Garment District (store)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Many people think that the Garment District is a specific street in Boston devoted to clothing stores. But the Garment District is actually a department store located in a bright-pink building in Cambridge, MA. The Garment District Inc. opened in 1986, and houses an eclectic array of vintage and contemporary clothing. [1] The Garment District is also well known for its Dollar-A-Pound clothing store.[2]

Cambridge's Garment District and Dollar-a-Pound are manifestations of the recycled clothes trend. And the history of the organization typifies that of the new generation of used clothing stores appearing across the country. Founded in the 1940's, the company produced "wiping clothes" (i.e. rags) to smoke stack industries, such as sugar manufacturing.[3] The Garment District began as an offshoot of Harbor Textiles. In 1979 as demand began to rise for used clothing Dollar-A-Pound was opened - first on Saturdays only. Here you could come in and buy large quantities of clothing by the pound. No frills. No racks. No price tags. Instead of cutting used clothing up for wiping cloths it was now sold off as fashion. In the 1980s finding large quantities of vintage 1940s and 50s clothing at Dollar-A-Pound was commonplace.[4]

In 1986 as the demand for used and vintage clothing continued to rise The Garment District was born. Now in addition to Dollar-A-Pound both new & used clothing is sold on racks - tradional style. Except this place is still what it once was - a rag factory. Hundreds of thousands of pounds of clothing are still sorted on site. Though the cutting machines are now gone and wiping cloths are no longer produced much is still done the same way it was over 50 years ago.[5]

In 2004 The Garment District was under threat of closure. The pressure to turn the buildings into residential condos almost succeeded. With help from the City of Cambridge, among others, The Garment District was able to acquire the buildings and as a result remain an integral part of the local community.[6]

In 2007 The Garment District merged with Boston Costume.[7]



[1] Link to garmentdistrict.com

[2] Historical documentation of The Garment District buildings done by the Cambridge Historical Society (PDF)

Online articles on The Garment District

[3] NYTimes travel guide

[4] Harvard Student Agencies

[5] Harvard Crimson - Historic Garment District Saved

[6] Cambridge Chronicle - Boston Costume Moves In

[7] Daily Free Press - Go To The Garment District For Halloween

[8] Boston Globe - Garment District has a clothes call

[9] BC Heights

[10] Boston.com Visitors Guide

[11] Boston Business Journal

[12] Harvard Crimson

[edit] References

  1. ^ Amazing Spaces - Boston.com
  2. ^ The Harvard Crimson :: News :: Déjà Vogue
  3. ^ The Harvard Crimson :: News :: Déjà Vogue
  4. ^ Small Business - Boston Business Journal:
  5. ^ http://www.cambridgema.gov/~Historic/L82%20Garment%20District%20draft.pdf
  6. ^ Garment District has a clothes call - The Boston Globe
  7. ^ Amazing Spaces - Boston.com