The Midtown Gazette

A Columbia Journalism School newsroom covering Midtown Manhattan in the heart of New York City.


Category: Garment District
  • The Garment District Socialite

    The Garment District Socialite

    He runs a business selling designer clothing in the Garment District, but it doesn’t stop him from being friends with fabulous celebrities.

  • Navajo designer returns to NYC for Native American Heritage Month

    Navajo designer returns to NYC for Native American Heritage Month

    In addition to Thanksgiving and Black Friday, November is also Native American History Month. Dustin Martin is a young Navajo designer and former New Yorker who is building a clothing brand linking Native artists in his home state of New Mexico to the fashion capital of New York City. He returned from New Mexico to…

  • Calorie Bomb: Snack at Your Own Peril

    Calorie Bomb: Snack at Your Own Peril

    So, where are you going to eat on Black Friday? It’s not just clothing stores that plan to gear up for the big day. Restaurants and food stands also prepare for the rush of shoppers.

  • Black Friday Buyers:  Too Big a Secret to Tell

    Black Friday Buyers: Too Big a Secret to Tell

    Ever wonder what it’s like to be a fashion buyer during Black Friday? Keep wondering, because fashion buyers from the Garment District will not reveal their secrets as we head into the biggest shopping season of the year.

  • “Watch The Throne” Takes Over The New Garden

    “Watch The Throne” Takes Over The New Garden

    Jay-Z and Kanye West took over the renovated  Madison Square Garden for two nights last week to promote their new collaborative album Watch The Throne.  The sold-out performances featured an amalgam of songs off the new album and old favorites, over 50 songs in all.  The setlist for the November 8 show can be found here.

  • New York Learns How to Stay Relevant From Europe Fashion Centers

    New York looks to other global fashion cities like Paris, Milan, and London and to the continuing influence of Asia to help sustain its dominant place in the fashion world.

  • Mayor of the Garment District: Using FourSquare to Track Designers

    Mayor of the Garment District: Using FourSquare to Track Designers

    Researchers at Columbia University spent two weeks in July tracking designers and others in the fashion industry how they moved about the Garment District. Their trick for keeping track of the designers? Having them check in on their smartphones with Four Square, a popular social media application.

  • For Garment District Businesses, Trade Deal May Make South Korean Fabric Cheaper

    Congress passed a new free trade agreement with South Korea that may make the its fabric cheaper for the Garment District’s wholesalers and retailers. But it’s difficult to gauge the agreement effect on American jobs.

  • Designers Strive to Market Garment District Pride

    Designers Strive to Market Garment District Pride

    Word on Fashion Avenue is that designers are packing up and leaving New York City’s famed Garment District. In response, several designers have taken a stand: The district is still a valuable part of the city and they aren’t going anywhere. They’re promoting their clothing as 100 percent locally-made in Midtown Manhattan.

  • Nurturing Fashion: Ruby Kobo and the Incubator

    Nurturing Fashion: Ruby Kobo and the Incubator

    Yuvi Alpert of jewelry line Ruby Kobo offers an inside look at the CFDA Fashion Incubator and the life of an up and coming design team.

  • Report: Zoning and Lack of Marketing are Problems for Garment District

    The Municipal Art Society of New York’s new report on the Garment District highlights the strengths and weaknesses of one of the nation’s premier fashion neighborhoods.

  • The Last Puzzle Master

    The Last Puzzle Master

    Carlos Diaz is not what you might expect of a well-connected man in fashion. He is part of a little corner of a quickly fading Manhattan clothing business.

  • Fashion Magazines May Outlast Print Peers

    Fashion Magazines May Outlast Print Peers

    The debate over the future of print media continues, even as “print is dead” becomes a modern-day cliché. But the future of fashion magazines may not be so bleak, according to industry professionals and the optimistic owners of a local magazine retail business.

  • The End of the – Belt – Line

    The End of the – Belt – Line

    Like 80 percent of the businesses that have left the garment district since 1980, accessories manufacturer Terry Schwartz is in danger of disappearing as more and more garment related business is conducted abroad.

  • Street Buzz: Then and Now

      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.…

  • Street Buzz: Then and Now

                        The fedora hat became popular during the early 20th century. Originally considered a female fashion, the stylish hat consists of a large brim and a tight ribbon, which forms around the crown of the hat. Though the style remains the same, the material has changed…

  • Street Buzz: Then and Now

                    In the last decade, as overseas outsourcing of garment production increased, orders shrank and landlords raised rents, many garment manufacturing companies ran out of business or moved out of the District. “When I moved to this building in 2000, garment manufacturers occupied 18 floors of the building,…

  • Street Buzz: Then and Now

    Street Buzz: Then and Now

                  Tourists walk from 8th Avenue toward 7th Avenue along 35th Street and past what was once part of the center of the Garment District. Where there were once trucks and workers unpacking clothes are now the relentless stream of tourists overflowing from Times Square. Shops such as Gate…

  • Dancing to Remember

    Dancing to Remember

    An afternoon at Rhythm Break Studios at 33rd and Broadway gives people with Alzheimer’s and their loved ones a window on the past.

  • More Designers Rely on Online Marketplaces to Bolster Sales

    More Designers Rely on Online Marketplaces to Bolster Sales

    Over the past decade, fashion designers have had more abundant and affordable options to sell their lines online. Designers are getting larger audiences online, but will it be enough to launch young designers into fashion stardom?