This is the first building we entered. This building was full of garment makers and all the fashion industry appliances. Along Mike’s description, I could imagine how steam came out of the buildings and I could feel the busy working area, which reminded me “time is money”.
In this building, we were taught about changes of the garment district. Before, almost every buildings were occupied by fashion factories, and they were run by some big owners(big as JP Morgen), and the workers were all immigrant, mostly from east Europe. By the way, I watched a speech about the industry era. The guy said that before the industry time, people and their shops were self-owned, after the assembly line showed, and industry time began, people no longer sell their skills, they sell their time, to feed few big owners. Mike’s talking about garment district history totally reminded me of that.
The is the last place we went before visiting Mood Fabric, and here is a jewelry making studio. The lady did a small demo about how to turn a raw metal material into a part jewelry. And I learned about how the designers are connected to makers. Like the lady said, most designers would take a crappy sample or swatch and a explanation sheet to the maker, present the idea and say their demand. Even the makers are not sure about the product or the unknown process, they will accept the order, until days later, they would say “yes, problem solved” or “sorry it really can’t be done”. But anyway, as designers, they sometimes have to sacrifice a little bit because limited techniques. At last, the lady tried to sell us their expensive jewelries.
This was my favorite part of the tour. Mike showed us photo of the old time, and he talked about the big fire happened in this building, he told us how the poor workers were trapped in the building and how they garvorment improved the working conditions by laws. Eventually the laws raised the cost of the industry, so that the producing industry in the US has shrunk, and the owners move their factories oversea wherever the cost is small, like China. However, not any more, it’s getting tough because in China, people now buy things, and the workers have many other jobs which give more paid and have a better working condition, such as being a waiter, and the younger generations have more knowledge and more skills, so they demand to go somewhere that is not a clothing factory.
This is it, a selfie with Mike.
Happy ending!
