaign Leader for Chicago Fair Trade, helping to pass an ordinance mandating that apparel procured by the City of Chicago be sweatshop-free. She is the owner and designer of an ethically made line of clothing for men and women called Production Mode and also co-designs a line of luxury slow fashion lingerie and nightwear, Department of Curiosities.
