About New Factory, Friend

Max Schroder is the founder, designer (and photographer) behind New Factory, Friend. She launched the SF company in 2009 with the vision of creating women’s dress shirts and wrap shirts, setting it apart as a domestically manufactured brand that integrates contemporary style with socially responsible practices, like using organic cotton and hemp in the shirt styles. Where does the name New Factory, Friend come from? The name is an homage to the Japanese designers Rei Kawakubo, Issey Miyake, and Yohji Yamamoto who continually inspire and broaden the limits of what we think is possible in how we view the world. The ,Friend at the end is about bringing nice to forefront of the company.

The New Factory, Friend collection of shirts was initially inspired by the classic women’s button down shirt of the 1940’s and ’50’s. Each style is still designed with those shirts as fundamental inspiration, but we’ve taken to adding modern elements and functionality. We want to make the common white shirt relevant to a new generation of women. We are experimenting with innovative sustainable fabrics, and are always on the lookout for new ones. Central to her design process, Max incorporates the basic elements in her classic button-down shirts: perfectly tailored, understatedly detailed. Our goal is to produce pieces with integrity, functionality, and character.

Like those in the Slow Food movement, New Factory, Friend is part of the Slow Fashion movement. Things are made the old-fashioned way: small batches of well-made shirts, made with the same small group of people. New Factory, Friend produces everything domestically and works to make most of what is offered a sustainable choice that makes customers feel good when they put it on.

Dedicated to the local community, everything is produced and manufactured less than 15 miles from the New Factory, Friend headquarters in the Mission District in San Francisco, CA. NFF works closely with above board sewing manufacturers who adhere to the State of California Division of Labor Standards enforcement, which, at the end of the day means everyone gets paid a fair wage. NFF donates 5% of profits to the S.F. non-profit organization Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center, which supported and encouraged Max and 12 other entrepreneurs in her class to flesh out business plans and to follow through with their dreams. NFF also seeks to help out the global community and contributes to KIVA, the innovative global micro lender, empowering budding entrepreneurs all across the world.

And now to introduce my partner and biggest supporter, my husband extraordinaire, Jonn Herschend. He is also an amazing cook! Most days he is working on The Thing Quarterly, a quarterly arts publication he started with his other partner, Will Rogan. -Max

Are companies really made in a vacuum? No! Without family, I’d be working 75 hours a week and would be a joyless person. Thank goodness for family and great friends! And Jonn’s cooking!