Stitching a new life at Cleveland’s Open Threads

As Michaell Oneil Rodríguez Suárez sits down for another day of sewing and skill building at Open Threads, he slings a measuring tape around his neck. The rhythmic click of the industrial machine fills the room, echoing off walls lined with piles of textiles high above his head. Suárez’s hands carefully guide fabric along the needle, as he sews garments, pouches and a new life for himself in Cleveland one stitch at a time.  

Open Threads, a nonprofit in Cleveland’s Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood, has a mission of training and empowering community members in the sewing trade. For 28-year-old Suárez, it’s more than a place for him to develop his technical skills. In the month since he connected with the organization, it has become a necessary refuge of community, aiding in his transition from Puerto Rico to America. 

“Here, I have learned so much, and I get to practice my English,” Suárez said. “Open Threads has been such a special place for me since I moved here.”

In the beginning of the summer of 2025, Suárez was in his third year of pursuing his bachelor’s degree in fashion design at Ana G. Mendez University in San Juan when he was involved in a car accident. The experience took a toll on his mental health, prompting his move to Cleveland to be closer to his family.

“I was in bed for three days and my family was worried about me,” Suárez said. “My sister came to Puerto Rico and she brought me here.”

Even though he was faced with leaving his schooling in San Juan behind, Suárez found an opportunity to continue advancing his skills in design through his connection with Open Threads. After he completes the eight-week program, Suárez is unsure if he will stay in Cleveland or return to Puerto Rico. Either way, a new door of opportunity has been propped open for him through his experience at the sewing collective. 

“The experience is awesome for me,” Suárez said. “With my situation, my anxiety, my depression, with Open Threads my mind is at ease.”

Opening doors

Suárez’s story is just one attestation of the many students who have passed through Open Thread’s doors since it was founded 25 years ago by Ursuline Sister Mary Eileen Boyle as Esperanza Threads. 

In 2024 alone, Open Threads welcomed 94 students to its sewing basics classes and 57 to its workshops. The nonprofit saw 27 students like Suárez complete the industrial sewing program, an 8-week course designed to advance skills on industrial machines that includes a pseudo-apprenticeship, offering a stipend to students. Nineteen percent of participants obtained employment in a related industry after the completion of their course.  

Of the students who go through Open Thread’s classes, 37% are immigrants, and one-third make less than $20,000 a year. 

Interim Executive Director Kerem Gençer said that Open Threads has historically served the refugee and immigrant communities. It’s a mission that resonates personally with him, as his own father immigrated to the U.S. Gençer emphasized that the space is also open as a place of support for all Clevelanders, but focuses on propelling immigrants and refugees towards their goals in the sewing trade. 

“We do want to help them find jobs, if that’s what they’re looking for,” Gençer said. “But some people want to start their own business. Some people are looking for community. We keep it open to whoever’s coming through the door.”

Open Thread’s industrial sewing curriculum introduces serging, cutting and tagging, all while incorporating manufacturer’s products in their training. Most of the supplies, from heat pressing machines, embroidery machines, and cutting tables came from donations. The goal is fostering skills that are directly transferable to the sewing industry – an industry that Gençer thinks is growing. 

“There’s one company that’s expanding 45 new jobs next year,” Gençer said. “They need the skilled labor. They’re looking locally for talent and designers.”

To improve students’ chances of getting work in the trade after completing their training, Open Threads has formed relationships with multiple manufacturers in the area. This is just one key part of the broader goal to foster economic opportunity for participants. 

“We’re incorporating manufacturer’s products into our training so it can be more successful,” Gençer said. “There’s private companies who are investing into our training program because we are the central labor upskilling and workforce development space in Cleveland for an industry that’s trying to make a big comeback right now.”

Open Threads also partners with institutions in the area like John Carroll University. The school offers students approaching graduation an internship program that collaborates with the sewing collective, which has recruited two interns to the team for programming support and accounting. Ayse Selen Zarrelli, the director for the university’s center of student belonging said this offers practical, real-world experience that furthers their experience in non-profit operations and community program development – and it’s an alliance that both parties see as mutually beneficial. 

“Our partnership with Open Threads has been excellent,” Zarrelli said. “Both organizations’ missions are mutually supportive: John Carroll University inspires students to translate service and leadership into action, which in turn directly aids Open Threads’ mission of fostering community upliftment [through] vocational training.” 

Sustainability

The nonprofit doesn’t just focus on training students in the sewing trade, but its mission includes collaborating as a sustainable force in the fashion and textile industry. In 2024, Open Threads saved over 12,000 pounds of textiles from landfills. 

This focus on sustainability was what originally drew Gençer into Open Threads, when he noticed a flyer on their door during a walk around his neighborhood in March 2023. 

“It talked about taking donations of fabrics and textiles from the local community, but also dead stock bolts of fabric from manufacturers. I studied sustainable development and worked for Ohio State [University]’s professional sustainability department, so I was always looking for ways to divert waste,” Gençer said. “I was like wow – this is somebody we would have wanted to work with.”

After getting a first glance into the impact Open Threads was making in his community, Gençer started his involvement as a volunteer by doing photography, eventually working his way up to director of communications. In November 2024, he was asked to step into the Interim Executive Director position following a shrinking donor pool after the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Recently, Open Threads has seen a positive shift in funding. In 2024, their total funds raised reached over $76,000, and total earned revenue exceeded $16,000. This is momentum that Gençer hopes the nonprofit will continue to grow this year and beyond. 

Making Connections

For Gençer, his work at the organization is an opportunity to be a part of a positive change for the community. He believes there is a responsibility to steward the organization and the resources that it provides.

“I’ve gotten to meet the people that have come through the doors, and the experience has not only been positive for them. It hasn’t been only community building for them, but there have been people who feed their families from the jobs they get after they come through here,” Gençer said. “It was their journey, but we got to be a part of that.”

His position also gives Gençer a chance to connect with a vibrant community that exists in his neighborhood. 

“We have everybody from Afghanistan, from Sudan, from Congo, from Cleveland, from incarcerated communities, from queer communities,” Gençer said. “That’s why we’re Open Threads. Our doors are open.”

The doors of Open Threads continue to stay open for students after completing their program, as a space to use the available resources, collaborate with others and even teach classes. 

“It is about economic power and stability for them, but also, they know they can come back here,” Gençer said. “And they do. A lot of them do.” 

One student who has returned to Open Threads since completing his course three years ago is Cleveland native Charles Poindexter. Now, he serves as the teacher and project coordinator for the industrial sewing and production training program. 

Poindexter became aware of Open Threads while he was vending clothing from his boutique at the Tremont Arts & Cultural festival. A member of Open Threads’ team let Poindexter know that they were teaching sewing classes right down the street. 

“I thought how much fun it would be to sew and make garments. I always wanted to do that, since home ec [class],” Poindexter said. “I came up here to visit, and I was hooked since then.”

He signed up for the program after realizing that learning to sew would benefit his boutique business through learning how to do alternations, proper hemming and gaining the ability to construct garments. Poindexter came to gain skills, but stayed because of the diverse community he found within the collective. 

“I bit the bullet and came for eight weeks straight. It was intense,” Poindexter said. “But I did that, and I have not left.”

As soon as his training finished, Poindexter jumped headfirst into volunteering at Open Threads before being brought on as an instructor. At that time, he said he was there almost every day, learning and being a part of the community. 

Since learning to sew at Open Threads, Poindexter has found opportunities besides teaching classes. He makes custom detailed carpets for limousines, hearses and sprinter buses, and even creates his own designs under his brand Cloud 9 Couture. 

The brand focuses on upcycling fabric and clothing into “anything other than what it was actually for.” The path Poindexter first set out on from his first class at Open Threads is one that he has embraced, both creatively and personally.

“I can’t see myself doing anything else,” Poindexter said.

For Poindexter, the work done at Open Threads is more than about mending garments – it’s about mending lives in the community. 

“When we’re sewing, no matter what we’re making, we’re mending,” Poindexter said. “So with every stitch, I hope we mend something. I hope we heal something. I hope we bring somebody together.”

The future

The future of Open Threads features a new artist residency program, which Program Manager Emilee Koss said will include opening the space for budding fashion designers and entrepreneurs. 

The residency includes a year of unlimited access to the space and machinery, and a collaboration with the artists themselves regarding their goals and vision for their work. Koss said they are brainstorming ideas on how to combine a showcase of residents’ work with their fundraisers, considering events like fashion shows and exhibitions.

“It hugely benefits them and gives them an availability of space and machinery,” Koss said. “For us, it allows us to highlight the creativity. What can you do with sewing? What’s possible?”

The program will work alongside an open membership, where attendees can pay a monthly fee with three consistent time slots to come throughout the week and work on their projects with the assistance of an artist in residence.  

As Open Threads moves towards the future, with the hope of continuing their role as a beacon of community and skill building in Cleveland, they remain steadfast to their mission of sewing a thread of possibility into students’ lives. For participants at Open Threads, learning to sew can give them more than career opportunities. It can give them an opportunity to make their dreams come true. 

Back at Suárez’s station, he peers through the door that his time at Open Threads has unlocked for him, envisioning a future filled with his dreams of being a fashion designer. These dreams reflect the heart of Open Threads, a place with a mission rooted in empowerment, creativity and second chances. It’s a place where discarded fabric finds new life and people like Suárez rediscover their dreams and potential, stitch by stitch. 

“I always say I want to design for men’s fashion,” Suárez said. “Maybe now, I have that dream.”

For more information on Open Thread’s mission and ongoing initiatives, visit their website here.