New York Threads

For Spandex House, the stretch-fabric retailer located on 38^th Street in the Garment District, their fashion icon is a bit older—by about 5,000 years.

Upstairs, beyond the scattered rainbow assortment of two-way and four-way stretch, mesh, and the other thousands of varieties of spandex; you’ll learn the definition of fashion icon in its purest form—a nearly five-foot, immaculately buffed and polished golden statue of Hanuman, the Hindu god of power and strength.

According to Rajan Zed, Hindu priest and president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, it’s not uncommon for business owners in India to pray daily inside their shop before opening in the morning. “They’ll sprinkle holy water around, light incense, and say a prayer, sometimes to two different shrines,” Zed said.

While Hindus are officially monotheistic, an estimated 330 million deities can manifest as the one Supreme Being—Hanuman is one of the most popular. Hanuman plays the immortal warrior and central character in the ancient Indian epic “Ramayana”, symbolizing complete surrender and devotion to god. People pray to Hanuman for courage, confidence and freedom from evil. His temples are found world-wide—on hills, mountains and a hidden corner on the second floor of Spandex House.

The peaceful monkey-faced statue is sheltered by hand-crafted plywood walls and rooftop that sits on its foot-tall platform, gated by a silver knee-high dog pen fence. At the base of his feet is a Styrofoam cup, protruding with the spiky stems of burnt incense; a half-full pitcher of water, and a barbeque lighter lying parallel to a candlestick. Artificial sunflowers and multi-colored twinkle lights intertwine on the inner walls. But most notably, the entire 12-foot structure is lined and stapled to nearly 24 yards of red and gold sequined spandex, illustrating the quiet wit of the handyman who brought this towering shrine to life.

In 2007, Kishan Persaud, a Spandex House employee, discovered the 150-pound statue in the basement of 1181 Broadway, about a 15-minute walk from Spandex House. Persaud said he found the statue in poor condition, rusting and dirty:  “There was no justice.”

Persaud, who came to the United States in 2000 from Guyana—on the northern coast of South America—is a devout Hindu with ancestral roots in India. He has worked at Spandex House since 2005 after working a few years in grocery stores stocking and doing deliveries. Despite his 12-hour days and six-day work weeks, he still makes time to pray in the morning—usually chanting a Sanskrit mantra to his own, smaller shrines in his apartment in Jamaica, Queens.

Ashvin Katariwala, Persaud’s boss, also practices Hinduism. He immigrated to the United States from Bangladesh in 1985. His first job in the U.S. was at Glaston Fabrics for five years, where he learned the trade of fabric importing, until he joined Spandex House as a part-owner in 1991, the year it opened.

After seeing Hanuman four years ago, Persaud asked Katariwala if he could purchase and bring back the statue to Spandex House for a proper home. LaCrasia, a glove manufacturer that housed the statue, priced it at $1,000, about half the retail price. Katariwala gave Persaud the go-ahead and the money to bring the statue back.

Since the statue was too large to fit into the delivery truck, Persaud and about four other Spandex House employees carried the bulky statue 10 blocks on the sidewalks of Manhattan.

Persaud polished the blackened statue to its original brilliant golden color and bought a scepter for Hanuman to hold.

“He’s [still] missing the mountain in his hands,” Persaud said of the traditional visual symbol of strength typically accompanying a Hanuman statue. “We’ll maybe put a house there instead”—another wrapped in spandex.

While Persaud said Spandex House offers “nice work,” it’s a hard job with no health benefits—which is why he goes to Hanuman for help. “I pray to Hanuman every day to give me health and strength. That’s why I can work here.” The folded dollar bills secured by rubber bands around Hanuman’s outreaching palms are the small daily prayer donations from Persaud’s minimum-wage pay. He will eventually bring the money to the Ganesh Hindu temple in Flushing.  Persaud hopes to one day earn $900 a week—about double what he makes now—as an elevator operator.

Katariwala believes Hanuman has brought him more than just health and strength. He attributes Spandex House’s ability to survive and grow through the recession to this deity. Since the arrival of the statue, the store has seen increased business and foot-traffic to the second level, which struggled since it opened in 2004. He was able to open a second location on West 40^th Street.

Spandex Economy

Spandex House’s steady business comes at a time when the spandex industry faces challenges. Over the last two decades, most New York fabric manufacturing factories gradually shut down, forcing fabric retailers and wholesalers to outsource their buying—primarily to suppliers in China and South Korea.

Katariwala remembers when he dealt with nearly 22 spandex production mills in New York; now he works with about three.

“Ninety-five percent of buying used to come from the New York mills and five percent from overseas. Now it’s the reverse,” Katariwala said. So Spandex House must now deal with fluctuating currencies and freight costs.

Spandex World, located on the same block as Spandex House, competes for business / Photo by Teresa Mahoney

Competition is fierce for the fabric in the Garment District. Within just a couple block radius of Spandex House, two of the major spandex retailers compete—Spandex World and Stretch House. And there are other mixed fabric stores that also supply the material.  Katariwala noted how critical it is to make the right buying decisions: “If you buy one wrong item, you have to sell 10 to make up for it. You’re still stuck with it for one, two, or three years.” To gauge trends, he listens to customer requests, but also flips through the pages of Vogue to see which fabric colors, patterns, and styles are trending.

Spandex House’s ability to adapt and keep fabrics unique retains customers. Toddie Fisher, a fashion designer from Ohio, has been shopping at Spandex House since he moved to New York three and a half years ago. Fisher said he appreciates the wide selection of mesh and power mesh (loosely woven stretch fabric and its sturdier counterpart) which he uses in his lingerie line.  Standing well over six-feet tall, Fisher said he easily noticed the Hanuman statue in the store, but made no assumptions as to why it was there. What he did know was that Spandex House is the “chicest” store of the three spandex-only fabric stores in the area and contains “many hidden treasures.” 

The statue of Hanuman may not be the traditional Hindu deity for wealth and prosperity—that’s the goddess Lakshmi’s function—but he has provided Spandex House employees with resilience to push through a changing business. Katariwala knows things could be worse. “Business isn’t that bad, thank God,” he said.