RAG - Residents Apparel Gallery, San Francisco, California

Welcome to RAG, Residents Apparel Gallery San Francisco, Ca.

RAG CO-OP (Residents Apparel Gallery), located in San Francisco,
showcases locally designed and manufactured fashion as unique and
diverse as the city it calls home. Proudly acting as a nexus for the local fashion community, RAG is in a unique position to foster up-and-coming
talent. It provides a forum where designers can meet, swap advice,
share resources and cultivate a strong local fashion statement.
They are able use the space to test new designs, gain visibility and
build a clientele. In fact, several RAG designers have taken their line
and gone on to open their very own boutiques.

RAG's Curator Blakely Bass, a sewing enthusiast and environmentalist at heart, founded the store in 2002. This cooperative boutique is curated much like an art gallery – only the art is wearable. Local clothing and accessory designers rent space on a monthly basis. They then outfit a rack or shelf with their latest designs and biographical information about their line. By not catering to a particular niche, RAG is able to fully embrace the community's diverse style and creativity. The result is a kaleidoscopic shopping experience.

There is a constant influx of new men's women's and children's clothing, accessories and home designs. And with merchandise crafted on a monthly basis by over 60 designers, the racks boast anything from seams out one-of-a-kind gems to more tailored ready to wear garments.

Proudly acting as a nexus for the local fashion community, RAG is in a unique position to foster up-and-coming talent. It provides a forum where designers can meet, swap advice, share resources and cultivate a strong local fashion statement. They are able use the space to test new designs, gain visibility and build a clientele. In fact, several RAG designers have taken their line and gone on to open their very own boutiques.

In 2007 RAG became part of the San Francisco Green Business Program.

Designers at R.A.G.

Blakely Bass - curator Residents Apparel Gallery San Fransisco

Why Local? SFLOMA.org

Shop Local First - We have ten good reasons and two video clips that will help to explain why you should shop at locally-owned businesses.
Ten good reasons to shop at locally-owned businesses:

1. Significantly more money re-circulates in San Francisco when purchases are made at locally owned, rather than nationally owned, businesses: More money is kept in the community because locally owned businesses purchase from other local businesses, service providers and farms. Purchasing locally helps grow other businesses as well as the San Francisco tax base.

2. Most new jobs are provided by local businesses: Small local businesses are the largest employer nationally, and in San Francisco provide the most new jobs to residents.

3. Our one-of-a-kind businesses are an integral part of our distinctive character: The unique character of San Francisco is what brought us here and will keep us here. Our tourism businesses also benefit. “When people go on vacation they generally seek out destinations that offer them the sense of being someplace, not just anyplace.” ~ Richard Moe, President, National Historic Preservation Trust

4. Local business owners invest in community: Local businesses are owned by people who live in this community, are less likely to leave, and are more invested in the community’s future.

5. Customer service is better: Local businesses often hire people with more specific product expertise for better customer service.

6. Competition and diversity leads to more choices: A marketplace of tens of thousands of small businesses is the best way to ensure innovation and low prices over the long-term. A multitude of small businesses, each selecting products based not on a national sales plan but on their own interests and the needs of their local customers, guarantees a much broader range of product choices.

7. Reduced environmental impact: Locally owned businesses can make more local purchases requiring less transportation and generally set up shop in town or city centers as opposed to developing on the fringe. This generally means contributing less to sprawl, congestion, habitat loss and pollution.

8. Public benefits far outweigh public costs: Local businesses in town centers require comparatively little infrastructure investment and make more efficient use of public services as compared to nationally owned stores entering the community.

9. Encourages investment in San Francisco: A growing body of economic research shows that in an increasingly homogenized world, entrepreneurs and skilled workers are more likely to invest and settle in communities that preserve their one-of-a-kind businesses and distinctive character.

10. Non-profits receive greater support: Non-profit organizations receive an average 350% greater support from local business owners than they do from non-locally owned businesses.