The past couple of months have been promising to young designers and apparel production in the American fashion capital. Andrew Rosen, chief executive of Theory, and the New York City Economic Development Corporation launched the Fashion Manufacturing Initiative, aimed at incubating and supporting apparel manufacturers in New York City. Elie Tahari makes a significant gift to Save the Garment Center – a non-profit organization that advocates for the Garment District and raises awareness on the implications of preserving American fashion know-how. Bob Bland, chief executive and founder of Manufacture New York, was also featured in the New York Times for her mission of making apparel manufacturing and production know-how available to young American designers who are at the developmental stage recognized by the CFDA Fashion Incubator program.
This is welcome news. It shows a burgeoning recognition of the importance of apparel manufacturing in maintaining New York City’s lead as an international fashion capital. More importantly, it shows a renewed interest in and commitment to young designers and their companies that represent the future of American apparel and fashion. I have previously argued here that the Garment Center, with its myriad of vendors and production companies, forms a significant portion of our knowledge infrastructure and is pivotal in attracting young design talent to New York City.
However, there is another element crucial to the survival and growth of young talent and emerging companies that has not received as much attention – retail. The mastery of retail is important to young designers because it guarantees revenues needed for further investment and provides designers with opportunities to interact with their customers. The existing wholesale system where young designers largely rely on specialty retailers like Barney’s or Saks Fifth Avenue do not benefit these designers because of the prevailing climate of conservative merchandising and the dominance of established brands. Furthermore, these retailers often impose exacting delivery dates, extended payment terms and complex chargeback policies that are beyond the competency of start-up firms.
The future of New York City as an international fashion capital and the continued relevance of American fashion do not only depend on access to production capacity and know-how. It also requires emerging design companies to have the same access to retail distribution and customer exposure. After all, great American legends like Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren would not exist today were it not for the merchandising daring and cultivation of Marvin Traub at Bloomingdale’s. The 21st century renaissance of American designers, fueled by designers like Philip Lim and Alexander Wang, was also the return on investments made by specialty retailers like Barneys in a time when buyers were willing to take the risk of investing in young, untried talent.
We need a Fashion Retail Initiative. American fashion would benefit from an initiative that advocates for emerging designers and which makes their work available to retailers. Such an initiative could involve retailers working closely with design companies to work out their delivery calendars and their packaging methods. It would provide funding for young companies to invest in distribution networks and e-commerce. It would collaborate with established retailers and organize collective trunk shows. For example, Barneys has shown a commitment to American design by carrying Shinola, the Detroit-based lifestyle brand. It could take this further by establishing an area where it invites emerging designers to take part in trunk shows that are run like pop-up stores. It could take such burgeoning concepts like White Space – Ruth Runberg’s brainchild where hand-picked designers get a private showroom space during Fashion Week – further by providing young designers who meet certain criteria a low-cost showroom space. It might even work to share promotional costs with retailers who agree to carry these emerging designers.
The fashion industry has become increasingly inhospitable to the incubating of new talent because of rising barriers to entry. These barriers are often the result of changes buffeting the industry that benefit the deeply capitalized. For an industry that prides itself on thriving on the cutting edge of creative thinking, it is not enough to invest in growth on the production-end of the value chain. We need to design a comprehensive incubator aimed not only at picking winners but in ensuring that young talent get the opportunity to make a difference. We could do a lot more to address the existing challenge of a changing retail landscape. We could do a lot more to invest in our future.