KC Garment Collective

I love Garment District! I’ve been going here since they opened. The clothing is always unique enough to be eye-​catching, but very wearable and versatile. The people who work here never fail to greet me when I come in, but they mostly leave you alone to shop unless you approach them, in which case they’re always happy to help. I, personally, don’t like to be eyeballed or bothered while I’m browsing, so I feel totally comfortable here in a way I don’t in some other stores.
I get compliments on the clothes I buy from this store all the time, and I always gush to the person about Garment District. They’re especially good for finding cute dresses that are appropriate for work, but also for going out in. And there are usually a couple of sale racks, either inside by the windows or pushed out onto the sidewalk, where you can find some really good deals. This is seriously my favorite place to shop where I can actually afford the clothes!

I saw a shirt that I liked online and decided to go to the actual store and check it out. I walked there on my lunch break and started looking around. None of the clothing had prices on them, which seemed odd. I tried to grab one of the people working there (one on his phone sitting at the bar and 3 girls at the front register) but none of them would even look at me. After about 10 minutes of looking around and waiting for someone, anyone to acknowledge me, I left. Too bad… I really wanted to buy some items, but to feel like you are not good enough to look at… I’ll go somewhere else

Very nice boutique! The appeal from the window caught my eye. Very well organized and unique. I was a little uneasy about the customer service but it al worked out in the end. I would recommend it to anyone visiting. Sizes range from Small to Large. The store has beautiful jewelry and many accessories.

Amazing!!! This place has items that ill wear on a daily basis. I totally think that this place will be the place to shop

While in Kansas City I did a lot of window shopping, and it was only here that I found bright colors and funky, edgy style at prices I could afford. (None of those drab, mainstream color schemes/​boring prints exist here.) The jewelry in particular was intriguing. I ended up buying a necklace and earring set for a friend but could have easily bought more if I had more time there. This says a lot, because I am really not much of a shopper.

The manager emailed me and apologized for my bad experience. She invited me to come back and have champagne and a discount on my shopping. I appreciate that she reached out to me to and wanted to me to come back.

Very ecclectic selection w/​a helpful and friendly staff oh and did I mention there is a bar? Yes a bar to help you out on your shopping expedition. Definitely the place to check when your looking for a garment a little off the beaten path. Prices very but everyone is sure to find something affordable and unique.

This store is fun to browse. The architechtural design, cathedral ceilings, artwork on the walls, and the bar makes it quite appealing. They’ve even had a DJ spinning here before.
Shop and drink, who can beat that? They were serving sandwiches from Maker’s Mark that day. I had a curry chicken sandwich. It was OK. Kinda bland.
However as a man, I didn’t feel that welcome. I’ve been twice (opening day and a week ago when they were giving away free lunch).
I went with my wife and found that their male section was quite small and didn’t have anything appealing or within my price range.
However, I found some shades that were up my alley and bought them.
Why do I feel unwelcome?
The male goods section is small.
The bartender didn’t crack a smile at all when interacting with her. She seemed to disdain commnication with me. I asked her for some help purchasing some $ 20 shades (worth the free sandwich that I got), and she didn’t want to help me RING IT UP. Pointed to someone else. I asked that woman for help and she said OK. 10 minutes after giving her the evil eye (I had to go back to work), she stopped stocking shelves and helped me. Couldn’t provide a cloth or a paper towel to clean the shades of fingerprints/​dust. She wasn’t happy to help me either.

I was staying downtown for a convention and decided to do so me shopping at the Garment District. It looked cute from the outside, clothes I saw from the window looked decent (everytime I had walked by before, the store was closed so I was looking forward to going in when it was actually open).
Then…I walked in. Guys clothes on one side of the store, women on the other. The employees working were helping the guys — no one on the women. Not sure if that was because the men needed more help picking out clothings or what but I received not one hello or would you like a glass of wine — completely ignored. The clothes were cute but pretty trendy. Pricey, lots of sparkly stuff on shirts, tube dresses, flowery and ruffly clothes — same stuff you’d see in your typical trendy, independently owned store.

Garment District has some good curb appeal — especially after the sun goes down! I’m not a particular fan of high ceilings (wasted space) but I suppose I’ll accept it. Upon my visit, I decided to refrain from drinking, it was 1pm. Although as others have stated, cocktails are available if you decide some day drinking is in order or you roll in towards cocktail hour. I say ditch the bar concept and sell clothes.
Now, I wouldn’t take my word for the sense of clothing available — but I found it to be cool and different to KC. I ended up walking out with a couple of button-​ups that aren’t like anything else in my closet. Success for me! If you want to know if the clothes are fashionable — ask Matt or Joi. If you want to know if they are affordable — they are.

I had kept hearing about this place but had never been in. My friend Emil and I stumbled in after the Sysco Food Show in April. Probably not the best time to shop after you have stuffed your face with food for hours on end. But anyway, they have some really cute stuff and many different price points. Why only 3 stars. Most of the stuff is cute, but not my personal style, plus they cater to small, small, and maybe medium people. I am a bit larger on top and i have a hard time finding clothes. But i def suggest stumbling in and forming your own opinion!

First, a desperate, desperate plea:
Can we PLEASE call a moratorium on bedazzled items? Quite frankly, I was SHOCKED at the amount of Big 12 logos on hats and scarves littered throughout the Garment District’s space that looked like some lady with too much time on her hands got a big shipment of rhinestones and glue guns and went to town on a bunch of Jayhawks, Tigers and Wildcats. I LOVE me some Jays but I refuse to wear a glittery KU visor. WTF indeed.
And that, my friends, is why Garment District is a mystery to me. High end, very nice pieces in this corner, homemade arts and crafts pieces across the room. What?
I wandered the store by myself for about 15 minutes before a salesgirl came up to me to tell me about the place. I knew all the info before, but it was nice for her to sell it. The bar in the middle certainly didn’t look open but she told me if I wanted anything to just let her know. Cool, but I feel like drinking and shopping is a bad combo for my bank account… maybe this is their ploy?
There WERE some very cool dresses, but I had to dig through flimsy Forever 21 lookealikes. If I want Forever 21 quality, I’ll just… go to Forever 21 and pay a fraction of the price. To be honest, prices here weren’t out of control as I was expecting, but there were some tags that made me do a double-​take.
The jewelry section in the back is what really reeled me in. Very cute, good price, both classic and trendy pieces. I’m guessing I’ll come back to Garment District just to check jewelry out again. I’m a big sucker for cocktail rings and they were all over the place here.
This place is definitely a little schizo. I’d like to see more quality, local things and move the BCBG and cheap stuff outta there. There’s promise, for sure!

If you had to describe the sound that i’d make when describing Garment District, it’d be a decidedly 2-​star «meh», but i feel like the potential is there for it to be a really great store, so i’m going to bump them up to 3 stars for the time being.
I’m a fan of the look of the place, for sure. Their neon signage is probably my favorite downtown, and the inside space is certainly impressive. With incredibly high ceilings, and a minimalist design, it definitely inspires a reaction. I’m not a big fan of the bar in the middle, mostly because it just looks bad when not set up for use, which i feel will probably be the case 95% of the time. As it was when i came in, it felt like they had decided to go ahead and close up, and nobody wants to feel that way while browsing retail. Incredibly dim lights added to this feeling.
I also really like the concept of the place. The idea of having a collective of boutiques all maximizing their shopper’s appeal by banding together is intriguing. It also adds a certain level of security by way of flexibility. I just think maybe they need to kick a couple of people out. This is where my real problems begin:
Some of the stuff this place is selling is an absolute joke. I’m looking at a shirt. I can’t decide if it’s just too trendy to be something i’d really want to wear. On the display next to it, i notice they are selling these odd pantyhose type thing that give your arms the appearance of having sleeve tattoos. I put down the shirt and walk away. I am NOT sharing a look with the fake sleeve tattoo demographic. I would imagine that ladies would have the same reaction while shopping in the section that sold pink-​feather adorned wine glasses, stenciled with «what happens in Kansas City stays in Kansas City». Barf.
My final judgement? This place has good bones, but needs to commit to their concept.
If you’re going to have a bar in the middle, have a bar in the middle. I’m not saying you even need to have a full-​time bartender, but don’t make it look as shut down as a hotel bar at 4 AM.
If you’re going to try and attract a hip, young, urban crowd, ditch the costume store and cheesy gift shop merchandise.
This place needs to go up a taste level or three to really thrive. At least that’s my opinion.

So, I don’t know if anyone remembers Deegie’s Carma, that was out at Legends. It was started by the same people who currently own SoHo 119. That’s what this place reminds me of, but not even as good as Deegie’s was at the time.
So, myself and two friends went to The Garment District’s grand opening, on February 27^th. First and foremost, the space is VERY impressive. Concrete, impossibly high ceilings, exposed ductwork, naked mannequins looking down on us all as we shopped like austere art. Pretty damn cool. But as I started looking around, I had a sinking feeling. I only recognized a few labels. Kenzie, Nic and Mo, BCBGeneration, Ben Sherman, the Hollywood Fashion Tape brand… but it’s not because the other brands were local. It’s because they are the kind of stuff that any boutique can order. Cheap looking printed jersey dresses in awful «bohemian» prints going for $ 89 from a brand you’ve never heard of. I found a little cropped jacket that I knew one of my friends would like, but it was polyester and going for $ 79.
Men’s stuff is mostly from Imagery in Westport, and there was some nice looking things. i will bring my beau there to check it out, but I doubt he will want to spend $ 100 on a western shirt when there are similar styles cheaper, elsewhere.
I think the most offputting thing though, was the area by the dressing rooms that features local designers, apparently. A woman told me as I walked into the area that everything there was one of a kind. Well, I was looking at some socks and immediately noticed a pair of grey, patterned knee socks I had gotten at Target, but someone had sewn a ruffle of off-​white fabric to the top and frayed the edges. They were $ 15. Those socks were two pairs for $ 6.99 at Target. With so many local designers and crafty people in town, this sort of thing is really, really disappointing to me.
Overall, I am sure the people who frequent Power and Light will find things to like and spend money on at The Garment District. And I will say that the staff was very nice and helpful. I might pop in there from time to time. But for the trendy stuff that I saw there, I think I will stick to cheaper options like Forever 21 or H&M. For local fashion, there are so many more inspired choices out there, including Tomboy, Peggy Noland, and Bön Bön Altier, that I think I will stick to those. I hate to be so down on new downtown retail, but I just expected a lot more.

The Garment District, a most appreciated new addition to the Power & Light District, combines two of my favorite pursuits: booze and shopping. This is their opening weekend and due to my having to drive there in the middle of the day, I was only able to pursue the latter. That’s OK, because the latter was being offered in abundance AND what’s more, it was all discounted due to opening weekend! Even a wine & spirits enthusiast like Yours, Truly, will take a good sale over a drink any day of the week.
The store is sectioned according to each boutique (the store is a collective). Focus seems to be on indie designers. There is a wicked jean selection, and a variety of clothing styles to suit every taste, including my own, which I might add, is quite picky. I especially appreciated the super cute coat and jackets they have right now (to the right as you enter the store) and the studded purses and bunches of blingy costume jewelry and other accessories artfully strewn about the store.
I should also add that the ambiance of the store lends itself very well to shopping, drinking and socializing. I LOVE the fashion plate murals on the wall and unique mannequins. Ceilings are super high and the vibe is that of an exclusive, trendy boutique, yet the staff are all extremely friendly.
Prices are very reasonable. I couldn’t help but think if this store, which has the vibe of a Soho boutique, actually had to exist in Soho, well, let’s just say it wouldn’t be possible to find an outfit that didn’t set us back a paycheck or two (that’s not to say I WOULDN’T be inspired to lose a paycheck here).
Like I said, I didn’t drink from the bar (oh, I was tempted!), but I am looking forward to going back when I have an escort, perhaps on an evening when there is an event going on (they are going to have DJ events according to the website).
By the way, there are opening weekend drink specials tomorrow: complimentary mimosas and bloody marys! Alas, I have prior engagements. But I’ll be back, Garment District.

We parked in the Cosentino’s Garage and walked down the block to the store. At night the entrance is impressive. There are large windows that wrap around the space and you can view the wall mounted mannequins and ceiling chandeliers from the outside. Inside, you notice that the double story ceiling height and the circle bar which serves as the focal point in the room. The mini boutiques (mostly locally owned” circle the perimeter of the bar. The designers/​retailers work on a co-​op system, so they all chip in to pay sales staff.
The night I attended was pretty crowded, so I cannot give a thorough review of the merchandise. What I did see was a mix of denim, sundresses, some lower priced costume jewelry and the ever present tee’s and clothing with «Affliction» type graphics. With so much variety there may be a little something for everyone.
For me the bar seems slightly out of place. Word is that Garment District hopes to lure you in for drinks before a night out in the P&L. While similar fusion concepts (Soho 119) have not fared so well, they are certainly creating the vibrant energy that is appealing to the downtown set.
The location in the P&L comes with both good elements and bad. The fact that the very commercial P&L has embraced a store which featuring local designers is a bonus in my book.