If you want to make clothing for a living in New York, you’ve got a pretty tough road ahead of you. Maybe not as tough as back in the golden age of sweatshops and child labor, but tough in the sense that there’s only so much room here for you to spread out with fabric and sew your heart out. But here comes Manufacture New York, a Brooklyn-based group hoping to be an incubator for a whole new slew of fashion talent in the coming years. If you want to help see that happen, they’ve got an IndieGogo campaign launching today.
The founder of Manufacture NY is Bob Bland, designer of our awesome, Ted Leo-approved t-shirts, so you know there’s talent in the group. Manufacture NY’s ultimate goal is to make local fashion manufacturing the best and most high quality option out there. Then you can finally stop feeling bad about someone being paid 11 cents an hour to make your shirt.
Even without the fundraising campaign, MNY has grown to include over 60 apparel makers in the city, and is seeking more as time goes on. MNY hopes to raise $100,000 with their campaign, which is an ambitious amount of money to raise. But, they have a plan for all of it, including buying a 200,000 square foot space in Brooklyn to set up shop and filling it with equipment. Plus, your donation is tax-deductible. So why not toss them a few bucks? It could help the NYC economy for years to come.