Natalie "Alabama" Chanin is an American fashion designer .

From 1976 to 2005, Tee-Jays Manufacturing was one of the largest employers of the Florence textile industry. Tee-Jays was a recognized company internationally until it closed in 2005. Chanin's business now lays on the grounds of Tee-Jays. From her expanding success, Chanin has now opened other businesses including The School of Making, Building 14, and The Factory Store reviving a community full of artisans and maunfacturers. She is part of the zero-waste fashion movement. Her design company uses 100% organic cotton jersey fabric in their designs, which is sourced sustainably from seed to fabric. Chanin's "open source" philosophy means that patterns and techniques for her garments are openly available through books and workshops.

Chanin draws inspiration from her academic studies, including ideas about color as espoused by Josef and Anni Albers,the Bauhaus artists who fled Nazi Germany for Asheville, North Carolina, in 1933 to teach at Black Mountain College. Southern literature and stories have always been a love of hers. Growing up, her grandmother sewed every garment her children wore as well as Chanin's, while also gardening and cooking fresh food. This led to her naturally to make a community of her own through Alabama Chanin

The making of the brand Alabama Chanin is the culmination of what Project Alabama symbolized. Alabama Chanin is rooted in the tenets of the Slow design movement. Known for its "eco-chic" influences, Natalie launched the Alabama Chanin line in 2006. Tied with the slow design movement, Chanin is also known for being at the forefront of the zero-waste movement by trying to implement sustainable solutions through her brand. Historical evidence reveals indigenous people, Egyptian kaftans, and Pre-industrial society consciously tried to make garments without any excess waste. In the past, textiles were treated preciously as they were known for being scarce, which lead to their consciousness with waste. Whereas, after the Industrial Revolution, technology developments were able to increase production and lower costs allowing for textile waste to be less of a concern. All the garments are made with either organic or recycled materials by the hand of local artisans. The company employs local women aged twenty to seventy, to help sew one-of-a-kind, handmade garments, preserving the region’s dwindling tradition of quilting. Any waste fabric is used as an embellishment, patchwork, or appliqué as a way of using the re-manufacturing process. From low-value waste garments the new products created here have value imbued through the skills of the workers and the story told through the label.