North Las Vegas student’s design sparks crowdfunding
UT.LAB has launched an online crowdfunding campaign called Labworks to produce a limited-edition collection of shoes designed by Cristian Lopez, a North Las Vegas student.
Lopez’s designs will be featured on the company’s Light Wing footwear, which uses the paperlike plastic Tyvek as its base. The company’s use of the material was recently featured in The New York Times and “Good Morning America.”
Lopez, a recent Canyon Springs High School graduate, won a student design contest co-sponsored by the footwear company and Teach for America. He credits his winning the contest to his teacher Ryon Tanara, who began his teaching career through Teach for America. Tanara recognized Lopez’s talent in design and encouraged Lopez to enter.
UT.LAB will donate all post-production profits from Labworks to Teach for America — Las Vegas Valley. The money will help Teach for America recruit, train and support the 2015-16 cohort of teachers in high-need Las Vegas schools.
“I’m happy to help the Teach for America program with my shoe design. More teachers like Mr. Tanara could really make a difference in this world,” Lopez said.
UT.LAB, short for the Unbelievable Testing Laboratory, is a footwear company pushing innovation in shoe design by using cutting-edge materials and advanced design and production processes. The company aims to inspire the next generation to explore careers in tech and improve quality of the nation’s STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) curriculum. To do so, UT.LAB collaborated with Teach for America on a student-design contest.
“(The contest) helped expose local students to exciting and innovative careers and skill sets in STEM fields, and taught students the valuable lesson that they can use design to change the world around them,” UT.LAB co-founder Joe Constanty said. “Through the student-design contest, students developed shoe patterns, utilized technology, science and graphic design skills, and competed for the opportunity to craft a shoe design for the UT.LAB.”
Labworks is live on Indiegogo at igg.me/at/labworks. Three models of Light Wing shoes sporting Lopez’s designs will be offered in a variety of colors. Early contributors can reserve their pair of shoes for $40.
The campaign will run through mid-January.
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Licensing crackdown
Henderson has increased its business license inspections of local shopping areas to coincide with the busy holiday season.
Business license officers are patrolling shopping centers, retail strip malls and parking lots to check for unlicensed businesses that may have illegally set up for holiday sales.
At this time of year, unlicensed businesses and sometimes fraudulent services often try to set up in parking lots and in high-traffic retail areas to entice customers. This breaches the city’s business license ordinances, negatively affects properly licensed businesses and may threaten consumers’ safety, officials said.
Anyone conducting business in Henderson must obtain a business license. Conducting business without a license may result in penalties, correction notices, citations or court action. Residents may check anytime to see whether a business has a valid license at cityofhenderson.com. They can search by business name, business address or business owner.
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LVGEA gains support
CenturyLink, UnitedHealthcare, the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association and East West Bank are the latest to invest in the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance’s Engage Southern Nevada campaign. The three-year drive, launched in 2013, is seeking to raise $7.5 million for regional economic development.
The campaign, strategic budget and the alliance’s strategic plan were released in 2013 after a multiyear push to improve Southern Nevada’s economic development systems. Since it re-formed in 2012, the alliance has added leadership, expanded its team and developed new partnerships.
