For the past week, New York City’s streets have been crammed – even more than usual – with turned-out girls navigating subway grates on skinny stiletto heels and young fashion students smoking self-consciously outside of Parsons. Fashion Week seems like a la-la land of $1,000-a-yard fabrics and supermodels who won’t get out of bed for less than a hundred grand, but it has a surprisingly concrete and important effect on the city’s economy.
NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg and fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg christen "The Fashion Line" - a.k.a. the 66th Street subway station - in honor of Fashion Week 2011
Here’s how:
- Fashion is the second biggest industry in New York City. There are over 900 “fashion-related” businesses in NYC, from design houses to fabric stores to tailoring shops, adding up to a staggering $10 billion that funnels into the greater U.S. economy. And the annual Fashion’s Night Out shopping extravaganza – now in its fourth year – provides both a financial and a morale boost.
- Restaurants in Lincoln Square – where most of the runway shows are held – get a cash infusion to the tune of nearly $10 million during Fashion Week, according to a Fordham University Graduate School of Business study.
- High-end brands have started creating lines at lower price points – like the recent Missoni for Target collaboration – to win back the consumers they’ve lost in these difficult economic times. The result: “Black Friday”-like mobs at stores and a crashed website. Guess that encouraged people to start shopping again!
- In this video from Reuters, designers – including former “Project Runway” winner Christian Siriano, who has created several sellout accessory lines for Payless – explain how they’ve adjusted to the current economy.