Posted on 10/10/2009 11:01:32 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The reality television show "Project Runway" this season is putting the spotlight on Los Angeles, where designers toil in a loft downtown, competing to win $100,000 to start their own clothing line.
The local industry could use the boost. L.A.'s once-flourishing garment design and manufacturing industry is shedding jobs as quickly as a mohair sweater loses its fur.
Weak U.S. consumer spending is generating less demand for the services of the people who stitch, cut and sew clothing in Los Angeles County. Garment manufacturers are finding it tough to get credit. Some, like American Apparel Inc., are dismissing employees whose papers aren't in order as the government keeps a closer eye on workers' immigration status. New environmental regulations are requiring textile mills to reduce their emissions, while makers of children's clothing are finding it costlier to comply with federal consumer safety requirements.
"It's a pretty lengthy list of headaches out there for apparel companies," said Jack Kyser, founding economist of the Kyser Center for Economic Research at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. "These are several bottles of aspirin-worthy problems."
As recently as a decade ago, downtown L.A.'s apparel industry was thriving. At the peak in 1996, more than 119,000 textile and apparel workers toiled in the Los Angeles County industry, the nation's largest.
But trade agreements that lifted tariffs on foreign-made apparel encouraged U.S. manufacturers to shift production to Mexico and Central America, where wages are significantly cheaper. Meanwhile, China has become a low-cost, mass-production juggernaut, with industrial cities dedicated to a single product such as socks.
Textile and apparel employment in Los Angeles County has slipped to about 58,000 workers currently, according to the California Employment Development Department. The industry has lost 6,000 jobs in the last three years.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Obamanomics: Hostility to Business. Hatred of America.
Yep, and all the garment faggots are sure going to regret the One they voted for. Man, what an unmitigated disaster, in my late 60s I will not live to see this recover for my granddaughters. I'm so sorry girls but I sure didn't vote for this fraud.
I used to do a lot of remodeling in those buildings and we always knew them as rag factories!
*** I’m so sorry girls but I sure didn’t vote for this fraud. ***
Snort! You’r just jealous HE was nominated, and won, a Nobel peace prize after less than two months in office.;-D
Good riddance......Ship the entire industry with the illegal aliens to Texas or Mexico, and make sure all the greedy AHs that hired these tens of thousands of illegal aliens, are forced to go with these corrupt businesses.
Peasant clothing is in style, until globalism has been dealt with. The globalist regime is about to fall.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.