Discussions about the fashion industry thread

[Mghart]

Same, honestly. I moved to SoCal in 2016 primarily for a better lifestyle, but I find that it's a lot easier to work and live in general here.

It really is, which is why I’m trying to get back at least for family sake as well as more space for my creative endeavors. I always did enjoy going to your shop down on Orchard when it was around back in the day but I can see how nyc rent/space doesn’t make sense for almost any small business at this point at all.

 

[London]

NYC will definitely bounce back.

It aint going nowhere. It's a city of perpetual change and ebbs and flows. They've been saying old New York was better since forever.

 

[bry2000]

NYC has been through a depression, Great Recession, hurricane, fiscal crisis (near bankruptcy), blackouts, terrorist attacks, major drug wars, crime waves, AIDS epidemic, among many other things.

Has come back every time.

 

[blacklight]

NYC has been through a depression, Great Recession, hurricane, fiscal crisis (near bankruptcy), blackouts, terrorist attacks, major drug issues and crime waves, among many other things.

Has come back every time.

It will. Undoubtedly. The arts will chug on as they always have, and the city will continue to endure in the imagination as the place where anything is possible. Because it still is.

But the issues (obscene rents, tax breaks for vacant commercial space, short-sighted investment and resource allocation, struggling cultural institutions and artistic class) need to be addressed, and before young people start figuring out there are other incredible if slightly less glamorous places to build a life. A bit off-topic but was walking through Hudson Yards earlier and I fail to understand how the entire thing is not already regarded as an abject failure. I can’t think of a better obelisk to the moment.

 

[bry2000]

I agree that income inequality in NYC and elsewhere is a huge problem and is only getting worse. The pandemic is exacerbating that inequality.

NYC is still a transient place for many. For every person that decides that NY is not for him (her) or a better life can be had somewhere else, there is at least another person who wants to make a go of it here and sees the dislocation caused by the pandemic as an opportunity to get in.

 

[OccultaVexillum]

Unis is closing their store after 20 years (!)
I haven’t bought anything from them in years, but that’s one of those places that would feel like a big loss. They’re saying they’ll continue as an online store, so hopefully that works out.

 

[Epaulet]

I agree that income inequality in NYC and elsewhere is a huge problem and is only getting worse. The pandemic is exacerbating that inequality.

NYC is still a transient place for many. For every person that decides that NY is not for him (her) or a better life can be had somewhere else, there is at least another person who wants to make a go of it here and sees the dislocation caused by the pandemic as an opportunity to get in.

True that. The city's been through it, and will make it through again. And even though I left.. I was also 39yo and had a kid when I made that decision. There's no way I would have left for LA if I was single and in my 20s. NYC is always going to hold a lot of appeal for young people.

But it's very possible that the free-spending DiBlasio days have ended. And I feel like this Fall and Winter is going to yield an enormous crop of speakeasy bars, dance clubs, and restaurants. I don't see the local government allowing those indoor places to effectively operate. And I don't see young people putting their social lives on hold for another 6-12 months when they don't personally feel at risk. We're already at that stage here in SoCal.

 

[clee1982]

This winter will definitely be brutal for NYC restaurants, can’t do outdoor (they can try with those heat lamp I suppose...).

not sure if west coast would necessarily would be that much better, I suppose you can stay outdoor, but given the TX/FL experience not sure things can be that open regardless where...

 

[London]

Unis is closing their store after 20 years (!)
I haven’t bought anything from them in years, but that’s one of those places that would feel like a big loss. They’re saying they’ll continue as an online store, so hopefully that works out.

Eunice is one of the last mohicans downtown from that time. Will miss the place. A 20 year run in NYC is a badge of honor.

 

[Mariokartfever]

NYC has been through a depression, Great Recession, hurricane, fiscal crisis (near bankruptcy), blackouts, terrorist attacks, major drug wars, crime waves, AIDS epidemic, among many other things.

Has come back every time.

You are right - but I am mortal. I haven’t fully written off NYC yet but I’m not going to go another 20 years here if the situation mimics that of the 70s/80s. Maybe that makes me a fair-weather NYCer but the city has always belonged to the oddballs. EOD I have to do right by my family - and an increasingly dangerous/corrupt/bankrupt city isn’t that (not that we are there... yet).

 

[jah786]

The best piece of fashion journalism I've read in a while

Sweatpants Forever: How the Fashion Industry Collapsed (Published 2020)

Even before the pandemic, it had started to unravel. What happens now that no one has a reason to dress up?

www.nytimes.com

I agree, this was a great read and covered a broad range of topics that went beyond just BOO and Entireworld.

 

[sushijerk]

The city's real estate situation could use some kind of big reset to make it more friendly to small businesses and regular people again, although chances are whatever kind of price adjustments there are will just be scooped up by private equity and held hostage until the corporations feel properly frisky again.

 

[cb200]

Bunch of stories the other day on retailer's leaving NYC. Read that Thomas Keller shuttered his Hudson Yard restaurant the other day.

Chain Retail And Restaurants Leave Manhattan As Pandemic Changes The City

Some major retailers have abandoned their stores and stopped paying rent.

www.forbes.com

Working from home wasn't really something I'd thought about changing "downtown" retail. Thinking that it was a temporary thing. I'm reading this AM that REI is not moving into their new headquarters in Seattle as they seem to figure they can work well without everyone co-located in one big campus.

They might have a work force that's more biased into working remotely than others retailers as well as likely having seen a big lift in value of real estate they can realize.

 

[Mariokartfever]

Williamsburg has lost Archie's Pizza, Maison Premiere, Extra Fancy, and a slew of other great restaurants in the last two weeks. The fashion scene in wburg is already on the small side and many brands have had trouble sticking around (Gant, Gentry). Doesn't bode well.

 

[London]

Williamsburg has lost Archie's Pizza, Maison Premiere, Extra Fancy, and a slew of other great restaurants in the last two weeks. The fashion scene in wburg is already on the small side and many brands have had trouble sticking around (Gant, Gentry). Doesn't bode well.

businesses and things will pop up. I came to NYC in 98 and have seen the city evolve in cycles just since then...it will have a rebirth like it did in the 1970's that birthed Hip Hop and so much other creativity