At the end of last year, Fashion Nova made headlines because the fast-fashionable fast-fashion brand’s $25 denim and $35 velvet dress were behind a group of “secretly paid workers” who worked in a Los Angeles factory to seek Low cost, but that’s exactly it. Instagrammable-clothing and accessories that have been strongly recognized by superstars such as Cardi B and Kardashian/Jenners. According to a December 2019 report by the New York Times, Fashion Nova’s clothes were “produced in dozens of factories in [Los Angeles] and owed hundreds of workers 3.8 million U.S. dollars in arrears.” Some of them are said to be People pay $2.77 per hour for their sewer drains. ”
Since its establishment in 2006, it has won a lot of millennium history, the fashion nova (Fashion Nova) in Southern California, its public proposition is hardly novel. In fact, they reflect those companies that have long plagued domestic headquarters retail companies. Forever 21, which has gone bankrupt, has been cited by the Department of Labor (“DOL”) many times. s Wage hourly division and its manufacturing practices.
When the “New York Times” made a dramatic exposure, Fashion Nova’s general counsel said: “Any suggestion that Fashion Nova is responsible for paying low salaries to people working on our brand is wrong.” At the same time, the company asserted It deals with more than 700 suppliers whose task is to manufacture specific trending products for sale, which “strictly comply with California law.”
Although DOL’s findings seem to clearly indicate serious wage and labor violations, but only if the company can successfully position itself as a clothing retailer, Fashion Nova’s claim that it is in compliance with California law may be correct. And accessories, not the manufacturer. This technicality is important because it means that companies and other companies can be exempt from liability under AB 633 (the “milestone” anti-sweatshop legislation passed by California two decades ago).
AB 633 was enacted in 1999. Its purpose is to prevent the wages of the garment industry in California full of sweatshops (where the vast majority of the garment industry in the United States is located) from being stolen. Any workers get their wages there. For clothing manufacturing companies that do business with the person, the law seems to be a promising way to eliminate the state’s abuses that have swept the entire clothing manufacturing industry.
However, since the passage of AB 633 (very irritating to Californian fashion and apparel companies), its efficacy has been the subject of constant review. It is worth noting that because AB 633 focuses on individuals who are “injured by clothing manufacturers, staff, contractors, or subcontractors who fail to pay wages or benefits”, the behavior of retailers (such as Fashion Nova) Read the law strictly.
As Hilda Solis, a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors (former U.S. Secretary of Labor), said recently: “In the past 20 years, some retailers and manufacturers have established subcontracts to circumvent the law, thereby avoiding Classified as a garment manufacturer. And avoiding responsibility [according to AB 633], thereby preventing thousands of garment workers in Los Angeles County from recovering stolen wages.”
A key role in the way to promote the manufacturing of molded garments to ensure that wealthy companies can escape responsibility? Forever21. As the Los Angeles Times reported in 2017, when DOL faced a DOL lawsuit involving labor and wage violations in its supply chain, Forever 21 benefited from AB633. In order to avoid legal consequences, “Forever 21 [characteristically lies in] the retailer, not the manufacturer.”, because all the manufacturing of the clothing and accessories sold is done outside the employee chain. Therefore, the company’s lawyers argued that it “has been (at least) one step away from the Los Angeles factory. “Its claim worked: According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, as of 2017, “sewing factories and wholesale manufacturers have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to settle these workers’ claims, and “forever 21″ does not have to pay a cent. money. ”
Other similar companies followed suit and regarded the vulnerability provided by AB 633 as the lifeblood.
In this context, the California State Senate basically did not speak. State Senator María Elena Durazo (María Elena Durazo) introduced and introduced a new bill in February 2020. And subcontractors) are responsible for the wages of individuals employed.
The new bill (SB-1399), if formally enacted, will fill the AB 633 loophole to prevent retailers from evading liability for wage and labor violations that may occur under their roofs but still occur in their supply chains. . Not only that, it will to a large extent ban the commonly used step-by-step wage structure, in which wages should be paid to individuals based on the number of goods they produce, and the hourly wage system should be adopted. This change may help eliminate the overall payment structure, which allows manufacturers to avoid paying workers the county’s current minimum hourly wage of $14.25.
Solis pointed out that there are an estimated 45,000 garment workers in Los Angeles County. The average hourly wage of garment workers is $5.15 per hour, and their normal working hours are more than 12 hours a day, and their weekly working hours are between 60 and 70 hours.
However, in addition to extending the definition of garment manufacturing to include dyeing, changing the design of garments, and attaching labels to garments, the bill will also authorize the State Labor Commissioner’s Field Enforcement Bureau investigators to publish references throughout the supply chain. , Not just to the contractor, so that the competent authority has the ability to be responsible to the “retailer”.
The law has not yet been signed, and the bill has received mixed responses. Although it received preliminary approval from the California State Senate Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee in May, and recently received overall approval from the State Senate, there is no doubt that it faces suppression from various entities including California Fashion. The association is a trade organization whose members include companies such as Dov Charney’s Los Angeles Apparel, Alibaba and Topson Downs, as well as law firms known for their resistance to Fashion Nova and Forever 21.
As of now, the bill still needs to be approved by the state legislature, and ultimately must be signed by Governor Gavin Newsom (Gavin Newsom) before it can be passed.
Provide and conduct advertising courses to teach consumers how to use… to make the most famous handbags in the world.
The shareholders of The RealReal filed a lawsuit against the executives and directors of this luxury resale company…
H&M received a record-breaking fine of 35.26 million euros (41.56 million US dollars) for its atter theft…
Three years ago, in a lawsuit filed by the beauty brand Arcona over their respective uses, Farmacy had the upper hand.