The women-owned, unionized clothing company is known for creating high-end products for major design houses, but also makes uniforms for the military and U.S. teams.
On Friday afternoon, 115 garment factory workers at New York’s Ferrara manufacturing plant will stop their normal work schedules to watch the televised opening ceremony of the Paris Summer Olympics.
With an expected 1.5 billion people watching the ceremony worldwide, the Ferrara team will be specifically in tune with the red, white and blue of Team USA, whose athletes will wear Ralph Lauren-designed blazers and shirts made at the Ferrara Manufacturing facility in Long Island City.
“We’ve worked with Ralph Lauren in the past, both at the Olympics and on the runway,” said Gabriel Ferrara, chief operating officer of Ferrara Manufacturing. “Usually we do a little show here, where we put it up on a screen so people can see the products they’ve made. It’ll be fun to see it on the screen.”
Ferrara Manufacturing has been producing Ralph Lauren-designed outfits for the Olympic Opening and Closing Ceremonies since 2014. In addition to the opening ceremony uniforms, the company also produced and tailored the white racing and flag-bearer jackets to be worn by the U.S. team in the Closing Ceremony on August 11.
Ferrara Manufacturing is a highly regarded luxury tailor and apparel manufacturer. They represent some of New York’s finest fashion houses. They are a family-owned, woman-owned business that produces 100% American-made clothing. For their many wholesale customers, they source all of their apparel materials, including fabric, thread, buttons, zippers, etc., from U.S. manufacturers.
Although Ferrara is not an individual clothing brand, it produces clothing for popular luxury brands such as Vera Wang, Calvin Klein, Isaac Mizrahi, Christian Francis Roth, and Donna Karan. The company has been producing runway fashion since its founding in 1987.
“We’ve worked with all kinds of designers, big brands, small brands. We’ve worked on projects for Ralph Lauren, but we also work with emerging brands,” Ferrara said. “Since the ’90s, a lot of brands have been focusing on design, so we partner with the design team to think about how to make the best thing possible, and we actually make it here. This is a classic example of a brand partnering with a manufacturer rather than producing in-house now.”
Ferrara Manufacturing was a mainstay of Manhattan’s famed Garment District for 36 years before relocating across the East River to nearby Long Island City in 2023. The Ferrara family purchased the four-story building to house their expanding manufacturing capabilities and future projects. The company currently operates out of 50,000 square feet on the first floor, but plans to occupy all four floors as soon as construction is complete.
“One of the new floors will be a showroom and manufacturing floor, and the other will be a sewing floor,” Ferrara said. “The third floor will be an incubator space for fashion startups to operate and collaborate.”
“This will be a building dedicated to manufacturing, dedicated to apparel manufacturing, dedicated to American made. This will not only be our base of operations, but it will be a real beacon for American manufacturing.”
Ferrara Manufacturing was founded in 1987 by Gabriel’s parents, Joseph and Carolyn Ferrara, to fulfill Carolyn’s dream of making the highest quality, best fitting clothing in the world. Their daughter, Gabrielle, joined the company in 2014 after graduating from Barnard College and pursuing a career in ad tech, eventually becoming COO. Their son, Angelo, also joined the company, working on improving high-tech machinery such as 3D printing, CAD applications, laser cutting and robotic automation.
“I think what we’re doing here is really special and one of the most rewarding things in that we’re actually making something,” Ferrara said. “We’re actually producing something physical, and that’s very rewarding.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ferrara family paused much of their clothing manufacturing to produce much-needed masks and gowns, which was also a welcome relief for the business.
“During the pandemic, we found that we didn’t have a strong industrial base to produce PPE,” Ferrara said, “and we saw this as a surge in investment and capacity. We came together and figured out how to make millions of PPE units. And through that, I think something changed, like people realizing that it’s important to be able to manufacture microchips, cars, and even clothing in the United States. In the event of a global emergency or pandemic or conflict, we need to be self-sufficient as a country, so we see clothing and manufacturing capacity as essential for us.”
“We’ve made masks as far away as Alaska. We made masks for the 2021 inauguration and President Biden wore one of ours. We have a lot of employees who have sons or daughters who are police officers or doctors, so we’ve made special deliveries for them.”
“Our strength is making things well and making them perform at the highest level. We give it our all here and think our work is a great example of American engineering ingenuity.”
Ferrara Manufacturing was able to secure a U.S. government contract for PPE production, and through that relationship, became involved in producing dress uniform jackets for all branches of the U.S. military.
Gabriel and Carolyn Ferrara are the majority owners of this women-owned business that employs more women than men. Employees are members of a federated workers’ union, a relationship the Ferrara family enjoys.
“We have a very good relationship with the union. It’s a great partnership,” Ferrara said. “They introduce us to people in the industry and they’re very positive.”
“We have employees from all different backgrounds, so it’s very diverse. Manufacturing is a tough industry and it’s very people-driven. You don’t have a bunch of people doing what you want to do. You have to bring everyone together and do that dance of creating something. I love that.”
Another project that Ferrara Manufacturing is committed to is its apprenticeship program and helping young students learn how to make a living in the American-made apparel industry.
“There was an article in the Wall Street Journal about Gen Z wanting hands-on jobs,” says Ferrara, 34. “We’ve been working with local universities to set up apprenticeship programs, and it’s so inspiring to see the students get excited about seeing the products they’ve actually made in our factory.”
“One of the highlights of my career has come from this program because manufacturing has been so badly hurt in this country for so many years, and this is something new and cool.”
Ferrara Manufacturing also runs an internship program focused on innovation and plans to launch a technical design apprenticeship program and a sustainability program.
“We want you to love working here, which is important because this is a very highly skilled job that requires experience,” Ferrara said. “Our average tenure is about 12 years, and we want people to grow through the pipeline because it allows them to work with a broader skillset.”
New York City’s wholesale fashion industry generates approximately $98 billion in revenue each year, and Ferrara Manufacturing is committed to capturing a large share of that with American-made apparel.
“We’re developing a great program that will bring production back home, so hopefully we can realize the vision we have,” Ferrara said. “When consumers buy from Shein or Temu, they get a great price, but they’re finding that the quality of all their clothing is compromised. Consumers want to know what’s in their clothes, who’s making them, what the materials are, what the quality is.”
“We’re looking at ways to invent and create the advanced techniques needed to use high tech to make beautiful clothes, so we can make them more efficiently and re-domesticate them.”
The 2024 Paris Olympics will be broadcast on NBC and its affiliated networks beginning at noon Friday. NBC’s Peacock network will offer live streaming of most Olympic events, while the NBC network will offer pre-recorded coverage on weekday evenings..
