Gorham textile designer wins 'Greenlight Maine' $100K prize
Screen shot / 'Greenlight Maine'
Gorham-based textile design entrepreneur Erin Flett, top, is announced as the winner of "Greenlight Maine" Season 5. Judges in the final round were, from left, Corky Ellis, founder of Portland-based Kepware Technologies; Tara Jenkins, founder of consultancy Conscious Revolution and of the Portland Conscious Capitalism Community; and Sandy Spaulding, managing partner and CEO at State 23 Media LLC.
Gorham-based textile designer Erin Flett, who has designs on expanding her business with more trade and hotel accounts, won $100,000 in the Sunday season finale of "Greenlight Maine."
"I believe in design, I believe in Maine-made, and Maine manufacturing," Flett said in the Season 5 finale of the business-pitch competition TV show, which was taped in a virtual format during the pandemic. "It all started with one pillow, and as soon as I saw one of my patterns on the fabric, it changed everything,"
Flett designs and sells made-to-order hand-printed pillows, bags, shower curtains and related products. She was pitted against Chad and Nicole Humphrey of Humphrey's BBQ of Newfield, a husband-and-wife team honored on the Mainebiz Next List in 2019; and Heather Desjardins of iTell Alert, a Winthrop-based startup that uses patented technology to remind elderly people with mobility issues to use their walkers.
Flett was clearly moved after winning the prize money by a vote of 2-to-1 from the judges.
"This was a close one," Julene Gervais, the show's host, told Mainebiz afterwards. "All three companies had the judges' attention, and it took a lot of discussion and debate to land on this season's winner. They all contribute to Maine's economy and deserve recognition."
As for the the companies who didn't make it to the final round, Gervais said it doesn't mean they aren't worthy of the prize money, and are welcome to try again next season.
"We encourage companies to apply again," she added. "The value of the preparation process, promotion gained and connections made help them in their next steps to strengthening their success story."
In Flett's case, the victory comes on the heels of a new collaboration between L.L.Bean and the company she started in her basement.
After outgrowing space in Westbrook's Dana Warp Mill, her company relocated to 4,000 square feet in Gorham, where it has a ground-floor showroom below its workshop. She said the move was a game-changer, as was being featured in Oprah Winfrey's O magazine.
Flett has also started a mentoring program where she invites high school students to visit the workshop.
"I tell them, if they love design and they love art, that they can make a career out of it," she said on Sunday's program.
From 26 contestants to 3 finalists
"Greenlight Maine" Season 5 started last September with 26 contestants. Last March, 13 of them were judged in five categories by six judges at Thomas College to determine the three finalists.
Judges in the final round were Corky Ellis, founder of Kepware Technologies, a Portland-based software development company acquired by a Massachusetts firm in 2015; Tara Jenkins, founder of consultancy Conscious Revolution and founder of the Portland Conscious Capitalism Community, featured in a recent Mainebiz cover story; and Sandy Spaulding, managing partner and CEO at State 23 Media LLC, publisher of Maine magazine and other titles.
The season finale was aired a week after Jillian Robillard was crowned the "Greenlight Maine Collegiate Challenge" winner for her Green Bait business venture.
Beating out contestants from University of Maine and Colby College in the final round, Robillard won $25,000 to expand her business. It uses a cost-effective lobster trap bait she developed using invasive green crabs that end up as unintended bycatch on commercial lobster boats.
Robillard is a 2020 University of New England graduate in the school's marine entrepreneurship program.
More information
“Greenlight Maine" is produced by Portland Media Group, a custom content and production company founded by Brian Corcoran, CEO of Shamrock Sports & Entertainment; Nat Thompson, former producer and owner of WCSH; and Con Fullam, a television producer and music composer.
Watch the replay of the Season 5 finale online and fill out an application to compete in Season 6 here.
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