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FashionNYC2020

On January 11, 2010, Mayor Bloomberg and NYCEDC launched Fashion.NYC.2020, a strategic study to examine the challenges facing the fashion industry. After conducting surveys and interviews with more than 500 industry professionals, NYCEDC developed a suite of six initiatives to maintain and enhance New York City’s position as the global leader in fashion.

1. Fashion Production Fund: To assist emerging designers with their initial production cycles, the City will establish a fund to help them access capital for production financing and local production resources.

2. Project Pop-up: To maintain New York City’s position as a retail leader, the City will launch “Project Pop-up,” an annual competition to promote new and innovative retail concepts.

3. Fashion Draft NYC: To ensure fashion is in the career decision set for top business-minded students, the Fashion Draft will consist of a structured “interview week” where selected students have the opportunity to earn full-time, management track positions in the industry.

4. Fashion Campus NYC: In order to enrich and expand the overall fashion experience for summer fashion interns, Fashion Campus NYC will include seminars by industry leaders and networking opportunities.

5. NYC Fashion Fellows: The fashion industry has few programs that highlight the “rising stars” in fashion management. This annual program will select up-and-coming Fashion Fellows to receive mentoring services and networking opportunities.

6. Design Entrepreneurs NYC: To equip emerging creative talent with the necessary tools for launching and managing a fashion business, Design Entrepreneurs NYC will serve as an entrepreneurial “boot camp.”

Read the Fashion.NYC.2020 Press Release. For an overview of the findings from the study, read the Fashion.NYC.2020 report. 

Market Size

New York City’s fashion industry employs 173,000 people, accounting for 5.7% of the City’s workforce and generating nearly $10 billion in total wages with tax revenues of $1.7 billion. Home to more than 75 major fashion trade shows plus thousands of showrooms, New York City attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.

Talent

The leading fashion schools in the nation are located here, offering best-in-class programs to support a full spectrum of fashion careers, including fashion marketing, merchandising, design, and more:

• The Art Institute of New York City, Fashion Design Program
• Berkeley College - New York, Fashion Marketing and Management
• Fashion Institute of Technology
• LIM College
• New York School of Design, Fashion Design Programs
• Parsons The New School for Design
• Pratt Institute
• Wood Tobé-Coburn School, Fashion Design Program

Manufacturing

New York City has important support services for local manufacturing. To find design and production resources, visit the City’s official source for fashion information – NYCFashionInfo.com.

Distribution

The City is located within one day’s travel of more than 55% of the US population and more than 60% of the Canadian population. Our extensive transportation infrastructure includes access to several interstates and three major airports, making New York City a convenient hub for distribution to the Northeast, Midwest, and South.

Who's Here

New York City is the flagship to many major department stores:

• Barneys New York
• Bergdorf Goodman
• Bloomingdale's
• Macy's
• Saks Fifth Avenue

Many famous labels originated in NYC: