It might not be time to close the book on New York’s Garment District just yet. On Monday, according to Fashionista, city officials released a new plan that’s geared toward saving the “century-old fashion cluster” that’s under constant threat by the Current State of Things™.
Built around “an IDA tax incentive plan meant to support continued clothing manufacturing [in the area],” the new plan allows for “affordable long-term leases for garment manufacturing and manufacturing-adjacent businesses.”
And perhaps most importantly, the package will also “curb hotel development in the area,” which is good news for basically everyone that’s not a hotel developer.
Once a vibrant part of the Midtown economy, the district has shrunk about 95 percent since it’s peak in the 1950s, but this particular package was put together to “reinforce [the area] as one of the city’s most vital job centers.”
“After years of effort, we’ve got a plan that will preserve the heart and soul of the city’s iconic Garment District,” City Council Speaker Corey Johnson said in a release. And it’s a plan that doesn’t involve relocating the entire workforce out to Sunset Park, Brooklyn, as had previously been proposed, which would have effectively killed any Manhattan manufacturing presence.
“Saving and keeping the Garment District in Manhattan means saving valuable employment opportunities and preserving an industrial ecosystem unique to Midtown Manhattan,” New York State Senator Marisol Alcántara also said in a release. “Moving production would have meant moving jobs and disconnecting production from fashion education, warehousing and display.”
You can read more about it at Fashionista.
