Fashion

New York City is the nation’s fashion capital, at the forefront of creativity, style, and innovation. NYCEDC is committed to ensuring that the industry continues to thrive, grow, and innovate in NYC.

In a city that prides itself on pushing the envelope, fashion remains at the heart of New York City’s cultural identity. From the 3,000+ fashion companies that call the city home to the world-renowned New York Fashion Week, the best retail market, and the role the industry played in COVID response...fashion is forever in NYC.

The Home of Fashion Talent

New York City is home to one of the best and largest pools of creative talent. In NYC, you can find the best retail experiences within high-traffic areas, top manufacturers and ateliers, cutting-edge designers, premier fashion schools, and more fashion brand headquarters and retailers than any other city in the country.

City in Fashion

By The Numbers

$8B

Economic impact in 2024.
(Source: NYCEDC Economic Research)

Three women work at a table in a workshop filled with shelves of organized boxes and craft supplies. The workspace is busy, with tools and materials spread out in front of them.

By The Numbers

32.2K

Jobs in fashion (4.6% of the city’s private sector workforce), with each job creating $713K in economic impact. (Source: NYCEDC Economic Research)

By The Numbers

$8B

Economic impact in 2024.
(Source: NYCEDC Economic Research)

By The Numbers

32.2K

Jobs in fashion (4.6% of the city’s private sector workforce), with each job creating $713K in economic impact. (Source: NYCEDC Economic Research)

New York City is home to three of the most prominent fashion design schools in the country—Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), Parsons School of Design and Pratt Institute. In addition, specialized schools in New York City such as LIM College focus on the business aspects of the fashion industry, including marketing, merchandising, and global supply chain. Combined, these institutions educate over 20,000 students each year, and those students are the next generation of New York City’s fashion talent who are carving out what fashion, design, manufacturing and new materials looks like.

NYCEDC’s Fashion Initiatives

NYCEDC works to ensure the industry’s future in New York City. We achieve this through public-private partnerships that create, develop, and implement programs for New York City's fashion sector. This includes the Fashion Manufacturing Initiative (FMI), a longstanding partnership with the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) that supports local fashion manufacturing. NYCEDC's Fashion portfolio includes:

A woman operates a digital control panel next to a row of embroidery machines in a modern textile workshop. She is holding fabric, wearing a light blue shirt and jeans, and standing in a bright, clean workspace.

FMI Grant Fund: A grant program under FMI that has provided 220 innovation and relocation grants to 127 garment manufacturers totaling almost $7 million.

A woman examines fabric samples on a table covered with large rolls of cloth in a bright workspace; two people stand talking in the background near shelves filled with more fabric.

Local Production Fund: A pilot grant program under FMI to boost NYC’s manufacturing sector, expand the use of advanced equipment, and unite designers and manufacturers.

A woman in a black and pink shirt reaches up to adjust machinery in a textile factory, with rows of large white spools of thread in the background.

Production Directory: A database under FMI for designers and brands to find garment manufacturers in NYC.

Rendering of Gotham Foundry shows a modern, open lab space with people working at desks and tables, some in lab coats. The setting is bright, with large windows, blue chairs, and collaborative work areas.

Gotham Foundry: A $45-million hub-and-spoke program that supports the conception and growth of new material development in NYC through a consortium of academic and workforce development institutions.