New York fashion industry tries to preserve artisan craftwork as factories move overseas

Transcript

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Amna Nawaz: In the 1980s, about 70 percent of all clothes sold in the United States were made here in the country. Today, it’s down to just 3 percent, with most factories moving overseas.

One of the casualties, traditional craftwork, like weaving fabric, cutting leather and polishing gemstones. The fashion industry is now trying to preserve these crafts.

Special correspondent Pavni Mittal from New York for our arts and culture series, Canvas.

George Kalajian, Owner, Tom’s Sons International Pleating: You see, the cardboard is off, so you have to push it toward me.

Pavni Mittal: It is only her third day at work and Auden Mucher ]is getting a master class.

George Kalajian: We are going to take our hand like this.

Pavni Mittal: George Kalajian is teaching her the age-old technique in pleating fabric. He gathers cardboard folds to mold the material underneath. This handiwork and precision takes years to master.

Auden Mucher, Apprentice: This isn’t something you can learn online, especially with a tactile skill, here you need to be doing it by hand. You can’t learn it any other way. And it’s not really taught in schools either. So you have to find a craftsman, master to be able to learn from.

Pavni Mittal: Tom’s Sons International Pleating is a multigenerational business. Kalajian’s grandfather started it in Lebanon. In the 1970s, when the civil war broke out, the family moved to New York City.

Experts in pleating, they work with the biggest names in high fashion. Over the years, business has been shrinking, as companies are increasingly producing overseas. Kalajian says immigrants made New York the fashion capital. Now that American dream is hanging by a thread.

George Kalajian: We have centuries and centuries of knowledge that comes to this melting pot of New York City, where all of this technique and craft mixed together. One by one, the artisans have been either dying or retiring or moving on. And, as a result, the knowledge is going with it. It’s the technique.

The technique is what is dying. Technique is something that enables you to make something efficiently and effectively.

Pavni Mittal: The Garment District in the heart of Manhattan was once the country’s sartorial capital, packed with hundreds of thousands of workers making most American clothes.

Over the years, costs rose, work declined and most studios emptied out, leaving a few thousand artisans and traces of the industry that gave the area its name, along with an art installation in this statue, remnants of a glorious past.

Just like this district in New York City, fashion hubs around the world are seeing a decline in craftwork. To address this, many high-end labels are investing in training the next generation of artisans, starting workshops, expanding apprentice programs and even partnering with fashion schools here in the United States.

In this workshop, traditional craftsmanship melds with modern technology. The nerve center of creativity and innovation for iconic jewelry brand Tiffany and Co. It’s also where it trains its next generation of makers. It’s running a two-year program teaching skills like welding metal using laser machines.

The first cohort graduates soon. Many hope to land a job at Tiffany’s. Programs like these are part of a larger recruitment strategy. Tiffany’s is owned by the world’s largest luxury conglomerate, LVMH. It is facing a record shortfall of thousands of craftspeople across dozens of brands like Louis Vuitton and Dior.

To meet its needs, it is expanding its flagship apprenticeship program, training and recruiting 2,400 artisans over the next two years. Historically, these were based in Europe. Now, LVMH is bringing them to the United States.

Alexandre Boquel, LVMH: We have so many skills in the U.S. and you have so many people that are basically attracted by craft. And we have certainly the opportunity to find new talents. When we started the program in the U.S., we had so many candidates and we have very good results, because almost 90 percent of the person at the end of the day, at the end of the training have a diploma and almost 70 percent of the people are recruited into (INAUDIBLE)

Pavni Mittal: Some young artisans are also taking on the mantle to save the crafts.

Gigi Burris O’Hara is a milliner. She sources materials locally and all hats are handmade. Once a thriving industry, it’s now down to a few suppliers. Many closed during the pandemic. To revive it, she started a nonprofit, Closely Crafted.

It’s running after school programs to inspire young talent to go behind the scenes.

GIGI BURRIS O’HARA, Founder, Gigi Burris Millinery: The work force is — primarily are in their late 40s, 50s and 60s. And so there’s been a tremendous gap between individuals that are in this aging work force and the new individuals that are coming up.

We’re talking about 10 to 20 years’ difference. And if we continue to see that work force age out, we are not going to capture that generational knowledge. So, the time is now. It is very critical that we can get young people placed into these jobs, that we can make these jobs stable and livable.

Pavni Mittal: Some initiatives are focusing on inclusivity.

Custom Collaborative helps low-income and immigrant women build careers in sustainable fashion, teaching basic skills and mentoring them when they start working.

Malaika Ahlam, Trainee, Custom Collaborative: They do teach you all the ins and outs of business. And one day I would love to own my own business. And I feel like the program offers all the training, the ins and outs, as well as the financial power.

Ngozi Okaro, Founder, Custom Collaborative: With this exercise, we’re going to learn how to pivot.

Pavni Mittal: Custom Collaborative has trained more than 75 women in eight years, many recycling material to make clothes.

Ngozi Okaro: We’re fully sustainable so everything that we make comes from a fabric that was donated or headed for landfill. So, like, this silk came to us from a lingerie company.

Pavni Mittal: Ngozi Okaro the founder and an activist. She says being eco-friendly is only part of it. Their larger goal is to make the industry more equitable.

Ngozi Okaro: We do hear a lot from companies here in the U.S. and here in New York that there is a need for what we’re providing. And I think, especially when you get to the sustainability part of it, people are so focused on making sure that their garments that they buy and that they wear didn’t infringe on anyone’s rights, that they are not going to pollute the landscape.

And so we have an opportunity to really reshape sustainability and to make it better and bigger and bolder and more inclusive.

Pavni Mittal: Artisans are hoping the revival of craft will change the very fabric of the industry. In this age of fast fashion, they want to restore value to creating with time, love and passion.

For this, they need to raise awareness and alter customer demands. That, they say, will move the needle.

For the “PBS News Hour,” I’m Pavni Mittal in New York.