Factory Tours
Create-A-Marker
When Paul Cavazza talks about grading patterns, he talks about it as a craft passed down through generations—except his version lives somewhere between tradition and software.
Paul has been in the garment industry his entire life. His grandparents had a cut-and-sew factory. His parents had a cut-and-sew factory. He studied Production Management at FIT and, in 1985, took a part-time job at a grading and marking service—back when everything was done manually, with rulers and paper. “I really fell in love with grading patterns, making markers.” Grading is the process of adjusting a garment’s base pattern to create a full range of sizes, while marker making involves laying out pattern pieces in the most efficient way possible to minimize fabric waste during production.
In 1993, after urging his former employer to modernize and adopt computer software, Paul left and opened his own company, Create-A-Marker, launching one of the first computerized grading and marking services in the Garment District. “I believe in technology. I believe in updating and changing. You have to change with the business.” Today, he works with more than 300 brands across the U.S. and internationally, using multiple industry software systems and staying current with 3D tools and digital workflows.
Yet for all the technology, Paul still sees the garment industry as a human ecosystem. In the Garment District, designers can find their pattern maker, grader, sample room, cutter, pleater, and embroiderer within just a few blocks. “Nowhere else is like that.” He has traveled to Los Angeles, Milan, Shanghai, and major factories abroad, but remains convinced that New York’s density and specialization are unmatched.
Rather than competing with fellow garment manufacturers, Paul says the close quarters foster a collaborative atmosphere. Factories share specialized machines and overhead. Competitors call each other for advice or overflow work. “We’re all in it for the same reasons,” he says, urging designers to collaborate rather than gatekeep resources. “We have to share resources. We have to work together.”
That long-term mindset extends to how he treats emerging designers. “You don’t know who’s walking in that door.” Paul makes a point of giving tours to every new client, explaining digitizing, grading, and marking step by step. He often advises young brands against unnecessary costs. “They’re just starting out. Money’s tight.” Instead of upselling extra markers or minor adjustments, he encourages them to conserve capital and grow sustainably.
This commitment to teaching runs deep. Before COVID, Paul taught grading at FIT. “I enjoy it because I love to teach.” At Create-A-Marker, interns are expected to learn real skills—not fetch coffee or run deliveries. “If I’m actually teaching you something, that’s what I truly consider an internship.”
Sometimes, that openness leads to unexpected projects. When a client asked him to scale a one-foot teddy bear into a four-and-a-half-foot version, Paul treated it as both a technical challenge and a creative experiment. He stayed late, plotted and tested the pattern, and presented a physical prototype. The client was thrilled. Shortly after, another customer asked to scale up a sneaker design five times its size. “You never know what project is walking in that door,” Paul says.
Still, 2024 was really difficult. Across the board, brands cut their seasonal offerings in half—fifteen styles became seven. Designers reworked older patterns instead of developing new ones. Paul suspects a mix of election-year uncertainty and a broader tightening of capital. “I think a lot of the money dried up.”
The slowdown also shaped his move last year. After 18 years in a 7,500-square-foot space on 35th Street—30% of which he subleased—the building was sold, and leases were terminated. The new space is smaller and more efficient. “It’s beautiful,“ he says, but it reflects a more cautious moment for the industry.
Still, Paul remains committed to New York. While cities like Los Angeles often offer one-stop production services, he sees value in New York’s fragmented but flexible model. “There’s nobody who does everything. We outsource everything, but that’s fine.” Designers here retain control—choosing their pattern maker, grader, cutter, and sewer independently. It may require more legwork, but it preserves autonomy and accountability.
Paul believes the industry needs better infrastructure—particularly an accurate, searchable directory of New York garment services. A clear directory of pattern services, cut-and-sew factories, cutting rooms, sample makers, fabric suppliers, and trim producers would strengthen the local manufacturing ecosystem and help designers keep production in the city.
For Paul, the work is both technical and personal. He takes pride in precision and in the community that surrounds it. Whether the client is a global brand or a first-time designer carrying a brown paper pattern, he approaches each project the same way: with the assumption that it might become something much bigger.
Find Create-A-Marker’s services on their website.