Celebration Planned for Underwear Factory’s Fifth Anniversary

A huge open house is scheduled to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Poughkeepsie's Underwear Factory.

In March of 2017, the historic Poughkeepsie Underwear Factory was reopened as a community hub. Hudson River Housing has been using the space as a way to enrich the City of Poughkeepsie while giving a boost to the local economy.

The Underwear Factory is a unique project that has become a small business incubator, offering a low-cost community space for small businesses as well as training opportunities and long-term affordable housing.

Over the past half-decade, eighty-eight businesses have utilized the building's Open Kitchen. Out of those businesses, eight wound up launching their own brick-and-mortar businesses and many others continue to use the space to operate their small business. What makes the Underwear Factory even more special is that people dealing with homelessness are able to serve as trainees, building job skills and learning skills that are useful in the workforce. Every year over fifty people are put to work gaining valuable experience.

To celebrate the success of the Poughkeepsie Underwear Factory, Hudson River Housing will host an open house on April 1 from 9 AM to 3 PM. There will be food from a long list of vendors as well as handmade products.  A live t-shirt printing demonstration will also take place from 10 AM to 2 PM.

As it heads into its fifth year, the Poughkeepsie Underwear Factory is planning to expand its Open Kitchen concept to additional locations in Poughkeepsie and Wappingers. Hudson River Housing will also launch a new program called SewPo that will serve as an incubator for businesses focused on textile and fashion.