After the launch of the CFDA’s incredible Fashion Incubator, we heard rumblings that some of the designers initially asked to join were forced to decline the invitation. Why? Because they couldn’t afford the space.
While we in no way think that the CFDA is to blame in this circumstance–what they do each year for fledgling designers is beyond admirable–we do wonder if the government could have chipped in a little more money so that the designers could work in the space at no cost. Most self-funded designers work out of their own homes. Which means spending $1,5000-$2,000 a month–even if that number is minimal compared to the typical cost of a similar space–is near-impossible.
For this particular initiative, the City of New York shelled out $200,000.
And while it’s a good step, it still pales in comparison to what the City of London has done for the British Fashion Council.
Case in point: New York’s $200,000 grant supports the Incubator space for the next three years, and remember, the designers still have to pay a good chunk of money to occupy it. Conversely, the City of London awarded the British Fashion Council a £4.2 million (about $5.2 million) grant in 2007 to be dispersed over the course of four years.
Do you think the CFDA should lobby the City of New York for more cash? Or should it continue to rely on corporate backers to get things done?
Unfortunately, talent and hard work are not enough to launch a successful fashion business in New York nowadays. The truth is that it is near impossible to launch a line in New York without proper financial backing.
The most successful young designers in NY of the last few years come from really well-off families, some of them with connections to textile and/or garment manufacturing. Others have worked in the industry long enough to develop good relationships with factories and suppliers. (And true, there will alway be exceptions).
Despite all the press, twitters, celebrity and presidential endorsements, and fancy award ceremonies, most emerging US designers are broke as a dime. Many well-known high-end lines, despite existing for 5, 10, 15 years still struggle to pay their month-to-month bills—the most famous case being that of Narciso Rodriguez. And most of them are paid squat for their collaborations with Target, Uniqlo, and all the rest of the usual suspects.
At the end of the day, the London fashion scene is home to designers with a more varied socio-economic background than the ones in America. The British Fashion Council and the City of London sponsor various programs that provide true comprehensive business training and funding for start-ups; e.g. one in particular invests up to 250,000 pounds sterling over the course of two years on each of 12 designers in their roster.
UK's investment in fashion business and education has definitely paid off as the companies benefited by these programs keep growing their sales season after season at a steady pace and increasingly find favor among US and International editors. Not only that, but UK designers are disproportionately represented among the number of creative directors and consultants of major luxury players worldwide–Christopher Kane at Versus, Richard Nicoll at Cerruti, Marios Schwab at Halston, Gareth Pugh with Rick Owens, not counting those of the previous generation (Philo, McQueen, Galliano).
Yet despite all evidence, people in the New York fashion bubble keep repeating the old tired mantra “NY is about Business and London is about Creativity but there is no money being made in London”. Well, money is being made there now, so perhaps it's time that the Big Apple started betting more on creativity.
Loptr said it best but NYC will not shell out more money for fashion especially in this recession. I wish it were different, I truly do, so much talent without the opportunity to shine.
I know that 2 million dollars is so so miniscule in the scheme of things, but we need to wake up and realize that our debt isn't a sustainable.
While I sympathize with the young designers, I think we need to stop viewing our government as a piggie bank.
Well, what about the websites such as Kickstarter which help people with various objectives get the seed money they need? I forget the name of the fashion version of Kickstarter which is scheduled to debut later this year, but this could be definitely harnessed to provide additional funds to talent-rich, but cash poor designers.
Then again, it never hurt anyone to work for another, larger designer firm for a couple of years while putting together funding either…
I agree with Yoli more than Loptr.
My freedom of information request to London Development Agency -http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/user/john_robertson – showed that they don't even bother to ask for figures about job creation for their 4.2 million to British Fashion Council, which dispite its name is a trade association of chain stores who are the last people you'd trust with indipendent fashion, small shops and stalls or small scale UK production. These are all things that fashionistas need if they are going to make small production runs.
British Fashion Council claims to train designers but the detail is sketchy. It may involve a seminar with a large accountancy firm on the importance of getting paid, or a scholorship to one or two people to go to London College of Fashion without having to pay back a student loan. I've been on a short London College of Fashion course. It's not very good. There aren't enough tutors and they teach you next to nothing about how to run a factory. I think that it's the combination of small factories, small shops websites and stalls, and people doing a bit of everything that leads to savvy designers who don't need to be told how to do their accounts and can turn to manufacturing or retailing if their design business doesn't work.
If there were proper figures about how many jobs a fashion week creates, I think they would show more harm done than good. The massive PR value of the events draws fashion journalists away from an event like London Edge, which shows unsubsidised punk geer, or from the under-invested UK factories that still make thinks like hose or special fabrics or shoes or wallets. Three UK shoe factories closed in the last year while taxpayers were subsidising PR for Terra Plana, promoted as “ethical” by big business but still making leather shoes in China.
What else have London Development Agency done? They bought an empty garment factory and turned it into a subsidised arts venue that nobody visits, instead of using planning laws to keep it as a garment factory, and they have “created” jobs by subsidising Westfield Shopping Centre which puts small shops out of business in favour or the chain stores that only sell far-eastern clothes bought by the container load and designed by one or two people at corporate HQ.
Talking of where the money should come from for job creation, I contacted a London Assembly member who gets a £60,000 salary, an office and a secretary. He wrote a polite letter and then refused to go with me to London Development Agency to discuss it. So there is £60,000 of money to be saved that could be spent creating jobs, but the problem is how to spend it if not on London Assembly members' salaries and projects that do more harm than good.
*shudders to think what will happen to things like this when the tories are in power* :(