From the first stitch of a sewing machine to the finishes on a hem, women have long powered Los Angeles’s independent fashion scene—and this summer, their businesses are on the edge. Dozens of female founders built their brands around the promise of “Made in America,” investing sweat equity and community ties to keep production local. Now, a surge of ICE raids—ordered by the Trump administration to target low-wage industries—has emptied out the garment district—home to about 40,000 workers—and thrust those very labels into crisis.
Marissa Nuncio, director of the Garment Worker Center, has spent recent weeks fielding unrelenting calls from seamstresses and cutters. “Workers are telling us that they’re fearful of going to work, that they’re fearful of going to the grocery store, that they need to go to the clinic…but they’re too scared to leave the house,” she says, describing an entire network of women-led teams paralyzed by anxiety and uncertainty. When basic errands and everyday needs become battlegrounds, production is certainly impossible.
