The stretch of 35th Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues bustled with garment activity in 1978, and it’s still lined with fabric stores today. But the Wingate by Wyndham Hotel is a new addition. It opened in 2007, said Russell Verkhovski, who works there as a front desk agent, and replaced a garment warehouse. The street still fills with delivery trucks in the morning, though, he said.

In 1979, the American textile and apparel industries employed 2,189,400 people. By 2008, that number had fallen to 497,100. It is projected to decline by an additional 48 percent by 2018. (Source: Bureau of Labor Statisitics.)