Garment District History

When people think of the New York City Garment District, the first things that come to mind are high-end fashion designers like Michael Kors and Calvin Klein and the famous New York Fashion Week. As a New York Times reporter Jean Appleton put it, New York City is the “bustling epicenter of America’s clothing design and the manufacturing industry.”1 However, fashion is only part of the story. Few people actually know how garment production in New York City came about. Before the design and construction of huge lofts and towering skyscrapers, garment production took place inside garment shops and factories inside tenements. The garment industry has changed significantly in the past two centuries and continues to change today.

In the 1950s, the fashion industry was based mostly around teenagers and young adults. Before this time, adolescents were expected to follow in their parents’

“Outlet shopping is perhaps luxury’s greatest ploy to get its goods into the hands of anyone and everyone,” (Thomas, Pg. 246). “But outlet shopping is the antithesis of the flagship, the antithesis in fact, of luxury itself.” (Thomas, 2007. Pg. 247) Columnist Karen Heller explained to Thomas after visiting Woodbury Common Premium Outlets in New York, “The clothes were marked down, picked over and repeatedly pawed, the opposite of how they were originally displayed. Their power to enchant seemed minimized, even at a third the price, smashed together like produce in a storage hold.” Thomas explains how luxury merchandise is purely just that, leftover “luxury” products: overproduction. No longer does luxury embody the experience of pampering nor does it signify class and wealth. Some

Garage is a middle-class clothing store branched off the company, Groupe Dynamite. Since 1975, when Garage was first founded, the company has expanded greatly. With 370 stores, and its roots planted in Montreal, Quebec, Garage has spread internationally to the United States of America, Saudi Arabia, Armenia and many more countries, as well as an online website available to U.S. and Canadian customers. Garage’s clothing is very trendy and it's style ranges anywhere from “flower child” to semi-grunge and everything in between. Garage sells a large portion of their clothes in stores, and the surplus of their inventory is sold online, including online exclusives.

Owners James O’Hara and George A. Bayard wanted an area where the people of Pittsburgh could go and look around at wholesale and retail shops while enjoying all the wonderful tastes and cultures of Pittsburgh, food and they decided to do just that. In 1814, James and George established what we call today the “Strip District” that covered between 11th and 15th streets in Pittsburgh (“Strip District History,” n.d.). However, the official name was the “Northern Liberties of Pittsburgh” which was an area known as Bayardstown. A little over 20 years later, in 1837, the Northern Liberties linked with the city of Pittsburgh’s Fifth Ward, which was the first addition to the city’s earliest four wards (“Strip

For the past hundred years the need for clothing increased since the number of people of keeps growing. As the years go on, producers must find new ways to produce more clothing to make more profit and keep up with demand. Before people would either have to ride all the way into town to have tailors make their clothes, or have someone at home make the clothing for them. But as the years progressed, methods have changed dramatically.

People indulge in clothes shopping every day and often do not consider the changes that occurred throughout time that led to the development of mass produced clothing for both men and women. As a result of the Civil War, the production of clothing shifted from homemade clothing to clothing mass produced in factories. After the Civil War, Urbanization along with new developments, such as advertising and the new, wealthy urban class, increased the demand for mass produced women’s clothing and clothing stores that made clothing readily available.

A thorough and broadened knowledge of American clothing’s history opens wide, the opportunity to explore the American identity. Helen Sheumaker’s “American Fashion” discusses the relationship between political values and their influence on different clothing styles. The Reader’s Companion to U.S. Women’s History provides insight about how the clothing fashion was indicative of a person’s class. Certain clothing styles distinguished specific communities like the wealthy and the working class yet simultaneously gave a clear distinction of the liberal American style from the proper and trim of the

In the 19th century, America saw major expansions and technological advances that paved way for the grand expansion of agriculture that boosted the nation’s economy. Regardless of the fact that Great Britain had tried to keep secrets regarding machinery and inventions, most of America’s advances were propelled by inventions such as the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1793, steel plow by John Deere, railway, steamboats, telegraph, and canals. In addition, technology’s profound effect on agriculture also led to the rise of the textile industry whereby factories produced materials such as cotton thread and cloth. Many of these initial factories are recognized in historical texts, but the Lowell factory system is one that is famous – precisely the

Over the course of the history of clothing styles and production, one thing has never changed: a person’s wealth directly influences

Throughout the 1920s through the 1950s Women’s clothing in America was affected by World War II, which lead to the exploration of different styles, the encounter of new trends and the exchange of ideas and new styles.

Entrepreneurs and in-laws Mac Blanc and Issac Harris watched as the textile industry made its mark on New York City. One of the hottest fashion trends of the times was

In the early 1900s, many immigrants had left their home country and came to America in hopes of starting a new life. In order to do so, they had to get a job and start supporting the new life in which they hoped for. During this time, the industrial field seemed to be the most common occupation of any immigrants, especially in New York City. There were hardly any working requirements and basically anyone could be hired in these sweatshops or factories. The garment industry in particular, hired immigrant women and children with a very low wage, strenuous labor hours, and awful working conditions. Without any regulations or codes, the working environment could’ve been considered a death trap and was not being appreciated when it came to pay day.

2. Richard M. Johns (2006). The Apparel Industry. 2nd ed. UK, London: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.. 1-124.

A lot has changed and evolved in the history of fashion since the 1900s. As the century dawned, fashion was an exclusive enterprise, the pursuit of wealth. The average person in society settled for garments that were usually stitched at home. With time, however, networks of neighborhood tailors began to evolve into a retail history and the boom was followed by boutique selling.