Ferrara Manufacturing was founded by Carolyn and Joseph Ferrara in 1987. At the age of 25 years old and shortly after getting married, the couple launched a manufacturing business to fulfill Carolyn’s dream of creating the highest quality and best-fitting clothes in the world.
More than three decades later, Ferrara Manufacturing remains committed to the same principles that drove Carolyn and Joseph from the beginning: a passion for product and engineering.
The company’s 50,000-square-foot factory now resides in Long Island City, where the team produces the finest tailored garments for the fashion industry's most notable and prestigious brands. Examples of Ferrara Manufacturing’s work have been seen on the runway in New York City and Paris, and worn by American Olympians, celebrities, and VIPs around the world.
The Ferrara family is involved in several New York City organizations that positively impact the arts, business, and manufacturing. In 2016, they founded the Ferrara Foundation to preserve and promote the craft and community behind American fashion.
In 2020, Ferrara Manufacturing launched a PPE division, which has produced over 23 million protective apparel and accessory items. The team was able to apply decades of product development and garment engineering experience to design and scale one of the highest- performing masks available.
In 2023, the Ferrara team unveiled the MFG Building, an exciting new manufacturing plant in the heart of NYC.
The MFG building originally housed the Marblette Company, which was a competitor of Bakelite, and produced resin phones and jewelry out of this facility from 1931 until 1982.
The building stayed true to its creative industrial purposes and its next tenant was Bob C., a music industry insider who used the location to build and stage sets for Madison Square Garden.
After being vacant for several years, the Ferrara family purchased the building in August of 2020, with a vision to mix old and new. They wanted to keep the original brick facade on the first floor, but inspire a new generation of manufacturing by adding three additional floors, solar power, and upgrading all utilities to support modern-day production.
In 2023, the Ferrara Manufacturing flagship plant opened in Long Island City, after 36 years in Manhattan’s Garment District. It now houses the whole Ferrara team alongside the latest technology and equipment in apparel manufacturing.
The MFG building is 15 minutes from both Penn and Grand Central Stations, 20 minutes from LaGuardia Airport, and 40 minutes from JFK Airport, making it a convenient location for anyone around the world to visit and collaborate.
New York City is known as being the most prominent global fashion capital in the world. The fashion industry generates $98 billion annually in the city alone. What people may not know is that New York City is home to the world's highest concentration of fashion manufacturers, suppliers, and designers. In the early 1900s, New York City produced the majority of the country's clothing.
New York City continues to be a central hub for culturally diverse and skilled workers, the majority of whom are immigrants and women. Today, 40% of all U.S. fashion designers are based in the city. The city’s centralized supply chain and ecosystem is a strong foundation for exploring future materials, personalization and customization, immersive retail experiences, and wearable technologies, and it is in the vicinity of the largest tech companies in the world. The future of the global fashion capital is extremely bright.
Ferrara Manufacturing is a proud member of the New York Garment Center Suppliers Association (NYGCSA) and is the founding partner of the Ferrara Foundation, a 501(c)3 dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the tailoring craft in New York City.
