Factory Raid Yields Fake Designer Clothing
State labor investigators raided a Bell Gardens garment factory and found that designer labels were being sewn on cheap knockoffs, authorities said.
They also found that owner Min Su Paek was paying his 18 employees only $4 an hour when the state minimum wage is $5.75, said Dean Fryer, a spokesman for the state Division of Labor Standards Enforcement.
Investigators raided PK Stitchery in the 7400 block of Scout Avenue on Wednesday, confiscating 15,000 garments, officials said. The owner was ordered to stop operating. Investigators returned Thursday to find all the machinery removed, Fryer said.
Employees said they had been working 12 hours a day, seven days a week and were being paid in cash, Fryer said.
The owner could not be reached for comment. He will be cited for several civil violations, authorities said. Evidence of counterfeiting will be turned over the district attorney’s office, state officials said.
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