Mayor Bloomberg is borrowing a page from “Project Runway” in a bid to keep the city’s fashion industry from coming apart at the seams, The Post has learned.
Beginning this fall, the mayor will stage a competition to pick 12 up-and-coming designers for a new city-sponsored fashion “incubator” facility. The project is aimed at helping New York attract young talent by providing cheap design space.
Once the nation’s leading garment manufacturing center, New York has increasingly relied on high fashion for its remaining stake in the business as jobs have moved to low-cost production centers overseas.
“New York City is the fashion capital of the world, but we’re not about to take that for granted,” Bloomberg said.
The fashion incubator will be in the Garment District, where it will be run with the help of the Council of Fashion Designers of America.
The competition will begin next month, with the final picks expected in December.