Fashion Workers Don't Want To Move To Sunset Park, Survey Finds

SUNSET PARK, BROOKLYN — Apparel manufacturers and others in the fashion industry don't want to move their businesses to Sunset Park, despite a push by the city to deregulate the Garment District in Manhattan and open a manufacturing campus in Brooklyn, a new survey finds.

The Municipal Art Society of New York on Monday morning released the findings of its survey, which showed an opposition to the move from both manufacturers and customers. Eighty percent of fashion-related workers and 65 percent of customers say they wouldn't move or go to Sunset Park.

Next week, the Department of City Planning will take up a proposal backed by Mayor Bill de Blasio to take away protections in the Garment District that some in the industry fear will price them out of the neighborhood.

The city has invested over $100 million in its "Made In NY" campus at Bush Terminal in Sunset Park in hopes of luring manufacturers, including those in the apparel industry.

"The future of the city’s fashion industry is at stake. Our surveys show that the City’s plan for the Garment District is grounded in a fundamental misunderstanding of this industry, a rare, thriving manufacturing enclave in Manhattan," Elizabeth Goldstein, the president of the Municipal Art Society, said in a statement.

"An economic sector this significant to New York should not be made vulnerable. These entrepreneurs and skilled workers—mostly immigrants and mostly women—have made New York the capital of the fashion industry. They must have the opportunity to remain in the Garment District."

Of workers surveyed, 83 percent said the move to Sunset Park would increase their commute by 45 to 90 minutes. And 80 percent said they would be unlikely to follow their job to the new location.

And 70 percent of customers said that going to Sunset Park would increase their travel time by at least 30 minutes, with 65 percent saying they would be unlikely to make the trip.

The art society surveyed 234 fashion-related business owners and workers in the Garment District along with 96 customers, according to the Wall Street Journal.

You can read more from the survey here.

Image via NYC Mayor's Office