industrial retention

How fashion students envision their futures as entrepreneurs and use the Garment Center to launch their careers

The fashion industry is one of New York City’s largest business sectors, generating 165,000 jobs, $9 billion in total wages and tax revenues of $1.7 billion. This economic activity is partially fueled by the artistic talent and entrepreneurial energy of the 5,000 fashion students who attend one of the four nationally renowned fashion design schools located in New York City. The extraordinary synergy between Pratt Institute, the Fashion Institute of Technology, Parsons the New School and Kent State University and the hundreds of apparel companies clustered in the Garment Center creates not only a unique hands-on learning experience but a tremendous “naturally occurring” incubator to help students launch dozens of new businesses every year.