Kansas City Garment District Museum

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Dress from the Historic Garment District Museum of Kansas City's 2012 Holiday Collection

The Kansas City Garment District Museum is located in the Garment District (Kansas City, Missouri), in the lobby of DST Systems Inc.'s Poindexter Building.

The Historic Garment District Museum of Kansas City was opened and dedicated in October of 2002 at an event sponsored by Kansas City's Historic Garment District Group and Kansas City Parks and Recreation.[1] The ceremony also included the dedication of the sewing needle sculpture located at an urban park located at 8th and Bank streets in downtown Kansas City. Ann Brownfield and Harvey Fried founded the museum and both are still involved in curation and tours. Brownfield worked in the Garment District beginning in 1960 as a shoe and clothing designer.[2]

All of the more than 300 garments housed at the museum were made in a Kansas City garment factory from the 1920s to 1988. The museum's collection includes clothing, hats, photos of the period, and period tools of the trade such as sewing machines, scissors and industrial fabric cutters. Exhibits change with the seasons - winter, spring, summer and fall. Nelly Don was one of the best known manufacturers and the largest maker of house dresses in the world. Gay Gibson (of the Gernes family) made junior-sized dresses. The museum always has some of these iconic labels on display.

Visitors to the museum will learn that the Kansas City Garment District was the second largest producer of coats and suits for ladies in the world at its peak. The garment industry was also the second largest employer in Kansas City from 1914-1960, consisting of entirely locally owned and operated factories. Unlike other "hands-off" museums, the Historic Garment District Museum of Kansas City offers many touch and feel opportunities.

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