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The garment district of New York City used to produce a decent majority of the clothes that America wore. It doesn’t anymore, says Ngozi Okaro of Custom Collaborative, a non-profit that trains and mentors low-income and immigrant women in sustainable fashion — “but there are still many, many businesses here.”
Okaro, who founded the non-profit eight years ago, believes the garment district holds potential for revitalisation. The state of New York does, too. A government grant of over $1 million will help transform Custom Collaborative’s current space into a “vibrant and bustling” Fashion Career Design Hub.
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The funding, $1,086,000 in total, is provided through an initiative called ‘NY Forward’, part of New York State Governor Kathy Hochul’s economic development strategy.
With it, Custom Collaborative plans to increase the types of collaboration, training and mentorship provided in its 10,000-square-foot space. The organisation, which had previously operated in a smaller rented location, moved in last year. Now, it plans to segment the space into hot desks and other areas that designers in the district can use if they don’t have access to — or are priced out of — their own spaces. A wider variety of classes is planned, such as a puffer tote class in which Custom Collaborative teaches attendees how to make bags from scrap textiles. The money will also fund new equipment, such as high-tech weaving and felting machines, that women can use to boost their skills and potential offerings.
The goal is to simultaneously advance Custom Collaborative’s efforts with its existing community as well as expand its reach to the garment district more broadly — and strengthen a once-thriving sector that has dwindled over the decades.
“Since we’ve been in the garment district, I’ve met so many businesses I didn’t even know were here,” says Okaro. “Some know each other, some don’t — it’s fragmented. Our space [is] almost a community space where businesses can meet each other. This funding will enable us to host events where the community can come together.”
In the process, she adds, the funding will support a heavier focus on sustainability within the garment district. The Fashion Career Design Hub will offer classes in sustainable design, for example, and the equipment is meant to incorporate traditional manufacturing processes in a more modern context.
“It’s kind of the next old-but-new thing in fashion. We’re thinking about what people have always been doing, [and using new equipment to] reclaim old methods of sustainability,” the executive director says, referencing the felting and weaving machines — as well as “computer-assisted zero-waste design and a tech lab. We’ll be able to offer a 30-hour class where you’ll learn how to design clothes without having to first make tonnes of tests and samples. We’ll have the space and hardware for that.”
Mutual benefit
The injection of cash will help accelerate the work Custom Collaborative has already been doing, ranging from its 15-week training programme and one-off classes to finding new and innovative ways to support the women who participate. In November 2022, for example, it hosted a photo shoot with highly regarded photographer Camila Falquez as a way to showcase the designs of 17 programme participants, and the designers themselves. This enabled them to experience the more glamorous side of the industry that they often don’t see, while also highlighting and celebrating the range of backgrounds, sizes and ages they represent.
Ifunanya Onyekwere, a New Jersey-based designer of custom dresses (her brand is named Aify’s Clothing), graduated from Custom Collaborative’s first-ever cohort and is thrilled to know it’s expanding. The programme helped strengthen her sewing skills, but equally importantly, it taught her how to run a business. When Onyekwere first arrived in the US in 2016 from Nigeria, she would charge people $80 for pieces that took two days to make. “Now, I’m charging up to $2,500 for a dress. This prom season, I was so busy I had to hire a seamstress,” she says. When she joined Custom Collaborative, she explains, “We started at the Riverside Church in Harlem. Now being in the garment district — that’s a huge blessing. I know they’re going to keep pushing and doing more. [The programme has] been tested, I trust it to be able to provide more valuable services for whoever they’re going to be opening the door to.”
Stephanie Virissimo, who was part of a later cohort, went on to complete a sustainability apprenticeship at New York label Theory and continues to be involved in Custom Collaborative. Virissimo is happy to know the organisation will be able to do for others what it has for her. “Knowing the type of organisation that Custom Collaborative is and their mission to help women, specifically women of colour,” she says, “I’m so happy that people are [funding] and paying attention to organisations that care about putting money back into communities, and also sustainability.”
For the city, the hope is that the initiative will inject some fresh energy and momentum into a manufacturing hub that’s been on a decline for years.
The governor’s Strategic Investment Plan aims to amplify the city’s unique sense of place, foster future organic growth and promote inclusive development, among other things. The view is that Custom Collaborative — along with additional initiatives selected under NY Forward, such as a technology grant fund proposed by CFDA to help fashion studios, manufacturers and brands “advance sustainable manufacturing in their spaces through the acquisition of innovative technology” — can help drive progress towards those goals.
“The expansion of Custom Collaborative to the garment district marks a new era for what is possible for sustainable fashion and manufacturing in New York City,” says Kerry Bannigan, managing director of Pvblic Foundation, whose Fashion Impact Fund has awarded investment to Custom Collaborative. “Through this project, Custom Collaborative are exemplifying the importance of investing in fashion workforce development solutions in order to create lasting impact on people, communities and the sector. May this be a pioneering blueprint of how to drive sustainable business practices in fashion and manufacturing.”
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