After outgrowing its original manufacturing processes, Dallas-based womenswear brand Tishcox has decided to partner with a local nonprofit to create jobs for a good cause. The company is now outsourcing production to Dallas Lighthouse for the Blind, which employs individuals who are blind or visually impaired, to sew the line’s high-end garments.
Dallasite Tish Cox started her eponymous line in 2010 after a friend asked her to make a dress for an event. Upon catching the eye of Vogue editor Andre Leon Talley and designer Zac Posen, Cox’s dress sparked an entire brand of blouses, dresses, skirts, and more.
In the last six years, Tishcox has grown to annually manufacture about 4,000 individual pieces sold in boutiques in Atlanta and Dallas, including Cabana on Lovers Lane, and at trunk shows. But all that growth meant that Cox needed a manufacturer to help her facilitate more growth.
“I was looking for a manufacturing solution, but thought I’d have to go outside of Dallas,” Cox says. “When I first heard about this partnership with Lighthouse, it sounded too good to be true: I’d be doing good and keeping up with production. And it was icing on the cake that it would be in Dallas.”
Lighthouse is the largest employer for the blind and visually impaired in North Texas. The company already has taken over production of the Tishcox line and will employ more than 80 individuals, 75 percent of whom have visual impairments or blindness, within the next five years.
Artisans go through a 10-week training process to learn textile basics and to master the specially designed machinery.
Cox says now Tishcox can focus on growth.
“Knowing that we can fulfill our orders on time and with incredible quality and craftsmanship means everything,” she says.
Clothing brand Tishcox is outsourcing its production to the Dallas Lighthouse for the Blind.
