A cooperative of immigrant seamstresses in Jackson Heights, Queens, has landed a contract that fashion industry observers are calling groundbreaking: a two-year partnership with Eileen Fisher to produce a limited-edition collection of garments, manufactured entirely in their Roosevelt Avenue workshop at fair-trade wages.
Hilos Dorados (Golden Threads) Collective was formed in 2023 by 18 women — mostly from Colombia, Ecuador, and Mexico — who had spent years working in exploitative conditions in New York's garment district. With support from the Workers Justice Project and a seed grant from the Robin Hood Foundation, they pooled their skills and established a worker-owned cooperative.
"In the garment district, we were invisible," says collective president María Lucía Quintero, who emigrated from Medellín 15 years ago. "They wanted our hands but didn't see our faces. Here, we own our work. We set our prices. We are a business, not a labour cost."
The Eileen Fisher partnership emerged after the company's design team visited Hilos Dorados as part of a supply chain ethics review. They were struck by the quality of craftsmanship: the cooperative specializes in hand-finishing, tailoring, and intricate embroidery that machines cannot replicate.
The collection, called "Made in Queens," will feature 12 pieces — jackets, blouses, and skirts incorporating traditional Latin American textile techniques with Eileen Fisher's minimalist aesthetic. Each garment will carry a label identifying the seamstress who made it. Retail prices will be premium, with a portion of profits returning to the cooperative.
"These women are not just skilled — they are artists," says Eileen Fisher's VP of supply chain, Carmen Gama. "This partnership isn't charity. It's recognition that the best craftsmanship in America is often hiding in plain sight, in communities like Jackson Heights."
The collective now employs 25 women and has a waiting list of 40 more. They recently began offering free sewing classes to young people in the neighbourhood, taught in Spanish, English, and Quechua. "We are stitching more than fabric," Quintero says. "We are stitching a future."