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About Us 
 
 Since its founding in 1984, The Garment Industry Development Corporation (GIDC) has worked tirelessly in its mission to strengthen, support, and protect New York City’s apparel  industry, and in doing so, to retain and improve the tens of  thousands of good manufacturing jobs that this industry provides. GIDC was founded in a spirit of industry-wide cooperation as a partnership between government, business, and labor: The City of New York, The International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union (now known as UNITE HERE!), and the New York Skirt and Sportswear Association, respectively. From the beginning, GIDC’s Board of Directors has attracted vital New York City union, academic, government, and business leaders, including now Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York Skirt and Sportswear Association Executive Director Eli Elias, former Commissioner of Business Development Lawrence Kieves, and Jay Mazur and Edgar Romney, leaders of the garment workers union.

 

Over the last twenty five years, GIDC has developed and carried out programs to meet the multi-faceted needs of a changing industry. It has grown from a largely Manhattan focused training provider into a city-wide organization that offers comprehensive services to every segment of the New York City industry: worker and management skills training; marketing and export assistance; technology transfer initiatives; and expert business services.

 
 

Education & Training

 

GIDC was founded with a focus on worker education. Because experience showed that worker training results in higher wages for workers and gives factories a higher-quality workforce, GIDC’s training programs have subsequently grown in size and scope over the years. In 1989, GIDC opened a special Garment Industry Training Center to house its worker education programs. In 1998,GIDC opened its Training and Technology Center in the heart of Chinatown, granting unprecedented education access to apparel workers, including training in computer based apparel technologies. The education program expanded further as GIDC turned its attention to factory management. GIDC’s production experts began training factory managers, helping them to improve quality, safety, and efficiency in the workplace. Together, these renowned training programs continue to help workers and the domestic apparel industry to remain viable and vibrant.

 

With its Chinatown-based worker training center, GIDC has become an integral part of the local community. When the tragic events of September 11th, 2001 directly affected numerous Chinatown firms employing some 15,000 garment workers, GIDC coordinated several key emergency services for garment workers and companies from its Chinatown offices. Notable among them: with funding from the Consortium for Worker Education, GIDC initiated a Wage Subsidy Program to assist small apparel businesses to remain open during the crisis period; GIDC set up an Emergency Unemployment Insurance Center for workers to receive counseling and assistance for applying for emergency relief benefits; nearly 1,000 displaced workers were provided

with ESL and skills training classes during this period.

 

 

GIDC’s Expansion

 

As worldwide economic trends heralded greater challenges to the local apparel industry, GIDC realized that it would have to expand its programs in order to create new markets for New York City factories. The GIDC Sourcing Department was developed to connect retailers and brands with New York factories, generating orders for local producers. GIDC staffers speak daily to fashion companies large and small, referring them to our best shops, while also helping factories to market themselves more effectively. They work closely with New York’s bustling, emerging designer community, connecting factories with this vital production base as well. And they have undertaken an ambitious program to place more government and military uniform production in New York City factories.

 

 

Looking to the Future: New GIDC Programs

 

Over the last twenty five years, GIDC has made it a priority to work cooperatively with other organizations in developing new programs to ensure the continued viability and vibrancy of the New York City apparel industry. Working with the Fiscal Policy Institute (FPI), as well as The Sloan Foundation and [TC]2, GIDC has undertaken comprehensive studies of the current state of the New York City apparel industry, and the potential viability of a “full package” program in New York – a plan to provide fashion companies with comprehensive “one stop shopping” for production - respectively.

 

The Sourcing Department has developed an expanded Emerging Designer Program to capitalize on the city’s long-standing designer base, nurture emerging designers, and help them to develop relationships with New York City factories. Showroom New York is the latest addition to the Emerging Designer Program.  Showroom New York offers local designers sales representation, marketing and business solutions. 

 

GIDC is also developing and expanding upon its job placement program, connecting more workers with the factories that need them and targeting types of jobs that are more likely to stay in New York. GIDC has worked with the Mayor’s Office to protect factories and workers in the midtown Garment Center from the illegal conversion of manufacturing space. In 2005, GIDC began collaborating with the New York City Department of Buildings to rejuvenate enforcement of the protective provisions within the Special Garment Center District. This exciting new program is a cogent example of GIDC’s modus operandi: addressing current and pressing issues in the New York City apparel industry, with swift,pro-active, and cooperative solutions.