Columbus, OH-based Clothing Company Team Chipmunk Selected for 2011 Brooklyn Renegade Craft Fair

March 28, 2011 - PRLog -- Columbus, OH, March 14, 2011 – Team Chipmunk’s innovative pairing of upcycled textiles with timeless patterns and classic tailoring has attracted the attention of the Renegade Craft Fair – the nation’s most progressive showcase of handmade clothing and goods.

Held on the weekend of June 11-12 at McKarren Park in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, the Renegade Craft Fair will feature 250 top artisans from around the country.  Each year, the Renegade Craft Fair travels to Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Brooklyn and Austin promoting handmade, sustainable goods.

Chosen for their seamless blend of upcycled textiles and classically inspired silhouettes, Team Chipmunk is excited to bring their line to NYC.  “I was a costume designer in New York City for six years, so it’s gratifying to bring my newest passion back to Brooklyn” says Liz Bourgeois, founder of Team Chipmunk and associate designer of Broadway’s Tony-award winning musical “Avenue Q”.

After leaving NYC for Los Angeles, Liz and her husband started a family; first adding their son, Bert, then daughter, Lyda.  Inspired by their adventures through Pasadena’s parks and gardens, Liz designed dresses for Lyda and knickers for Bert.  Her initial creations drew attention and requests from other moms.  Team Chipmunk was born.   Since then, the team has settled in Clintonville for its perfect blend of community, culture and character.

Motivated to expand her designs into a line, Liz looked into the costs, both economic and ecological, of new garment fabrication.  She was shocked to find out that 500 gallons of water are required to produce the half-pound of cotton needed for the average child’s garment.

To find a better way, she went back to her roots – designing avant-garde theatre for low-budget productions on Manhattan’s famed Lower East Side.  The typical production didn’t have enough money to build any costumes, so everything had to be shopped from thrift stores and “rag trade” sources.

By going to these same sources, Liz was able to find high quality garments and textiles that could be given a second life as Team Chipmunk clothing for children.  “All the time, energy and resources that went into the original finished garment are transferred into the new Team Chipmunk garment,” says Bourgeois. “When we turn a vintage men’s dress shirt into a girl’s dress, we honor both the resources put into the creation of the garment and the care the owner took to maintain the garment.”

Team Chipmunk’s line of girls and boys clothes for Spring/Summer 2011 are designed with a breath of fresh air and an eye for the pastoral. Made for Alice to climb down rabbit holes, Laura to skip through prairie grass, Peter Pan to fight pirates, and Tom Sawyer to walk through the woods barefoot.

About Team Chipmunk
Launched in October 2010, Team Chipmunk is a sustainable business that repurposes vintage materials into meaningful, long-lasting clothing for children. By re-using the world's post-consumer excess, the Columbus, OH-based company seeks to create timeless clothes for kids while inspiring a generation to reduce their impact on the planet. The inaugural line includes dresses, skirts, knickers, shirts and shorts for girls and boys. Team Chipmunk was founded and is led by Liz Bourgeois, a theatre and film design veteran with a wide array of design influences and construction techniques. For more information, please visit www.teamchipmunk.com or subscribe to the company's Twitter feed at twitter.com/teamchipmunkusa.

About The Renegade Craft Fair (RCF)
A large-scale and free-to-attend marketplace event featuring hundreds of artists at a time, with vendors travelling from all over to sell and showcase their handmade goods and original artwork. RCF is held yearly in urban epicenters of creative indie-entrepreneurship – including Brooklyn, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, and London (UK).

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Team Chipmunk produces eco-friendly children’s clothing with heriloom detailing. Classic tailoring on dresses, shirts, and shorts. One of a kind styling constructed exclusively from upcycled and organic materials with original screen-printed graphics.