3 ms·

Not OP, but I assume in regards to the garment district it means people with the requisite skills aren’t around anymore. Back in the day, nearly every woman kne

Not OP, but I assume in regards to the garment district it means people with the requisite skills aren’t around anymore. Back in the day, nearly every woman knew how to sew and make clothes. Nowadays, do you know a single woman (or man!) who knows how to sew and make clothes? I don’t. People could learn, buts it’s a lot easier when you already have a large population with the required skills to draw from.

Natsu 4y ago
Oddly enough, I do know how, both via school (home ec) and more importantly, due to older relatives who were into quilting. I have zero interest in ever doing it, but I absolutely do know far more than I ever wanted to about sewing. I think you can find a few who still do such things in maker spaces, as well, but it only seems to be taken up by people who are already gainfully employed in things that make a lot more than low end manufacturing work.
__pache__ 4y ago
[flagged]
- waboremo 4y ago
  Unless she's willing to work for minimum wage sewing, the above poster's statement still applies.
  - __pache__ 4y ago
    Yeah was just saying, proud of my wife. If I wanted to get pants hemmed or things repaired it's definitely worth more than min wage to me. Rip my favorite shirt? Leave it on the counter with a note and my wife will have it fixed by the end of the day ... Love my wife.
pleb_nz 4y ago
I know half a dozen family members and I can do rudimentary stuff. Maybe you mean people who do or used to do it professionally?
- Retric 4y ago
  I don’t think they mean professionally, but rather being able to create clothing from scratch. How many people do you know that could turn raw fabric into a dress? I have can do the simplest repairs and even used a sewing machine a few times but that’s not particularly useful to a garment factory.
  - greedo 4y ago
    My daughter has made at least 10 dresses before graduating from high school. She's now progressed into a textiles program at our university. My step-sister made very elaborate dresses for her daughter throughout school as well. Sewing/dressmaking is a lot like woodworking. Being able to visualize things well in 3D is an asset, but also having good tools helps as well.
  - pleb_nz 4y ago
    Once you have the basics it's just a matter of scaling. Creating clothing isn't hard, creating beautiful clothing, now that's a different matter.
ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
The main missing ingredient is "Pattern Makers." These are the Garment District equivalent of Engineers. They are still around, but in far lower numbers. It's fairly obvious that people think that these folks can be replaced by software, but they say the same thing about engineers. Also, entire communities were built around textile mills and transportation/consolidation/intermodals. When we shut down the Garment District, and shipped all the work overseas (and my friend freely admits his company did the same), it destroyed these communities. Lot of skilled labor left, and stopped training the next generation. And, to answer another question, I don't have to "prove" anything. I was simply telling something that I heard from an extremely relevant source. I'm sure as hell not going to ask my friend to "prove what he said," for the convenience of Internet randos.
stonogo 4y ago
How do national chains of fabric stores exist? Your bubble is not representative.

Natsu 4y ago

Oddly enough, I do know how, both via school (home ec) and more importantly, due to older relatives who were into quilting. I have zero interest in ever doing it, but I absolutely do know far more than I ever wanted to about sewing. I think you can find a few who still do such things in maker spaces, as well, but it only seems to be taken up by people who are already gainfully employed in things that make a lot more than low end manufacturing work.

__pache__ 4y ago

[flagged]

waboremo 4y ago
Unless she's willing to work for minimum wage sewing, the above poster's statement still applies.
- __pache__ 4y ago
  Yeah was just saying, proud of my wife. If I wanted to get pants hemmed or things repaired it's definitely worth more than min wage to me. Rip my favorite shirt? Leave it on the counter with a note and my wife will have it fixed by the end of the day ... Love my wife.

pleb_nz 4y ago

I know half a dozen family members and I can do rudimentary stuff. Maybe you mean people who do or used to do it professionally?

Retric 4y ago
I don’t think they mean professionally, but rather being able to create clothing from scratch. How many people do you know that could turn raw fabric into a dress? I have can do the simplest repairs and even used a sewing machine a few times but that’s not particularly useful to a garment factory.
- greedo 4y ago
  My daughter has made at least 10 dresses before graduating from high school. She's now progressed into a textiles program at our university. My step-sister made very elaborate dresses for her daughter throughout school as well. Sewing/dressmaking is a lot like woodworking. Being able to visualize things well in 3D is an asset, but also having good tools helps as well.
- pleb_nz 4y ago
  Once you have the basics it's just a matter of scaling. Creating clothing isn't hard, creating beautiful clothing, now that's a different matter.

ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago

The main missing ingredient is "Pattern Makers." These are the Garment District equivalent of Engineers. They are still around, but in far lower numbers. It's fairly obvious that people think that these folks can be replaced by software, but they say the same thing about engineers. Also, entire communities were built around textile mills and transportation/consolidation/intermodals. When we shut down the Garment District, and shipped all the work overseas (and my friend freely admits his company did the same), it destroyed these communities. Lot of skilled labor left, and stopped training the next generation. And, to answer another question, I don't have to "prove" anything. I was simply telling something that I heard from an extremely relevant source. I'm sure as hell not going to ask my friend to "prove what he said," for the convenience of Internet randos.

stonogo 4y ago

How do national chains of fabric stores exist? Your bubble is not representative.