FEATURE
12
Made In New York
W27
Senator Gillibrand Teams up with FIT’s Joyce Brown to Help Bolster New York’s Fashion Industry Patrick Greene “The future of the [fashion] industry and its growth is very fragile,” proclaimed Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand in a closed-door roundtable with some of the fashion industry’s elite. Co-hosted by FIT’s own Dr. Joyce Brown on the morning of January 24th, the open forum discussion was an effort to generate ideas for stimulating and revitalizing New York’s once-thriving fashion industry. Gillibrand’s legislative agenda that afternoon included three hot-button topics: reinvigorating New York-based manufacturing, strengthening intellectual property laws and developing simpler ways for designers to access capital. The senator’s proposals are particularly significant for graduating designers. The focus of the exchange was on finding new ways of supporting emerging talent with the resources they need to make it in New York. Small-scale production is an enormous stumbling block for fashion’s new guard. “It’s one thing for a designer to make one garment,” a source close to Gillibrand agreed to speak on background, saying “but when you want to sell more than one, twenty units or even a thousand…you need those small factories.” According to the same source, “There’s this obscure belief being passed around that everyone in fashion can work out of China.” Still, up-and-coming designers really rely on small New York-based manufacturing opportunities to get off the ground. Gillibrand responded by pledging to lobby in support of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, a program that works alongside small and mid-sized US manufacturers to help turn profit, establish jobs, acquire new customers and conceptualize new products. After discussing intellectual property rights with the Council of Fashion Designers of America for the past two years, Gillibrand firmly believes that integrating legislation centered on protecting designs from piracy is “one of the most urgent issues that we have to address.” Emphasizing that she’s a strong proponent for the Innovative Design Protection and Piracy Prevention Act (IDPPA), the discussion danced around the Senator’s concern for intellectual property, but only for a few brief moments. Gillibrand’s foremost concern is that China, where a lot of knockoffs are made, is exempt from the IDPPA guidelines. In fact, the following week Gillibrand was scheduled to meet with the
Kirsten Gillibrand; courtesy photo
Chinese ambassador to discuss direct and indirect piracy issues. Gillibrand noted that funding is a huge concern across all industries. One of the hardest things for small businesses is acquiring loans, qualifying for affordable interest rates and accessing deal-making credit lines. This past September Congress passed a bill that injected $30 billion into community banks to stimulate lending to small businesses. “[However] there’s a disconnect between what banks are seeing as growing concerns and good investments and what the small business industries actually need,” said, Gillibrand. She hopes to address these concerns with actionable programs within the next six months.
In attendance were designers Rachel Roy, Nanette Lepore, Prabal Gurung, Elie Tahari and Adam Lippes. Executives from Tommy Hilfiger, Vogue and Fordham University also turned out. Curiously, out of the 45 members of fashion’s upper echelon, less than a third had anything to say. Tight-lipped attendees occasionally nodded in agreement, but otherwise brought little to the table. When asked later, Gillibrand admitted that this was “the first of many round table discussions to come.”