This is how much New York makes during New York Fashion Week
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It's not surprising that there is nothing cheap involved in Fashion Week. What might shock some is how much income is generated by New York Fashion Week.
According to calculations carried out by FashionUnited, the total income for New York during New York Fashion Week, which starts tomorrow, is 574 million dollars. By taking the number of visitors each fashion week brings to the city, combined with the average income per visitor per fashion week; local hotel and food costs; sales taxes; applicable tourist fees, as well as corporate taxes, we were able to estimate the total income NYFW brings in each season.
In addition to the total income, NYFW also generates 509 million dollars of business income, as well as 64 million dollars of municipality income, 201 million dollars of venue income, 149 million dollars of restaurant income, 120 million dollars of retail income, 103 million dollars of accommodation income, according to our calculations, which is based on academic research verified by the NYCEDC. Each visitor who comes to New York for fashion week spends on average 2,485 dollars during their stay - which is not too shabby all in all, considering it is the Big Apple.
But how do these visitors spend their money during NYFW? Here is a brief breakdown: on average visitors spend 140 dollars on clothing. For items that cost more than 110 dollars, customers pay 8.5 percent sales tax. Based on the average tag of 140 dollars, only an estimated 20 percent will spend less than 110 dollars on clothing. Therefore 24 million dollars of all estimated sales are charged with 4.5 percent in the calculation above, which leads to a sales tax income of 1 million. Of course, visitors also need to stay somewhere during NYFW as well. A brief stay in a hotel in New York comes to an average of 616.50 dollars per night. Visitors need to eat as well during their stay, and spend at restaurants and dining out costs approximately 840 dollars per person, based on Numbeo, the global food price index.
When you take all these costs into consideration is comes as little surprised that New York Fashion Week generates more revenue than the U.S. open. Or even the New York City marathon.
New York Fashion Week generates more money than any other major Fashion Week
Last year the New York City Economic Development Corporation published a study citing New York Fashion week generates in total 900 million dollars for the city. That number is more than the collective per capita income of some U.S. cities. To think, this study was also released before the addition of New York Fashion Week: Men's to the calendar.
The other impressive thing about New York Fashion Week is that it generates more money than any of the other major Fashion Week's in Europe. That’s more income than London, Milan, and Paris - cities which currencies are currently higher valued due to recent exchange rates. Compare that to 56.5 million dollars for Milan Fashion Week, 73.5 million dollars for Paris Fashion Week, and 360 million dollars for London Fashion Week.
Keep in mind, New York is arguably the most expensive city in America. 1 million dollars here gets you less square footage when buying a home than most anywhere in America. New York's high cost of living is arguably a contributing factor to this high revenue, but either way, the city still comes out on top.
Read more on the economic impact of other international fashion
weeks, in: Money-Makers: Which global city makes the most from
Fashion Week?
New York Fashion Week kicks off
New York Fashion Week begins on September 8 and ends on September 15. FashionUnited will be looking at the effects of the see-now-buy-now model, and analyzing how a lot of legacy designers have opted out of participating this year. In addition, expect our usual show reviews to follow throughout the week as well.
Photo: New York Fashion Week website, screenshot