Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Robert K. Steel and New York City Economic Development President Seth W. Pinsky today announced in 2010 six new initiatives to support the long-term growth of the City’s $55 billion fashion industry. The initiatives grew out of FashionNYC2020, a year-long examination of the challenges facing the fashion industry designed to help the City build on its competitive advantages to maintain its status as a global fashion capital. The initiatives will address the industry’s challenges in two ways: by further positioning the City as a hub of innovation for emerging designers as well as specialty and multi-channel retail, and by attracting the next generation of design, management and merchant talent. Deputy Mayor Steel outlined the new initiatives today at the 14th Annual Women’s Wear Daily CEO Summit held at the Plaza Hotel.
“New York City is the fashion capital of the world, and the factors that drive that success – the creativity and expertise of our talented workforce – present us with competitive advantages we want to capitalize on,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “Industry leaders like Diane von Furstenberg, Macy’s CEO Terry Lundgren and others helped us develop these seven initiatives to nurture the next generation of fashion talent in New York City and to help make it easier for fashion entrepreneurs to make turn their ideas into reality.”
“No matter how good the idea is, starting a business can be a challenging and risky proposition, and one of our jobs is to make it easier,” said Deputy Mayor Steel. “We’ve identified New York City’s fashion industry as a potential area of growth over the next decade, and we’ve created seven initiatives to provide entrepreneurs with some of the necessary tools that can be the hardest to come by, such as early-stage financing, networking with leaders within the industry and back-office and marketing support.”
