Technically, this is may first business story as a business writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. They decided the midwest didn’t need a fashion editor, something that was kind of decided but never finalized a while ago as the paper dealt with cutbacks, buyouts and staff departures. So now, I’m a business reporter.

But old habits die hard, so my first story is actually a look at the St. Louis Fashion Incubator. It’s essentially a business start-up for entrepreneurs in fashion, but when you stay start-up and it’s not a technology company people seem to scratch their heads.

This ambitious project now houses six fashion designers from New York, Dallas, Chicago and St. Louis, who are getting coached on how to stay or become profitable and grow. The concept is no longer so far-fetched and Reuben, in the photos below managed to retain his team of sewers from Brooklyn when they moved with him to the seemingly sleepy St. Louis.

But it should be noted that his team likes to talk about how “quiet” it is downtown. Click the pages above and below or read the story on a single page here: Brooklyn Designer Finds St. Louis the Right Fit.

Fashion designer Reuben Reuel Riddick (right), of Demestik by Reuben Reuel, adjusts the fit of a garment being tried on by customer Debbie Chase at the St. Louis Fashion Incubator in downtown St. Louis Friday, March 17, 2017. Riddick relocated his company from Brooklyn to St. Louis after being selected for the incubator’s Inaugural Designer Class. Photo by Sid Hastings