The Importance of the Fashion Industry
By admins | March 1, 2010
Here’s the question, is fashion important? Well, in short, YES. Now, of course, we would say that since this is a fashion blog after all, and we dowork in the fashion industry, and we are particularly supportive of NYC’sGarment Center, but is it really important to the rest of the world? And should it be? Again, we have to say the answer is a resounding yes. The fashion industry’s importance comes from its ability to consume your spending dollar in massive quantities, it comes from a lasting tradition of bringing women into the workplace, it comes from encouraging self expression for all individuals, it comes from its impact on the US economy as one of the nation’s largest manufacturing sectors, it comes from a long history in the Garment Center of promoting the immigrant’s American dream, and of course, it comes from the couture talent in creating wearable art.
As fashion industry professionals we have often heard comments dismissing fashion as a career, as a rather less than serious job, akin to a paid hobby. This attitude comes from the misrepresentation by mainstream media that fashion design is just fun sketching and then, poof, the product appears in stores. (For our full rant on that issue read this, Amazingly Stupid Fashionistas?)
Beyond the dismissal of fashion as a serious career, there is also the common notion that caring about fashion is rather shallow and vapid. In a recent post where we uncovered the ugly truth about Forever 21, we received a surprising amount a feedback mentioning, “well, I don’t really care about fashion” or “fashion doesn’t effect me.” The truth is, if you wear clothes (which we hope you all do) you should care, especially during this time of economic uncertainty. We should all care where our money goes. People think long and hard before buying a house, they research when buying a car, but somehow clothes shopping just happens. As we mentioned before in our Label of Origin post, the least people should do when shopping is think about where their products are made. How you spend your consumer dollar directly affects our economy and sends a message to retailers, designers, and manufacturers alike. By not patronizing companies and brands that support sweatshop labor or unethical labor practices, you are impacting the greater world.
The angle most often overlooked is fashion’s impact on our national economy. While fashion evokes images of supermodels and runway shows, many people forget it is also an industry of great economic importance. In New York alone the industry supplies over 10 billion dollars worth of wages to its residents. The apparel and textile industry is one of the largestdomestic manufacturers in the US, (and unlike the auto industry we did not get a bailout) it supplies over 700,000 jobs in manufacturing alone. When people question the importance or relevance of fashion, they often forget its significant role in our economy. Fashion employs everyone from retail store clerks, to seamstresses, to designers, not to mention the majority of these jobs have historically been held by women and minority groups when other industries were not so welcoming. For anyone who has ever worked in aunion, the fashion industry should matter. We set the standards in protecting workers’ rights and ensuring safe working conditions beginning with the ILG union in the 1920’s. Those pioneering women garment workers set the standard for today’s unions.
No matter who or where you are, the fashion industry affects you. Every morning when you look into your closet and choose to wear an item you purchased, you have affected your budget, our environment, somebody’s job, the national economy, and a company’s bottom line. Obviously we care about fashion for many reasons, including that it is our livelihood, but we get particularly frustrated when people claim that caring about fashion is unimportant. Besides styles and trends (which of course, we adore too) fashion and apparel have a long and storied history of importance. So, we dedicate this post to anyone who has ever questioned the value of the fashion industry. And if you still feel fashion is irrelevant, why are you reading and complaining to a fashion blog?
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