Ralph Lauren's $500,000 gift to New York City Philanthropic designer Ralph Lauren has pledged half a million dollars to support the New York clothing industry Today may have been proclaimed Giorgio Armani Day in NYC but fellow designer, Ralph Lauren isn't about to let himself be usurped in the limelight stakes. It has just been announced that the Ralph Lauren Corp is boosting the city's clothing industry to the tune of a $500,000 donation to the new Fashion Manufacturing Initiative. "I was born in New York and started my business in the Garment District here," the philanthropic designer told WWD , continuing, "FMI serves an important role in supporting our city, our industry and gives designers the access and opportunities needed to help advance their careers while boosting manufacturing in New York. This is something I'm very proud to be a part of. READ: Ralph Lauren's star-studded bash angers art school students Don Baum, Ralph Lauren's senior vice president of global manufacturing and sourcing, will join the FMI's selection committee which already includes designers Prabal Gurung and Rag & Bone's Marcus Wainwright and CFDA CEO Steven Kolb. Lauren's renewed commitment to the city's garment industry came after he was criticised for outsourcing the manufacture of US team uniforms for last year's London Olympics. But now, if he plays his cards right, there might be a Ralph Lauren Day in the not too distant future... READ: New York Fashion Week autumn/winter 2013