{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://blumenauer.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/blumenauer-tours-university-oregons-apparel-innovation-lab", "Blumenauer Tours University of Oregon's Apparel Innovation Lab", "2014-11-06", "2014", "2014-11", "Democrat", "House", "OR", "Earl Blumenauer", "B000574", "blumenauer.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "PORTLAND, OR  Today, Congressman Earl Blumenauer met with leaders in Portland's fashion and apparel community at the University of Oregon Innovation Lab at the White Stag Campus.\n\n\t\n\n\tFor decades Portland has long been a magnet for footwear and apparel companies, especially in the outdoor and activewear categories. More recently, Portland's attractiveness to young, creative workers and artisans has led to growth in high-end and custom fashion (including, of course, bow-ties). However, the fashion industry faces the same challenges as other young and growing areas: securing start-up capital, scaling up production, and finding skilled labor. Today's meeting was to address these challenges and opportunities.\n\n\t\n\n\tMy experience is that Portlanders excel in areas requiring creativity and hard work, which sums up the fashion and apparel industry perfectly, said Blumenauer. Companies from our area are global leaders when it comes to sportswear and outdoor gear, and I'm confident that we can recreate that success in other types of apparel. When the name of your city has become synonymous with hip' and cool,' it's time to ensure the designers and makers driving that image have the tools they need to succeed.\n\n\t\n\n\tJoining Congressman Blumenauer at the meeting was:\n\n\t\n\n\tNancy Hales  The First Lady of Portland.\n\n\tDawn Yanagihara, Owner, Kiriko\n\n\n\tTito Chowdhury, Executive Director, FashioNXT\n\n\n\tEllen Schmidt-Devlin, Program Leader, University of Oregon", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://blumenauer.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/blumenauer-tours-university-oregons-apparel-innovation-lab"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.3952278532087803, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}