Los Angeles Fashion District

Fashion District
Neighborhood of Los Angeles
LA Fashion District

Logo
Fashion District
Location within Downtown Los Angeles
Coordinates: 34°02′14″N 118°15′23″W / 34.037168°N 118.256404°W / 34.037168; -118.256404
Country  United States
State  California
County County of Los Angeles
City  Los Angeles
Area code(s) 213

The Los Angeles Fashion District is a design, warehouse, and distribution nexus of the clothing, accessories and fabric industry in Downtown Los Angeles. The Fashion District spans 90 blocks and is the hub of the apparel industry on the West Coast of the United States.[1]

Thousands of fast-fashion wholesale vendors line the streets of the Los Angeles Fashion District. Fast-fashion vendors stock the most recent fashion trends straight from the catwalk.[2]

Clothing companies that manufacture in the Fashion District include American Apparel and Andrew Christian.

In March and October, the district is recognized for Los Angeles Fashion Week. Crowds. Celebrities, designers, media, guests, and VIP’s from all over the country come to sneak the first peek at new collections and trends. The LA Fashion Magazine highlights new designers, trend reports, fashion news, collections, and photos straight from the catwalk during fashion week.[3]

The District is also home to the Los Angeles Flower District and Santee Alley, the downtown open air bazaar.

Designer showrooms and wholesale businesses are trade-only, but the district is open to the public, specifically Santee Alley and businesses in the surrounding area. Many businesses on the west side of the district are open to the public on the last Friday of the month for sample sales.

History

Fashion District, Pico & Santee

The Los Angeles garment industry was established early in the 20th century, and grew substantially in the 1920s and 1930s.[4] In the 1950s, the area became a center for sportswear and women's clothing, partly with the contributions of Jewish entrepreneurs who had moved to the area from New York City.[5] Sephardic Jews from North Africa and France entered the area's garment trade in the 1970s; followed by Persian Jews fleeing the 1979 Islamic Revolution; and then Korean immigrants who first emigrated from South Korea to Brazil, where they had operated fashion businesses.[5][6] By 2000, the area's textile trade was dominated by Middle Easterners (including Iranians and Israelis) and North Africans, followed by Koreans.[5] As of 2015, at least a third of the businesses were Korean, according to the Korean American Apparel Manufacturers Association.[7]

The garment district’s evolution to include retailing in addition to manufacturing and wholesale sales, began in the Santee Alley. An alley that serviced the back doors of manufacturing and wholesale businesses, these businesses would open retail outlets out their back doors for one or two days a week. These retail operations grew into full-time businesses along four blocks and transformed the alley into a bazaar.[8]

In 1995, a group of business owners in the Garment District established a business improvement district to improve the neighborhood.[9] In 1996 the new group formally changed the name of the Garment District to the Los Angeles Fashion District.[10] At the time, the Garment District consisted of 56 blocks.[9]

Santee Alley

Santee Alley is a heavily populated shopping path in the Fashion District between Maple and Santee Streets, stretching from Olympic Boulevard to Pico Boulevard. Counterfeit goods have been sold in Santee Alley.[11] Similarly, the alley is also known for its illegal trade in live animals, which has been criticized by animal rights activists as cruel.[12]

At times the LAPD has raided the alley to arrest counterfeiters. During a two-day raid in 2006, authorities seized $18.4 million worth of counterfeit designer brand merchandise from two downtown locations. On May 23, 2006, police raided a swap meet located at 500 South Los Angeles Street and found fake Tiffany jewelry worth about $6.4 million and arrested two adults. On May 24, 2006, police also raided and seized 12 million worth of counterfeit handbags, clothes, sunglasses, shoes and wallets on Santee Alley between 12th Street and Olympic Boulevard.[13]

References

  1. ↑ 2012-2013 Official Visitors Map, Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board, 2012
  2. ↑ "Wholesale Archives - Los Angeles Fashion District". Los Angeles Fashion District. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  3. ↑ "The LA Fashion - The LA fashion magazine". Los Angeles Fashion - LA Fashion magazine. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  4. ↑ "L.A. Story".
  5. 1 2 3 "A Casbah for Clothes Is Bustling in California". The New York Times. 20 August 2000.
  6. ↑ Dave Gardetta (7 July 2008). "Downtown 2.0: Santee Alley". Los Angeles Magazine.
  7. ↑ Victoria Kim (2 September 2015). "The fight to keep Korean businesses in L.A." Los Angeles Times.
  8. ↑ "Deluxe".
  9. 1 2 "DOWNTOWN : Owners Advocate Tax to Improve Garment District". latimes.
  10. ↑ Anna Scott (27 October 2008). "Fashion District, Take Two". Los Angeles Downtown News - For Everything Downtown L.A.!.
  11. ↑ "Counterfeit Gap joins the counterfeit Gucci". latimes.
  12. ↑ Sean Carmody. "Last Chance for Animals - LA Fashion District Animal Sales".
  13. ↑ "Police Seized Counterfeit Merchandise".

Coordinates: 34°02′14″N 118°15′23″W / 34.037168°N 118.256404°W / 34.037168; -118.256404

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