Critical Conversations: bridging pathways forward to greater understanding and creative solutions.

Creative Fabric: Mapping Community Connection in NYC’s Garment District

Research Open House 2022

Tessa Maffucci
Cecilia Jakovljevic, MS Data Analytics and Visualization ’23
School of Design, Fashion Design
woman sits in fashion studio
The founder of Charming Fashion sits in her studio.

Creative Fabric: Mapping Community Connection in NYC’s Garment District is a digital humanities project that employs both geographic and network mapping to illustrate the relationships within New York City’s Garment District necessary to sustain this creative ecosystem.

a man works at an industrial garment machine
An employee of Charming Fashion works at his machine.

The Garment District presents a uniquely urgent site for inquiry— this vibrant cluster of manufacturers, suppliers, and specialty studios has provided the foundation for New York’s fashion industry for over a century and is now at risk of disappearing due to decades of disinvestment and devaluation of the predominantly BIPOC and immigrant individuals who make up the majority of this highly-skilled workforce.

a woman sits at a work bench with a man who is smiling
The second-generation owner of Universal Eliot stands next to a worker in the studio.
a woman, wearing a shirt that reads NYC, sits at her workbench in a studio.
An employee at Universal Eliot sits at her workbench.