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!
