Save the Garment Center

When I grew up, if we needed a house, we built it. My Italian grandfather was a bricklayer and my Irish grandfather a carpenter. Grandpa Lepore and his brothers built homes and motels; laying the brick with fine precision. Grandpa McGarry built all the furniture I grew up with, inspired by the best in Scandinavian design at my mother's request. My grandparents immigrated to America and like immigrants often do, they brought their craft with them, and our country was enriched by it.

When I was in high school, my parents decided to build their dream house, modern and expansive, in a rural area of Youngstown, Ohio. That summer, my brother and sister helped build the house with my father, his brothers, Raymond and Henry, Grandpa Lepore, Uncle Joe, and various relatives that would make an appearance to work their area of expertise. The house of cedar had as the centerpiece an amazingly beautiful brick wall of rustic, oversized bricks salvaged from an old steel refractory. They were all craftsmen at work with a legacy of pride in creating. Toward the end, when the house was roughed in, Grandpa McGarry and his son, Bob, installed beautiful oak cabinets that had been built at Grandpa's workshop. He even designed an intricate parquet for behind the cabinets, like the surprise of a beautiful lining in a coat.

That summer I didn't go to the building site very often, choosing instead to stay at home and sew. It was a form of rebellion against moving to what I perceived to be a backwater country school. Now as an adult I realize that all the heart and skill that went into building our home made it a place to be proud of!

I often think about the impact my family craftsmanship had on me. It gave me the tools I need to create and be fearless without limitations. Knowing that one has the potential to build something from a pile of raw materials is empowering. It's a gift that our children might not receive.

Eighty percent of my products are made in America in a 10 block radius from my office in New York City's Garment Center. They are assembled by skilled craftsmen who also immigrated here with a trade just like my family. I treasure being able to watch my product develop from a roll of fabric into a beautiful garment hanging in a shop. That garment was designed in my studio on 35th street, the pattern digitized on 38th street, then passed to a cutter around the corner, then bins of cut work trundled to a factory on 39th street, to then be sewn together. All the while each step being closely monitored by my staff.

My company alone keeps about 10 factories busy. Those factories make up about 300 jobs in New York City. However, the landlords, the restaurant and hotel union, and the developers want to annihilate our 100 year old Garment Center. Their vision is one sprawling, mall-type maze, from Time Square to Macy's. The homogenizing and "mall-i-fying" of our city continues. The landlords are pushing hard against the city to free up the New York City Garment Center zoning.

But what of the pride of a nation that can create its own goods? What of the fate of the designers, manufacturers and tradesmen who set up shop in the Garment Center? Who decides these businesses are not important? Fashion and it's spin offs are important to the NYC economy. There has never been a more critical time to buy American made products.

Let's show the politicians that we are invested in saving our country's manufacturing system! Send your comments to Mayor Bloomberg's office. Take a stand!

Comments

[Fritziscool]

In our society we make people like Donald Trump and labor unions heros. They are not they are pushing their own agenda. Who is pushing the agenda of the working man. Unfortuntately, craftsmanship seems to becoming a thing of the past. And, on different note, I have been to Youngstown.Ohio--No thank you!

[RnR]

I kind of like the idea of packing up the entire garment district and moving it to Ohio. That would be a major victory and proof of what could be done. I know it's almost impossible with all the people/lives involved but, think about it, it would be a major victory against the lie of free trade and for American made.

Wish it could happen :)

[LeonBNJ]

It isn't just the Garment District of NY City that is is being wiped out by the exporting of the clothing and related cloth products industries from the USA. Thousands of small factories that made clothes, bedding, curtains, upolstary, basic cloth are gone in NY City, New Jersey, the southern USA, Los Angeles, along with their jobs. Such shifts mean less diversity of product, less choice in sizes, being locked into 3 to 6 month lag times for products from Asia so ending up with either too much or too little product with a resulting affect on prices and on retailers. Even if you find a produce made in the USA, one has to wonder if the label is phony, is from a unregulated territory of the USA or by exploited illegal workers. We need to end the exporting of our garment trade and return some of it back.

[montemalone]

I'll bet Youngstown, OH would LOOOOOVE to have you and your company and 300 other jobs.
If New York wants to be a giant suburb, then let it.
With technology, the need to be in the city has diminished.
Youngstown is probably a lot cheaper to live in, too.

[rektruax]

"With technology, the need to be in the city has diminished. "

True...

[corkonian]

Not true - the need to be in THE city - NYC - is: that's where the inspiration for the cutting edge stuff comes from. Nothing can replace the New York buzz, even though it's creative edge has diminished somewhat. Youngstown just won't cut it!

[Vinca]

Each time I go into a dept. store, I check to see if I can find an American made T-shirt, I CAN'T. I feel guilty if I'm forced to but a foreign made one, when our car industry and our garment industry are disappearing, I saw in the tv crawl, that our trade deficit was a bit less, I DOUBT IT.

[jaielaw]

Keep up the good fight and the beautiful work, Nanette. I strongly believe in keeping a viable garment industry in the U.S. You may want to think to add an environmental component to your pitch. The carbon footprint created by having American designs manufactured and shipped from China, for example, must be enormous.

[quindy]

To kill the Garment District would be the stupidest thing to do. Not only it employs lot of people, the district is situated in an area that is easily accessible by subway, train and bus. Few blocks south is the Fashion Institute of Technology. Kill the district and you are killing the school at the same time.

I am glad you posted this. I hope you write to the major media outlets. As someone who uses the Garment District all the time I will write to Mayor Bloomberg with the hope that he will take a good look before turning one of the most important places in New York into another shopping mall.

[Sinick]

I heartily agree with you Nanette. However, you must steel yourself for the battle of your life against foes that have virtually unlimited political connections and financial resources.

To do my part, I have sent my request to Mayor Bloomberg and asked him to ensure that the battle takes place on a level playing field. May the gods be with you.

[cblcar]

Good for you for continuing to speak out. I only hope more people are doing so. If I lived in NY I'd be right there with you. I applaud you for your committment to American-made products and American jobs... And your clothes rock, too!