Fashion icon Diane Von Furstenberg unveiled the “Fashion Incubator” on Wednesday, a making inside the heart with the Garment District which will provide low-cost workspace to some choose group of youthful designers.
A selection committee and advisory board made up of fashion market experts hand-picked 12 young designers and offered them studios for below-market rents, ranging from $1,000 to $2,000 per month.
“It’s just a larger room,” explained women’s wear designer Alice Ritter, who had been functioning out of her Williamsburg apartment till moving into the studio at 209 W. 38th Street on Wednesday. “I can spread out, be slightly bit more messy and it’s fantastic!”
Von Furstenberg, in her role as president with the Council of Fashion Designers of America, teamed up with Seth Pinsky with the New York City Economic Development Corporation to open the Incubator.
“We’ve got a place for youthful designers to arrive and to operate with one another, to exchange ideas, to become nurtured after which to grow their creative concepts into buyable companies, and that definitely is what our objective is,” Pinsky said.