Mayor Adams marks New York Fashion Week with new tenant for Brooklyn garment hub
Mayor Adams showed some Fashion Week swag Monday when he announced that the first major tenant in a Brooklyn redevelopment project will be an environmentally minded institute focused on creating sustainable fashion industry practices and products.
The tenant, Slow Factory, will serve as an anchor at the Made in NY garment hub in Sunset Park’s Industry City, where it will focus on sustainability and racial equity through workforce development and training, as well as community outreach.
“New York City was already the fashion capital of the United States, but the redevelopment and creation of new fashion jobs at the Made in NY campus in Brooklyn will only solidify our place as the city of swagger,” Adams said in a written statement Monday. “Slow Factory’s opening at the garment hub in Sunset Park will help create hundreds of fashion jobs onsite and bring tens of millions of dollars of direct economic output to New York City.”
Adams’ administration projects the Sunset Park garment hub will create 460 onsite jobs in the fashion industry, train 500 additional people and bring $57 million into the city’s economy.
Slow Factory will operate in partnership with the city’s Economic Development Corporation and will offer a free education series on climate justice, climate solutions and “climate-positive design,” according to a statement released by Adams.
It will also offer a program focused on “design for disassembly,” aimed at using discarded clothing and returned goods.
“Reducing fashion’s carbon footprint is not only trendsetting, but necessary in the fight against climate change,” said EDC President Rachel Loeb. “Slow Factory will build on Sunset Park’s strong foundation of garment manufacturing and green innovation with cutting edge solutions and meaningful workforce development that puts New York City on a path to strengthen, grow and change the manufacturing industry for the better.”
