Top 10 Facts About New York’s Garment District

New York City is arguably the fashion capital of the world and has at its center the world-famous Garment District, a west-central neighborhood that encompasses a square mile of densely packed fashion design and manufacturing businesses. , including some of the world’s most recognized brands. Read on to learn more about this vibrant historical landmark.

1. The New York Garment District, named for its dense concentration of fashion design and manufacturing businesses, is also known as the New York Garment Center, New York Fashion District, or New York Fashion Center.
2. The Garment District of New York is located on the west side of downtown Manhattan, between Fifth and Ninth avenues and between 34th and 42nd^n/a streets and houses most of the city’s showrooms and the main fashion venues.
3. The New York Garment District is world-renowned as the hub of fashion design and manufacturing, within the city that is lauded as the fashion capital of the world with a revenue stream of $15 billion per year. New York’s Garment District boasts countless design houses and major fashion brands within a one square mile radius.
4. New York’s Garment District caters to all aspects of the fashion process, from design and production to wholesale, and has the densest concentration of fashion businesses in a single district in the world.
5. Over the past 50 years, New York’s garment manufacturing sector has experienced a decline within the Fashion District due to the increased use of less expensive foreign labor that has assumed a dominant role in manufacturing in the district.
6. New York first assumed its role as the center of the nation’s garment industry by producing clothing for the slaves who worked on southern plantations. It appears that plantation owners found it more efficient to purchase clothing from New York producers than to have slaves spend time and labor making the clothing themselves.
7. The need for thousands of soldier uniforms made during the American Civil War helped the garment industry expand further. The fact that more and more Americans were buying their clothes rather than making them also helped the clothing industry, and by the late 1860s most Americans were buying their clothes rather than making them themselves.
8. By 1880, New York produced more garments than the next four competitive cities combined, and by 1910, 70% of the country’s women’s apparel and 40% of its men’s apparel were produced in New York.
9. Members of the New York fashion industry, including designers Nanette Lapore and Anna Sui, created the Save the Garment Center to preserve the concentration of fashion industry-related businesses in the district. They say real estate pressures are driving clothing businesses out of their homes in the district where they have been based for more than a century. They also oppose the relaxation of New York’s zoning laws that will allow more offices in the area.
10. New York’s clothing district is home to the Fashion Walk of Fame, the only permanent landmark dedicated to American fashion. Modeled after the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles, the Fashion Walk of Fame celebrates excellence in design by honoring New York designers who have had a significant and lasting impact on the way fashion is you saw the world Inductees on the Walk of Fame, located on 7th Avenue, include designers Donna Karan, Marc Jacobs, Halston, Calvin Klein, Oscar de la Renta, Betsey Johnson, and Diane von Furstenberg.