Photos:: Finding balance in L.A.’s minimum wage discussion

Jaime Sebastian stretches to cut white fabric at Groceries Apparel. After years of scraping to build a business with a social conscience, using home-grown labor rather than foreign sweat shops, owner Rob Lohman is only now beginning to turn a profit.  (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

Marisol Ventura stitches together T-shirts at Groceries Apparel. Owner Rob Lohman isn’t sure whether City Hall’s plans for gradual increases that could take the minimum wage to more than $15 an hour will give their workers a reasonable boost in pay or put them out of work.   (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

Matt Boelk, left, and Rob Lohman, owners of Groceries Apparel, pose for a portrait inside their downtown warehouse. Lohman left real estate in 2010 to take this entrepreneurial gamble. He began with a $1,000 investment and brought in Boelk, a buddy from UC Santa Barbara.   (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

Floor manager Julio Pascual gathers finished T-shirts in the sewing department at Groceries Apparel. That entrepreneurial clothing company at 7th and Alameda offers a good snapshot of owners with good intentions but a few reservations.  (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

Amelia Lopez at work in the sewing department at Groceries Apparel. Not all employees are equally skilled, said co-owner Matt Boelk. If he’s mandated to pay $13 an hour to an employee whose productivity rate is closer to $9 an hour, that can be a drag on the business.   (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)