Garment Worker Center

We recently published an Industry Brief on LA’s Garment Workforce & Industry, “Building a Sustainable and Equitable Garment Industry in California”

You can download the report at tinyurl.com/sustainable-garment

A “Made in Los Angeles County” pilot program that would create a master list of preferred county companies manufacturing goods locally that would be favored for county purchases was advanced by the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, May 5.

A related action calls for the county’s Department of Consumer and Business Affairs to step up investigations of wage theft occurring mostly with immigrant workers at restaurants, car washes, construction sites and within companies that are part of the large garment industry in the county.

The two motions, authored by Second District Supervisor Holly Mitchell and co-authored by First District Supervisor Hilda Solis, combine to take action against businesses that don’t always pay workers for the hours they’ve worked, deny overtime, or fail to provide safe working conditions, while prioritizing responsible manufacturing companies and other businesses, according to the motions.
“Los Angeles County will hold bad actors accountable and reward businesses and workers right here at home,” Mitchell said. “One involves how we enforce the laws against predatory employers. The other involves using the county’s buying power to reward employers doing the right thing by their workers.”

From the list, the county would direct purchasing out of a $6 billion to $8 billion procurement budget from vetted companies for goods, such as uniforms for the Department of Health Services employees, and other types of garments, supplies and services needed by various county departments.

“This motion is a smart investment because every dollar recovered goes back into the pockets of workers,” said Daisy Gonzalez, with the Garment Worker Center. “Also, we are in support of using county purchasing powers to support local, responsible businesses.”

Thank you to Holly J. Mitchell & Hilda Solis, & Supervisor Janice Hahn for unanimously voting to support these motions!

And thanks to Ethix Merch for your collaboration!

Read the full article: https://www.dailynews.com/2026/05/05/made-in-la-county-campaign-takes-step-forward-with-goal-to-uplift-local-manufacturing-immigrant-labor/

Good morning!

Garment Workers are here at the LA County Board of Supervisors to support the Reclaiming Wages Motion & the Local Purchasing Motion, which were authored by Holly J. Mitchell, and support both ethical local manufacturers and workers!

With rising heat temperatures in Los Angeles, make sure you use your sick days to take care of yourself.

If you want to learn more about what production looks like in a garment factory, check out our GWC Loteria set's glossary of terms!

https://gwcs-shop.bigcartel.com/product/gwc-loteria

May Day 2026 — LA

We marched this year for immigrant workers. We marched for California Network for Immigrant and Worker Justice demands for emergency funds for CA immigrants. We marched to demand support for LA garment workers and the local industry as we are the fabric of this city. Solidarity with our siblings in the immigrant rights and labor movements.

SoCalCOSH would like to invite you to our Workers’ Memorial Day event on April 28th at the UCLA Labor Center. Workers' Memorial Day is our annual reminder to honor the dead and fight for the living.

We will gather from 3pm to 6pm *TODAY* for a resource fair and a special program to bring together our community and honor the lives of those we have lost.

Family Accommodations/Toy Give Away:
There will be a designated area for families who would like to step away from the event. A local business has graciously donated toys to our event so we would love for you to leave with a gift for your little ones.

See you there!

It took hours, but our members gave testimony to the LA City's Budget Committee (chaired by Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky, including Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, Tim McOsker, Heather Hutt & Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez) as the city prepares the 2026-27 budget.

We turned out to remind the council that LA has the LARGEST garment manufacturing hub in the country, representing ~20k garment workers, and the industry needs investment!

We also explained that, New York City—inspired by our work—recently launched a program called Midtown Made to support its (much smaller) garment industry, representing around 7K workers. NYC is investing millions in its local garment ecosystem, including $1.8M for a local production fund.

On the other hand, it's been 3 years since since an LA task force created the recommendations for the LA Garment & Fashion Industry Program.

LA Garment workers have been waiting for years for the funds to launch the LA Garment & Fashion Industry Program. In light of tariffs, ICE raids, and economic conditions that have been punishing local businesses and garment workers for the past year, we need investment, now more than ever.

Rana Plaza: 13 Years Later

Garment Worker Center is hosting and supporting several BusinessSource Centers that will be holding office hours for businesses in the garment industry to include technical assistance, business counseling, compliance support, business development, resource navigation, and referrals to partner organizations. For businesses in Council District 1 there is currently an application open to access a grant opportunity for small businesses. You can learn more about this at these office hours.

Our next office hours are taking place THIS Tuesday, April 28 from 3-5pm at GWC’s headquarters in South LA and will continue through the end of June (details below).

Participation is FREE.

BIZSOURCE CENTER OFFICE HOURS
NEXT DATE: 4/28/26
Time: 3-5pm
Location: Garment Worker Center
3610 S. San Pedro St.
LA, CA 90011

Additional dates & times:
5/5/2026 3-5pm
5/14/2026 10a-12p
5/21/26 4-7pm
6/9/2026 9a-11a
6/11/2026 10a-12p
6/18/2026 4-7pm
6/25/2026 9am-11am
06/30/2026 3-5pm

Economic & Workforce Development Department Pacific Asian Consortium in Employment (PACE) Coalition for Responsible Community Development