MANUFACTURE NEW YORK

Our Story

Manufacture New York is anchored in our CEO and Founder, Bob Bland’s, practical experience over a decade as a NYC designer, and her desire to help create social good within the fashion industry at large, especially here in New York City.

If something like Manufacture New York already existed, she would be a member & produce her fashion label there. However, with the current infrastructure of domestic apparel manufacturing dwindling, we simply have to create a new model and ecosystem. There are old factories sitting empty, and industrial space in the Garment District is being rezoned as residential/commercial. There are excellent, hard-working production managers and sewers who are now working out of their homes, have had to change industries, or are simply unemployed. And there are a generation of talented fashion entrepreneurs who have built loyal followings around their brands' stylistic brilliance and forward-thinking innovation, but have woefully limited options when it comes to making their product available to a larger audience.

Right now, the only way you can realistically produce and distribute your fashion designs is either by yourself or with a small studio, or by outsourcing to foreign manufacturers whose minimum order requirements are almost always too large for even well-established emerging designers. That is why almost every new collection the public hears about today is fronted either by a celebrity or a big brand with pre-existing factory relationships. There is an "A"...and a "C"...but no "B". Manufacture New York is here to connect the dots- to mentor, train and supply designers with affordable, consistent domestic production resources so that their brands can grow.

By seeking out the best manufacturers, pattern makers and suppliers. Manufacture New York will enable emerging designers to stay in New York City, and together we can redesign the fashion industry for the 21st century.