[dropcap size=big]L[/dropcap]ured by the promise of a restaurant job paying $1,000 a month, Yeni Dewi travelled to the United States on a tourist visa in 2013. Once here, she was forced to work as domestic help at a house in Sherman Oaks. She was made to work for around 18 hours daily and received only $200 every 35 to 38 days. She managed to escape after a couple of years and has been a garment worker ever since. The pay isn’t that much better.
Currently Dewi works at a garment manufacturing factory near the intersection of Wall Street and 8th Street on the outskirts of the Fashion District. Dewi said that the factory is a supplier for Fashion Nova. But Dewi earns around $300 to $350 per month even though she works at least 40 hours every week.
This is because garment workers don’t get paid by the hour, they get paid per alteration.
“I don’t like the situation, but I have no other choice,” said Dewi, who has a daughter here, and a son who lives back home in Indonesia with Dewi's mother.
According to a report by CIT Group Inc. and the California Fashion Association, the fashion industry in Los Angeles generates at least $18 billion in revenue. However, behind the world of mass-produced garments from fast-fashion brands like Zara, Forever 21, and Fashion Nova, lies an underbelly of exploited workers receiving less than minimum wage and working in sweatshop conditions in cities around the world.