The Thread's Taxi TV crew recently hit up the Garment District's newest hotspot, the fashion incubator, which is the brainchild of the CFDA with support from Mayor Bloomberg. Essentially, it's a space that's been split up and rented to 12 designers at sub-market rates.
Some have likened the layout to a mall, except that it's inhabited by a group of the industry's most promising young talent, and it's a workspace too. Visitors are welcome to check out the designers' studios, where they can learn more about their coming plans. Laurel Pinson learned during her chat with Prabal Gurung (look for it in the taxis this weekend), that he's loving the new digs. What's more, the new facility is far more impressive than one's typical warehouse-inspired Garment District space -- each individual showroom space really does feel quite elegant and unique.
Others picked for the privilege include Alice Ritter; Waris Ahluwalia from House of Waris; Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne of Public School; Bibhu Mohapatra; Grant Krajecki of Grey Ant; Rachel Dooley of Gemma Redux; Joel Diaz from Jolibe; Sang A Im-Propp of Sang A; Justin Giunta from Subversive Jewelry; Yuvi Alpert and Danna Kobo from Ruby Kobo, and Tom Scott.
It's a group so fresh, that, WWD notes, the Incubator provides many of the designers a first opportunity to work outside their apartments.
