A Letter from DGG’s President: What Will Detroit’s Garment District Really Be Like?

By Karen Buscemi

If you haven’t heard the news, DGG’s plan for a garment district is underway. With great partners including the city of Detroit, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, Michigan Economic Development Corporation and the Governor’s Office, and roughly 30 companies to date that would like to reside there, there’s no way this project won’t succeed.

But you may be wondering, what will it really be like?

Here’s what we are planning:

• It will finally provide a space for our fashion community to reside so we can have power in numbers and be more easily recognizable on a national level.
• It will have levels of rent that will increase as your company grows – without pricing you out of the district – including shared space opportunities, so it’s affordable for all businesses.
• It will eventually have all the types of businesses you would find in New York’s Garment District, such as fabric and accessory stores, cut and sew manufacturers and pattern makers, but at an appropriate scale for our community.
• It will allow for convenient collaboration amongst our fashion community.
• It will be the location of DGG’s Fashion Incubator, which will also have an education room that will be open to the public to learn the business of fashion. We will also have a program in place that will allow fashion designers to come in and utilize our industrial sewing machines and high-end pattern-making/grading/design software.
• It will be marketed as a tourist destination, so people outside the state will have an opportunity to shop our local designers and retailers.
• It will host regular sample sales to bring metro Detroiters into the district for shopping and familiarizing themselves with our local designers.
• It will include outreach to editors of national publications, bloggers and buyers.

If you want to be part of all this, whether that’s six months from now or two months from now, we ask that you fill out a questionnaire so we can understand the needs of the fashion community and plan accordingly. The questionnaire in no way commits you to space, rather it lets us know who you are, what you are doing, and the amount of space, parking and any special requirements you may need.

We would like to have all questionnaires submitted by May 8, 2015 so we can stay on track, find the location in Detroit that best suits the garment district and make a deal on the real estate, so we can start developing the space.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out to me. I’m always happy to talk about the district, along with any other programming we provide.

Keep Michigan Talent in Michigan!