Tough times for the L.A. apparel industry
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It’s already no fun to be a manufacturer these days, as people stop shopping for those fabulous winter clothes you designed back in 2008 when everything didn’t stink. Now a law passed last year by Congress is making it even harder to be a kids’ clothing manufacturer these days -- though safer for kids.
The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act bans the sale of any items that contain more than 600 parts per million of lead after Feb. 10. Hundreds of L.A. garment makers and designers say they heard about the law only recently and now are scrambling to get all of their clothing tested before the deadline.
Worse, today begins market day at the California Market Center, meaning all sorts of buyers are going to begin deciding which children’s clothing they’ll buy, and they’ll probably ask if it has been tested. And you thought the Filene’s Basement wedding dress sale was pandemonium.
Consultant Jennifer Taggart has been helping designers test their garments before the deadline, putting in 75 hour weeks and long, long days. She says most stuff passes, though she did have to break the news to one business owner that all of her garments failed.
Definitely not a fun time to be a manufacturer. To read more, check out today’s article about how the CPSIA is affecting the local apparel industry.
-- Alana Semuels
