Garment Industry

It's interesting how the animal activists are claiming responsibility for the slowdown of fur sales. Are they responsible for the overall slowdown of our economy? For the very visible slowdown in the whole garment industry? For the very publicized slowdown in car sales? For the standstill in real estate sales? For the layoffs in the aerospace industry? WANDA PRESS Beverly Hills

Beyond the glitz of the new downtown Los Angeles -- the shiny high rises and trendy lofts -- the pulse of an older, shadier downtown continues to beat. Shoppers in search of name brands meet sellers willing to provide them with loot -- much of it counterfeit. Powered by the thrill of a deal, they pour every day onto the streets of downtown's fashion district, especially around Santee Alley.

The boom in Mexico's clothing industry has been built on the relatively simple job of sewing imported pre-cut pieces of fabric into garments. Most of the higher-tech design and cutting jobs have stayed in the United States--so far. But Jose Luis Sorcia, director of the local garment industry chamber in this southeastern city, says Mexican firms want that higher-end work too, especially after the U.S.

I have come to the Deep South in sweltering summer because it was biting cold in Alaska last winter. Back then, a veteran mountaineer named Dick Flaharty made me a 40-below parka in his Fairbanks shop, Apocalypse Design. Flaharty has a reputation for making gear to match Arctic winter, and when I arrived his people looked me over as if to determine whether a Californian could be worthy of their labors. What makes this parka special? Well, it is hand-cut. It is gimmick-free.

Labor activists and union officials say they are planning a major campaign, beginning in January, to pressure state government for a systematic crackdown on sweatshops. The campaign will have two goals, said Jeff Stansbury, education and political director for the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union in Los Angeles. First, it will lobby for better enforcement of the minimum wage laws, which are routinely violated in the fiercely competitive California garment industry.

They are the real fashion police. They target unscrupulous members of California's burgeoning garment manufacturing industry. Just last month they uncovered a string of illegal home sewing operations during a series of raids, including one in Glendale where investigators confiscated 12 bags of clothing. They are investigators assigned to the state Department of Labor Standards Enforcement, assigned to enforce laws that make it illegal to commercially produce apparel at home.

After years of unbridled expansion under the North American Free Trade Agreement, Mexico's garment industry is being forced to retool itself due to falling exports to the slowing U.S. market, tougher regional competition and weak domestic demand. More than 95% of Mexico's garment exports make their way to its two NAFTA partners, the U.S. and Canada.

Designer Sandra Garratt is still searching for the pipeline from her million-dollar ideas to the bank. Her first wardrobe invention, the modular fashion line Units, is an international clothing chain that grosses about $75 million annually. Her second brainchild, Multiples, is expected to gross $60 million worldwide this year. Garratt's worth? "Less than zero."