Bill De Blasio's Made in NY Fashion Initiative Is Coming Along, Says His Office—Here's the Latest Timeline

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Update: De Blasio's office got in touch with Racked after the publication of this article and made the following statement:

"The fashion industry is more vital than ever when it comes to our city's economic future, employing 180,000 people and generating $2 billion a year in tax revenue. That's why Mayor de Blasio tripled the City's investment - and those programs are already underway, supporting the manufacturers, designers, and students who make this industry and this city so great. MadeInNYFashion.nyc launched earlier this year; the Made in NY fashion marketing campaign is on schedule to launch in late summer 2015; the Made in NY Capsule Collection will launch this fall; and an RFP for the Made in NY retail program was released last month."

A spokesperson for de Blasio also added that the first phase of the Made in NY fashion marketing campaign is "on target to launch by late summer 2015;" the capsule collection has been completed and will launch this fall; and the Made in NY retail program issued its request for proposal (RFP) on June 26th, which is available to view here, and is expected to open by "late 2015."

Original post below:

Back in February, mayor of NYC and fashion industry BFF Bill de Blasio announced he would triple the city's investment in local fashion initiatives by donating $15 million—but according to Fashionista, the fashion industry is still waiting.

It appears that the only promise that has come to fruition is the launch of the website MadeInNYFashion.nyc, a fashion-centric extension of the film and TV-focused "Made In NY" website, which provides information for designers and manufacturers. The other planned initiatives announced in February, however—a fully-funded internship program, seed funding for fashion brands, a "Production Summit" event, a digital production platform, worker training, funding for trade show space, store partnerships and more—are still in the works.

Two of the city's pre-existing fashion initiatives, the Fashion Production Fund and the Fashion Manufacturing Initiative, have seen continued support from the de Blasio administration, however, although the FMI has not received more than the initial $1 million donation from the city.

The pledges made in February were planned to be rolled out over 2015, so we've still got the second half of the year to go before knowing anything for certain. Plus, Bill's got a habit of being late to stuff, anyway.