Fashion’s Rent

Starting up a fashion label can be beyond pricey and the financial challenges of starting your own line are often what prevents many fashion professionals from going that route. Costs include labor, factories, materials, advertising, equipment, and much more all of which can prove to be great obstacles for the new designer. But an up-and-coming designer in NYC has a uniquely expensive hurdle. And frankly whatever field you’re in, if you’re a New Yorker you know what we are talking about (hell, there was even a musical named after it) RENT.

The cost of real estate in the city is so ridiculously high that it’s nearly impossible for anybody without major financial backing to start a business. Unlike other areas of the US where a designer can start up a business in a spare bedroom or basement, that is not feasible in a 300 sqft studio in Manhattan or while sharing a tiny Brooklyn walk-up with three roommates. Some innovative designers do make it happen but then face the rent challenge when they want to grow their business and find themselves needing larger office or manufacturing space.

This dilemma is where the Garment Center comes into play and one of the reasons it is so important to support efforts to save the Garment Center. Unlike other areas of Manhattan where office space goes for an astounding $65 a sqft plus, the Garment Center thanks to government and zoning protection, is able to keep rates below market for fashion manufacturing businesses. This is a huge benefit for many local NYC designers. For example, women’s brand THL Inc./ Zelda Brand just got a great deal down the block on 39^th street for a 6000 sqft space and the rent is only $35 a sqft. Also in that building are tenants like Tracy Reese, Vivienne Tam, and Carlos Falchi.

However, this same scenario is exactly why the Garment Center is still struggling and why many young designers are fleeing to the Boroughs and even New Jersey! While $35 a sqft is far less then $65 a sqft (the normal Manhattan commercial pricing) the discounted rent is still $210,000 in rent! Many young designers not only do not have that kind of rent budget, but often have even less capital to cover their entire line. Recently we found this listing on Craigslist for a smaller design office or factory space with a more reasonable rent of 140k a year. But as good as these deals may sound to a NYC real estate guru, to a start-up fashion designer rent can seem like a insurmountable obstacle in NYC. When the same amount of office space can be found in Atlanta for $6 a sqft, or Portland for $8 a sqft, or even LA for $10 a sqft, what is keeping designers local?

Well, the obvious answer is NYC is the heart of the fashion industry and the Garment Center is its soul. From fashion schools to publishers, fabric suppliers to sample rooms we have it all. Unfortunately, having it all is just not as affordable as it should be. We have written extensively on why New York is the place to be for fashion, there really is no other place in the US so fundamentally geared to support the industry and for many of us no other city as inspirational. It is our challenge to make working and thriving in NYC affordable for future American designers.

Please help support the Garment Center and all the efforts to save it for the fashion industry by visiting, the Save The Garment Center Organization and joining up. Also, for more info on real estate in the Garment Center and all the latest deals and offerings click here.