NYC Garment History
Looms Large

New York has long been the heart of arts, fashion, and entertainment—home to over 400 film, TV, theater, and opera productions each year, as well as a thriving community of designers and the nation’s richest network of fabric and material suppliers. Yet, with only four costume rental houses remaining and no digitized inventory systems in place, the city faces a critical gap in accessible, sustainable costume resources. The ReThread Project aims to fill that void with a modern rental model centered in New York City—combining digitized collections, sustainable practices, and broad access to authentic period and contemporary garments for productions of all sizes.

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• The film industry inside New York City is 6.5% of the cities GDP

• New York State is the second largest state in the country for Film and TV production, second to California hosting 88 films and 180 TV series during 2022  

• The lack of studio services or any large contemporary rental house causes most productions to buy and return. This causes a strain on the brick and mortar stores who in turn have changed their return policies and in some instances are banning returns from designers and stylists. This also feeds into the waste of the industry as more clothes need to be gotten ‘rid’ of in short amount of time

• The scale of costume rental houses inside NYC is small compared to those of LA or Europe, with the average space in the city around 2,000sq ft compared to 20,000sq ft in LA or 100,000sq ft in Europe

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Women as Makers

The Garment District and the labor behind the counter and in many shops is women, most average 75% women employees. 

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Garment District

Broadway productions rely on costume shops, and those shops depend on the Garment District fabric stores, trim suppliers, and makers of the countless essentials—threads, zippers, buttons, and structural materials—that bring garments to life. These often hard-to-find resources are vital to the craft of costume making. The Garment District remains home to many of the last physical stores providing these materials, sustaining a community of skilled workers, artisans, and small business owners who keep this historic ecosystem—and neighborhood—thriving.

Immigrant Impact

In 1909 the composition of workers in the garment industry was "80 percent female, 70 percent were between sixteen and twenty-five years of age, and 65 percent were Russian/Eastern European Jewish."* The leadership of the union was not representative of the workers. Although 85 percent of the union members were women, the general executive board only ever had one woman at a time.

In March 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory caught fire and 146 workers died because the doors were kept locked to prevent workers from taking unauthorized breaks. After the fire, it was found that workers had never been trained on what to do in case of a fire, and the fire escape was unstable, causing many to realize the need for safer working conditions. As a result, a Factory Investigation Commission was created to investigate factories for fire safety vulnerabilities and overall factory conditions. Members of the ILGWU, including Rose Schneiderman, Pauline Newman, and Clara Lemlich, were members of this committee. Thirty-three laws were passed to improve workplace conditions as a result of these investigations.*

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* Source: https://guides.loc.gov/this-month-in-business-history/june/international-ladies-garment-workers-union