The Hill's Congress Blog recently featured a piece on the Garment District where, despite it's posh Manhattan locale, the decline of manufacturing can be seen more clearly than in some midwestern factory towns. Co-written by American fashion designer Nanette Lepore and Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), the post points out that the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs affects the fashion industry, too...and in a big way.  175,000 people work in the New York fashion industry with 24,000 in apparel manufacturing.  As natives of Northeastern Ohio's Mahoning Valley, both Lepore and Ryan fear that New York's Garment District might meet the same fate as their hometown:

A microcosm of other domestic manufacturing industries, New York's fashion industry has seen many apparel manufacturers shut their doors as subsidized foreign goods and rising costs drove them out of business as production shifted offshore.

The Garment District is a prime example of quality manufacturing that comes with U.S. manufacturing.  Every Friday, we run a "Fashion Friday" blog piece highlighting a clothing or accessory company that manufactures their goods in America.  These products represent high-quality, and better yet, good, sustainable American jobs.

Lepore and Ryan remain positive about the state of the Garment District and American manufacturing, so long as the correct steps are taken to point the fashion industry and manufacturing sector in a new direction:

With the right federal, state and local policies, we believe that the American manufacturing industry can be renewed and improved.  By promoting a comprehensive economic strategy, we can even bring back some of the jobs that have been lost.  As the federal government continues to level the playing field and ease costs of production, corporate interests should commit to returning a portion of outsourced jobs back to the United States.  And together we can educate consumers to make a conscious choice to purchase American-made goods-- providing opportunity for our young, creative entrepreneurs and good paying jobs for our citiznes, whether they live in the Big Apple or the Buckeye State.

Read the full post here.