To picture the dynamism of the Made in Los Angeles movement, it helps to take a quick tour of the county’s apparel, textile and accessories industries, which employ more than 51,900 people.
In one corner of East Los Angeles, Jason Trotzuk zips through a maze of rooms in a sprawling factory that cuts, sews and washes jeans for his 10-year-old brand, Fidelity Denim. In 15 minutes, he asks a sewer to slow down and avoid jumbling stitches on a hem, nixes a pair of green-tinted jeans because they lack the brightness of the original wash he wishes to replicate, and notices that a button tab on a pair of men’s shorts has been attached backward. “It’s human error,” said Trotzuk, who finds it much easier to catch mistakes now in Los Angeles than when he tried to make denim in China from 2005 to 2007. “It happens all the time.”
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Across the Los Angeles River, in a cul-de-sac partly covered by a highway ramp, Ukrainian-born Galina Sobolev stands firm with a digital fabric printer that helps bring the vivid artwork on her women’s contemporary line, called Single, come to life.
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“We can make the sample for you,” said the white-haired representative from CadFab, “at your price.” After thanking him, she said, “Of course, I put pressure on everyone on price because we have to compete.”
Nearly three miles away in the Jewelry District, in an unassuming office building, three crafts- people donning white lab coats concentrate on buffing heavy rings, rounding the edges of sterling silver links and securing chains with pliers for Hoorsenbuhs. A few steps to the left, a coworker preps pink wax for casting and a turn to the right leads to the polishing room.
Soon, Hoorsenbuhs plans to tear down the walls to double the size of its 1,100-square-foot space. It intends to add three more polishing stations and install a laser machine to etch precious metals, as well as a 3-D device that makes multiple molds for rings.
“We’re making the most jewelry we’ve ever made,” said Kether Parker, a partner in Hoorsenbuhs.
Buoyed by rising costs in China (which is seeking to lower prices by devaluing its currency) and escalating demands from retailers for speedy deliveries, the Made in Los Angeles movement has been riding a wave of resurgence. But in the face of a drastic minimum wage hike and drought-induced water restrictions, it may come to a loud crash.
Whether they’re creating jeans, swimsuits, handbags or diamond pavé rings, designers are navigating the choppy waters carefully. Some factories are under threat of closing, while others are being enticed by neighboring districts to move out of the City of Angels.
What is inevitable is that local apparel and accessories manufacturers need to adapt.
“We have to specialize and be good at what we’re good at,” said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.
A number of designers, retailers and academics agree that, to stay creative in Los Angeles, the industry must emphasize not only technology but also handcrafting. It also must up the design ante, proffering special, exclusive pieces with loftier prices that can cover the higher wages required to make them.
“For a new designer, it’s hard to sell $170 jeans at 10,000 to 20,000 [units],” said Kevin Youn, who runs a sustainable denim washhouse called Eco Prk and produces $360 jeans for his own line called Tortoise Jeans. “You’re going to have more boutique [brands] or less labor-intensive products.”
While the fate of American Apparel is up in the air, many designers and retailers acknowledge the validity of its vertical business, stacking all the levels necessary for production under one roof. Others that have pursued a similar model to control their supply chain include Reformation and Robin’s Jean.
In the next five years, “it’s my intention to have a stand-alone, all-in-house factory with everything,” said Hoorsenbuhs founder Robert Keith, who maintains his manufacturing in downtown Los Angeles and the studio and showroom for his fine jewelry brand and a clothing label called Leisure in Santa Monica, Calif. “I’m hoping to evolve into that.”
A factory’s destiny is often tied to wages, which, in the city of Los Angeles and unincorporated parts of the county will rise, at a minimum, from $9 an hour today to $10 in January and then $15 in 2020. Made-Well, which occupies a 5,000-square-foot building with some 40 workers who sew colorful activewear just a few blocks east of Hollywood, is debating whether it should stay in Los Angeles.
In Simi Valley, a sleepy town in Ventura County, a city representative has reached out to Made-Well with a litany of incentives, including tax exemptions and prime locations, to move its factory.
“It is a tough subject we’re worried about,” said Made-Well president Martin Karamanoukian. If he does decide to venture north, he hopes his employees are willing to make the 37-mile commute. “A lot of our workers have been with us for 20 years,” he said.
Aware of the burdens placed on Karamanoukian and other executives, Garcetti reassures them with frank talk: “Don’t freak out about any regulation or wages,” he said. That’s because his goal is to make the city more competitive; for instance, by increasing the threshold for an exemption from paying any business tax from $100,000 to $1 million in total annual gross receipts. The effective date is subject to approval from the mayor and city council. Lawmakers also recently extended the business tax holiday that grants a three-year exemption to firms that move to Los Angeles from other cities.
“Quite frankly, if Simi Valley or other places are talking about that, I think the state will probably be close to where we’re at by the time this [minimum wage] actually gets there. So I don’t know that there will be much regional poaching,” Garcetti said. “And eventually, by the time we look at minimum wage being at its highest point, I intend for us to have taken a huge bite out of our city’s business tax.”
There could be worst places in the world to do business. As sales grew to almost $1 million this year from $150,000 in 2013, Nashville-based Ceri Hoover rapidly expanded the pool of people making its leather handbags from Tennessee and Indiana to California.
“Look, I’d be lying if I said it wouldn’t be great to do it all here,” said Craige Hoover, chief executive of the label named after and designed by his wife. “At this point, Nashville doesn’t have that labor force and the skill set.”
Besides, he notes that in comparison to his other out-of-state factory, “from a brand perspective, ‘Made in Los Angeles’ gives it a certain level of cachet that maybe ‘Made in Indianapolis’ doesn’t.”