347 W 36th

The Design Trust is planning a pop-up shop to showcase the "surprisingly efficient" ecosystem that is the New York garment district, reports Guy Trebay in the New York Times (4/29/10). In fact, it is possible to "have a pattern made, graded for size, the fabric rolled in from a nearby wholesaler, the pieces cut and assembled and the finished product shipped without leaving a single block in the center of Midtown. Even with the offshoring of apparel industry jobs, "the apparel industry represents 28 percent of all manufacturing jobs in New York City."

At a single building — 347 W 36th — "roughly 38 percent of the building’s tenants are in businesses related to fashion." It’s not that large-scale manufacturing is coming back in the big city, but Deborah Marton of Design Trust says that "the idea that everything can be off-shored is an illusion." Not only are lead times much longer with overseas manufacturing, but the transportation and environmental costs are higher. "We already have the capacity to produce in our backyard," says Deborah. "Treating it cavalierly is just bad for New York."

Manmohan Gadh of Universal Elliot, a maker of high-end accessories located at 347 W. 36th, also notes that local manufacture is a natural for low-run production. "If you want a large quantity of goods, of course you are going to go overseas," he says. "But you’re not going to China to make 100 belts." Guy Trebay goes as far as to suggest that some enterprising designers might even begin handtagging "the distance a garment travels from place of manufacture to point of sale," not unlike food miles.