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By SPESA
Join SPESA in Austin for the 2025 Advancements in Manufacturing Technologies Conference where you’ll get to hear from Nina Means, a woman recognized for shaping Austin’s future. Nina will talk about her work in building the city’s fashion industry through the Austin Community College (ACC) Fashion Incubator — a collaborative initiative between the ACC, the City of Austin, and Lectra. She will be joined by SPESA Board member Leonard Marano, President of the Americas at Lectra to discuss the efforts being made to add fashion — and advancements in fashion technology — to the list of Austin’s burgeoning industries.
On April 3rd, the sewn products industry will gather at the Austin Central Library — named one of the world’s most futuristic libraries — for SPESA’s 2025 Advancements in Manufacturing Technologies Conference.
This is an annual event that strives to defy traditional education, by focusing specifically on how the sewn products industry is advancing — and who the people and companies are behind that movement. In a strategic effort to meet more and more of these industry innovators, SPESA moves its Advancements Conference to a new market each year. In 2024, the event was held in L.A. and brought together SPESA members with a wide range of technological expertise along with local leaders from US Standard Apparel, the Garment Worker Center, Fashion Index, Rewilder, Variant 3D, the University of Southern California, KolAi Denim, and more, to speak about the work being done in AI, sustainability, waste management, on-demand manufacturing, robotics, and automation. And how that work, rooted in L.A., supports both the local and global sewn products industry.
In 2025, the event travels to Austin, Texas. Like L.A., Austin is home to some pretty influential people and organizations putting in the time and resources needed to advance the industry locally and regionally.
This is where we introduce you to the illustrious Nina Means, an Austin changemaker who has cultivated a lifelong love for the fashion industry into a successful career as the inaugural Director of the technology-driven Austin Community College (ACC) Fashion Incubator. Announced as a collaborative investment between ACC, the City of Austin, and Lectra, the ACC Fashion Incubator is a 7,500-square-foot facility that offers career-technical training, transferable credits, a residency program, leasable space, and is committed to industry advancements. The Incubator’s creation was backed by data that suggested Austin’s $86 million dollar fashion industry was primed for growth, given the right support and resources.
For the past several years, Means has devoted herself to this growth. While being the creative strategist at the helm of ACC’s Fashion Incubator, she has successfully launched and managed three core programs: The Future of Fashion, a virtual series sponsored by Macy's; Designers-in-Residence Incubator program; and, ATX+EGYPT global fashion exchange accelerator, sponsored by the U.S. Embassy Cairo. Initiatives like these connect Austin to the vast fashion industry that exists globally.
During the 2025 SPESA Advancements in Manufacturing Technologies Conference, Means will be joined by SPESA Board member Leonard Marano, President of the Americas at Lectra. During the conversation, Means and Marano will talk about their collective efforts to shed light on the industry that exists in Austin. Marano will also speak to industry 4.0, emerging technology trends, and how the ACC Fashion Incubator is leveraging industry advancements.
The 2025 SPESA Advancements in Manufacturing Technologies Conference will take place April 3, 2025, in Austin, TX. Click here to register and lock in your early bird rate.
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