30/08/2020 SB 1399 makes retailers accountable for garment worker pay - Los Angeles Times But someone has to pay the real cost of those cheap clothes even if it’s not the American consumer, say labor advocates — who point to the thousands of immigrant workers who can sometimes toil for far less than the minimum wage in small Los Angeles apparel factories. Now, those advocates are proposing the industry’s biggest reforms in a generation, legislation that would turn the traditional pay structure on its head while holding online shops such as Fashion Nova and other retailers including Nordstrom responsible for any wage theft that occurs in the making of their apparel. “If your clothes are being produced in an unlawful condition, you are going to share responsibility, period,” said Dana Hadl, a directing attorney at Bet Tzedek, a Los Angeles nonprofit that provides free legal counsel to workers and drafted the legislation. The bill, SB 1399, is so far-reaching that it’s being labeled by critics as an existential threat to what remains of the region’s once-booming apparel industry, which has shrunk to roughly 45,000 workers after decades of competition from cheap foreign labor. More than a dozen business groups have lined up against it, including the industry’s trade association, the California Chamber of Commerce and the California Retailers Assn. Opposition, though, is not uniform as some high-profile L.A.-area companies are backing the bill, including Reformation, which markets eco-friendly women’s wear and has a celebrity clientele, and Fashion Nova, the popular fast-fashion retailer, which has been accused of turning a blind eye to wage theft but recently announced changes to its contracting practices. Critics say SB 1399 is an existential threat to what remains of the region’s once booming apparel industry, which has shrunk to roughly 45,000 workers from a peak of about 150,000. (Claire Hannah Collins / Los Angeles Times) https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-08-17/fashion-brands-garment-workers-sb1399-joint-liability-piece-rate 2/13

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