Save 5th Avenue!
Fashion News | Amalia Agathou | Friday, January 15th, 2010 at 10:58
Through TV series like “Sex& The City” and “Ugly Betty” and movies like: “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and “The Devil Wears Prada” New York has established it’s place as the universal heart of fashion. Nowadays with the fashion industry struggling under world economic crisis and new markets, like the Asian one, stepping up their game, New York have to fight for it’s “throne”.
The New York City mayor, Michael Bloomberg kicked off on 1/11/10 Fashion NYC 2020, a project which aims to preserve the fashion identity of NY, a city which hosts more than 800 fashion businesses and 175,000 employees within the fashion industry. The glamorous meeting, took place at Macy’s in the presence of 75 influential people in fashion, including the mighty Vogue’s editor in chief Anna Wintour, the president of Hearst magazines Cathy Black, the Saks Fifth Avenue’s CEO Stephen I. Sadove, the billionaire owner of Arcadia Group Sir Philip Green and the CFDA’s (Council of Fashion Designers of America) executive director, Steven Kolb.
The event featured a panel discussion with Macy’s CEO Terry Lundgren, the queen of print Diane von Furstenberg (http://www.dvf.com), the founder of the luxury e-shop Gilt Groupe (http://www.gilt.com/) Kevin Ryan and the president of the US division of the Asian group Li& Fung (www.lifung.com) Rick Darling.
According to WWD the key points of the discussion were:
- The re-enforcement of the fashion industry in the boroughs and the stimulation of tourism, probably by providing shopping coupons or even subsidizing airline tickets
- Street vendors and quality-of-life issues.
- The planning of the 2nd Fashion’s Night Out, which is scheduled for the 10th of September, possibly by establishing a no-sales-tax day and a fashion show open to public.
- Ways to shorten the buying cycle so stores can sell more wear-now clothes and capture trends better.
- Technology, including sustainability, the new media and mobile marketing.
- Pop-up stores, meaning stores that open unannounced, attract huge crows, and after a while close down just as quietly as they opened up.
Further than that, as a separate initiative the designer Nanette Lepore collaborated with the senator Kirsten Gillibrand to save the historic Garment Center, an area in the heart of NY, filled with Fashion company headquarters, designer studios and fabric and trim suppliers and factories, and is now becoming just another commercial district. You can find out more at: http://www.savethegarmentcenter.org
Senator Gillibrand has also hired Lepore to design her a T-shirt for her re-election campaign and you can find on sale at kirstengillibrand.com.
Sourses: WWD, The Huffington Post
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Fashion: Save 5th avenue! | ermoumag | Fashion & Shopping online magazine: Further than that, as a separate initia… http://bit.ly/6rHVPo
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