Fusion Threads Collective, a small business that makes hand-dyed apparel on natural fabrics, started at the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce’s incubator program at the Hamilton County Business Development Center in September 2022 after completing another program through local start-up accelerator The Company Lab.
At the time, the business was operating in a basement garage suite that was prone to flooding and lacked proper manufacturing space, co-owner Audrey Loyd said.
“Being in this building has allowed us to level up in a way that we never would have if we were still on our own somewhere else,” she said.
The business benefited from the incubator’s resources, including classes, workshops and a business adviser, said founder and co-owner Mariel Rico, who moved from Atlanta to Chattanooga partly because of the resources the city offers for entrepreneurs.
“One of the most amazing things about this building is just being around other entrepreneurs, so you don’t feel like you’re alone,” she said. “They’re doing at least quarterly classes and workshops that focus on different problems, so it really does feel like an incubator, almost like a second college.”