The "Bottom Line" Driving All the Character from NYC's Garment District

How ironic that given the current political focus on jobs, my biggest fear is that I will no longer be able to manufacture in America. But the problem is real and local politicians seem indifferent. I am one of the few designers left that manufactures in NYC; 85 percent of my garments are made just around the corner from my design room. But ground is being lost. Businesses like Chi Chi's, the Olive Garden, Applebee's, Fuddruckers, Hilton, Courtyard Marriot, real estate companies and several money management funds are pushing us out: buying our buildings, raising our rents, and even hiring thug-type supers to make life miserable for small factory owners.

Our city officials have failed to protect the once-thriving Garment Center. Their own 1987 Garment Center zoning laws have stood unenforced for the past 20 years. Now they want to introduce new laws that would protect only a meager amount of square-footage. This in no way honors the 1987 zoning laws and in every way contributes to the demise of the district. Token gestures are always what they appear to be -- tokens.

The Garment Center factories allowed me, with an initial 5,000-dollar loan, to achieve the American dream and create an international fashion line that I am proud of. I never would have been able to make it without them. Simple as that. My company now has 120 full-time employees in New York City alone. This doesn't include all of the employees in the factories and associated businesses that benefit from my NYC manufacturing, 10 freestanding Nanette Lepore boutiques, and numerous wholesale accounts. We manufacture 25 to 30 thousand garments monthly in this tiny 10 block radius. And if we lose all of this? We lose so much.

How sad it will be not to pass the lunchtime gathering of Italian pattern cutters in front of our Garment Center showroom buildings. What will it be like without Roger and Manny whose local factories have been doing my fancy stitching and pleating from the very beginning? Or the trim shops, rows and rows of inspiration? This neighborhood has countless generational ties and family bonds between those who have been working together for years. Why does NYC want to give this up? For chain restaurants? My assistant, Erica Wolf, is incredibly passionate about this cause. She can blurt out every frightening statistic detailing our district's shrinking geography. The Garment Center is a New York institution. Yet politicians seem willing to turn their backs on institutions like ours--those that make New York unique. Why can't we protect and preserve?

Without the small factories and personal relationships, the types that nurtured me as a newcomer, our small up-and-coming New York designers will not be able to survive. There's a big picture here. Our local and state officials need to demonstrate some compassion and foresight for this mix of artists, designers, factories and new talent. This is the stuff that makes NYC such a vital, magnetic city. If "the bottom line" drives all the characters out of NYC, there will be no character left!

Comments

[Natanya]

05:32 PM on 03/05/2009

The garment center is such an integral part of the history of NYC and the business of fashion it should be protected. Mayor Bloomberg and other official have worked on some zoning issues but there is a far way to go. Also, it is not just hi-end designers suffering, even large manufactures are losing office and showroom space and young start-up can no longer afford to get their foot in the door, plus all the secondary vendors that supply the fashion industry are suffering. We have a blog devoted to the garment center and what it's really like working in fashion that you should all check out; www.39thandbroadway.com

[Stacey Dunleavy]

02:12 PM on 03/05/2009

add on the fabric stores that cater to the indie sewist that are disappearing. I'd love to buy Nanette's clothes, but until I can afford them, I'll have to make my own

[cordyc]

12:11 PM on 03/05/2009

Good luck in your fight to save the neighborhood. Just hang in there, the commercial real estate market is starting to fall so many of the landlords may be belly up by this time next year.