LibGuides: Apparel Industry : New York City

Garment Center, NYC

Made in Midtown
"New York City is planning for the future of the Garment District, the heart of American fashion. This could transform the fashion industry and Midtown Manhattan. Made in Midtown studies the relationship between the industry and the neighborhood, and asks: Should creative industries matter in New York?industries matter to New York?"
Making Midtown: A New Vision for a 21st Century Garment District in New York City
Published in October 2012, Making Midtown is a Design Trust for Public Space project, conducted in partnership with the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA). The report "provides a roadmap for revitalizing the Garment District with fashion design and manufacturing at its core."
Design Trust for Public Space: Made in Midtown: Phase I
For more information the two projects above, see the Design Trust for Public Space: Made in Midtown: Phase I and Phase II.
Design Trust for Public Space: Made in Midtown: Phase II
A Stitch in Time: A History of New York's Fashion District
Compiled by the Fashion Center Business Improvement District, this 17 page history of the Fashion District covers it's inception in 1919 to recent years (published in 2008).
Garment District NYC
Includes directories, resources, and publications as well as neighborhood statistics and pedestrian counts. The Garment District Alliance (formerly known as the Fashion Center Business Improvement District) works to improve the quality of life and economic vitality of Manhattan’s Garment District.
The Garment District NYC: Our Year in Review 2016-2017
Annual Report of the Garment District Alliance
The Garment District Year in Review 2015 - 2016
Annual report with various Garment District statistics
Garment District Alliance 2014-2015 Annual Report
Includes various Garment District statistics
Numbers in the Garment District Statistics from the 2013 Econimic Profile (Garment District NYC)

New York Fashion Industry

The New Economy of Fashion
NYC and US fashion industry survey with statistics. Report from the Joint Economic Committee, U.S. Congress, February 2016
The Economic Impact of the Fashion Industry
Report from the Joint Economic Committee, U.S. Congress, Updated September 2015
The Economic Impact of the Fashion Industry
Report from the Joint Economic Committee, U.S. Congress, Feb. 6, 2015
NYC's Garment Industry: A New Look?
The Fiscal Policy Institute's 2003 report on the NYC apparel industry
CFDA Database of NYC Production Facilities
For sewn goods and jewelry. Search for production facilities in the 5 boroughs of New York City by using customizable sorting capabilities.Sort by sewn goods vs. jewelry facilities, as well as further sort by specific services offered, design category, price points and production minimums.

History of the NYC Fashion Industry

A Stitch in Time: A History of New York's Fashion District
Compiled by the Fashion Center Business Improvement District, this 17 page history of the Fashion District covers it's inception in 1919 to recent years (published in 2008).
The 1911 Triangle Factory Fire
Comprehensive coverage of 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist fire, presented by The Kheel Center at the Cornell University Library, in collaboration with UNITE!

Featured documentary films & lectures

Borrow the DVD and watch the film: Dressing America: Tales from the Garment Center by Pacific Street Films
In its heyday, New York’s Garment Center was a thriving, vibrant "village" of sorts. It was a gathering place where business was often carried out in the backrooms of restaurants and bars; where entrepreneurial types could get into the game with a designer and a few bucks. It was a postwar era that saw a primarily Jewish industry challenge the hegemony of Paris, turning fashion into something distinctly American. Dressing America: tales from the Garment Center tells this largely unknown story ....

Borrow the DVD and watch the film: Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags (DVD) by HBO Documentary Films
The Garment District is the heart and soul of Midtown Manhattan and the backbone of the fashion industry. It was the gateway for many immigrants to the American Dream. Now, it is in danger of disappearing. This HBO feature documentary explores the rise and fall of New York’s fabled schmatta (rag) trade as a microcosm of the economic realities of the present.

The Ladies' Garment Industry was New York City's largest employer in the first half of the 20th century, and "Seventh Avenue" was the city's most famous industry. While much has been written about the history of the unions and of fashion in general, this lecture and the related URBAN FABRIC exhibition focus on the architecture and development of the Garment District. Curator Andrew Dolkart discusses the character of the high-rise lofts and the forces that led to the creation of one of New York's most distinctive neighborhoods.