Digital Commons Network^™

A Coat Of Many Colors: Immigration, Globalization, And Reform In New York City's Garment Industry, Daniel Soyer

History

For more than a century and a half—from the middle of the 19th century to the end of the 20th—the garment industry was the largest manufacturing industry in New York City, and New York made more clothes than anywhere else.

For generations, the industry employed more New Yorkers than any other and was central to the city’s history, culture, and identity. Today, although no longer the big heart of industrial New York, the needle trades are still an important part of the city’s economy—especially for the new waves of immigrants who cut, sew, and assemble clothing in shops around the …