Wednesday night was the first "launch" event of the Portland Apparel Lab, and I'm using quotes because the thing won't launch anywhere unless PAL founders Crispin Argento and Dawn Moothart can get enough people/designers interested in Honolulu timeshares not-so-cheap membership commitments. I don't think anyone was expecting the crowd to be at capacity, but it was, and that seems to be something that can be taken as a promising sign for the endeavor.

The presentation of the PAL model itself was dense and heavy on numbers—several people I spoke to afterward were confused on some of the essential info—and I hope people take Argento and Moothart up on their willingness to discuss it in more detail in smaller groups or one-on-one. Sticker shock is also understandable—we're talking about $575 initiation + $175 month for a "Co-Founder/Partner Membership w/ full General Membership" (and the web site could do a much better job of explaining the membership levels), although there was also mention of a la carte options. (And ostensibly PAL would replace the need to rent a studio.) It certainly seems worth exploring the range of options available to tailor to each interested business.

My main concerns: Though much of PAL's model relies on relationships built with players in other cities with more established industry presence, Argento and Moothart remain the only names officially associated with the project. Also, the acquisition of a physical space and qualified staff to execute PAL successfully is going to require a lot of money. There have been many allusions to investor interest, but it wouldn't hurt to be able to give some kind of signal that this money is really waiting if only Portland can prove it's interested.

The bottom line is that I think much still needs to be discussed. A follow-up email blast promised, "Two additional PAL launch events are planned for October and November 2014 (TBA). We also are considering having weekly brown bag lunches and happy hours to discuss specific concepts, services, programs, and get additional feedback, ideas and expertise on how to shape PAL." I plan to attend as many of these as I can once dates and times are announced. Another final thought: For now, the financial commitment is a $75 application fee. That's what at risk just to find out if this even moves forward. And while $6k+ for a first year of PAL membership is a lot of dough to come up with tomorrow, I think most people who were serious about it could raise that in the year-plus we've got before the project is expected to actually launch. For example, it's a pretty humble goal in the context of most crowd-funded projects. I'm also thinking about alternatives… Continue to struggle along? Come up with a better idea? Or take a leap of faith on this?

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