Thursday, a strange calm above the downtown Los Angeles district. Whole windows of windows have been closed. The only noise was the low boost in front of a boba store.
In what few companies were open, customers were rare. A rumor had circulated – via a WhatsApp screenshot – that two large clothing wholesalers in the region had to be attacked that day, several owners and employees said.
The raid never materialized, but the effect was clear. The region has already made a ghost city after a raid by Apparel federal agents on June 6 This led to the detention of dozens of people, was somehow even quieter and more empty than the previous days.
“No one knows what is really going on. Nobody knows where raids happen, so people are publishing things and create fear,” Adnan Akram, the owner of I Heart Fashion, told Santee Alley. “It is sort of harming the economy as a whole.”
Akram said that the day after the raid with an apparel atmosphere, he had seen a 50% drop in activity in his store compared to a normal Saturday. Sunday was even slower, he said. On Monday and the following days, “it was a ghost city,” he said.
In addition to Akram, about half a dozen owners or employees of companies in the region told Times that their sales had dropped by around 50% last week.
Certain owners of brands who employ undocumented immigrants or who have papers but who still fear federal agents, have returned workers to the house and interrupted operations.
“It was super slow. You can see how it is outside,” said Crystal Torres behind the counter of its Santee Street store, jewelry jewelry, framed by rows of sparkling handbags. “I have invoices. I have a child to support. ”
Torres said she was worried about her community.
“My mom was undocumented,” she said. “It hurts. We are Latinos. I worry about my friends. ”
The generally lively and dynamic fashion district extends over more than 100 blocks in downtown Los an
More than 15,000 people work in the region, according to data from a 2024 report Of the district of improvement of companies in the fashion district. Last year, more than 18 million people visited the district.
The business improvement district of the fashion district, a private group of owners of properties in the region, said that the region had experienced a strong fall in pedestrian traffic from the apparent atmosphere raid.
Visitors to stores and business in the fashion district dropped 33% last Sunday compared to a week earlier. Visitors to Santee Alley fell 50% over the same period, said the group.
“So many people have volunteered to help clean the graffiti or collect garbage, but the biggest help will be to go out and shop in these small businesses,” said Anthony Rodriguez, president and chief executive officer in the business improvement district. “You will potentially help families who may have been victims of ice raids.”
Business owners in the region have expressed their fear in the face of the financial and physical security of their activities, he said.
“They are afraid and they do not know what it means for them, their businesses or their families,” he said. “We are not a district of large companies and businesses. We are mom and pop stores, mainly belonging to immigrants. ”
The fashion industry began to explode in Los Angeles after the Second World War, with creators of Hollywood costumes entering the scene, said Ilse Metchek, the former president of California Fashion Assn., Who has worked in industry since the 1950s.
The American creators, including those who have shaped costumes such as the emblematic white dress of Marilyn Monroe from “The Seven Year Itch”, took on importance. Above the same time, the swimsuit company took off, while the rationing of the fabric in wartime rises and the culture has moved to allow a less modest and more playful expression.
In the 1960s, a patchwork of exhibition halls and stores called California Mart was created in the city center which has become a must in the fashion world, and around which other district companies prospered.
“It was the center of the universe with regard to clothes,” said Metchek. The complex remains, although it is now known as California Market Center and works as more than one high -end shopping center.
Large fashion names such as American Apparel and Forever 21 have had major presences in the region. Forever 21 closes its doors in the city center after bankruptcy deposit; American Apparel Faced similar financial strugglesBut its founder has created a new label, Los Angeles Apparel, which has a factory store in the district.
Today, Metchek said that it estimated that around 80% of workers in the fashion district are immigrants. When she owned and operated a manufacturing company in the 1980s, she said that she had benefited from So President Reagan Signing a new law which has given legal status and a path to citizenship to many unauthorized residents.
This “amnesty” law created a “palpable difference in the attitude” of the employees she had undocumented, she said.
“Before that, when they left my premises, they looked right and left to see if the ice was there, every day, all the time. They lived with it,” said Metchek. “We had the same problem and now it’s like the same thing.”
Immigrants are not only the workforce of the fashion industry; In the neighborhood, they are also customers and business owners.
Jennifer Flotas said her husband, a Mexican immigrant, started her wholesale belongings in the fashion neighborhood about 10 years ago. He was undocumented at the time.
Although he is a citizen now, she said that she could imagine the stress of keeping the business open while fearing the expulsion. They sent their four workers to the house this week as a precaution.
“It’s a frightening period,” said Flatas. “Many people close their businesses and do not come back. It is better to be safe than sorry.”
Javier, a clothing worker in the region who refused to give his last name, works in a factory apizing with clothes alongside around twenty other workers. The speech of the Raid to the atmosphere is quickly widespread to workers from other factories, he said. He and other workers left early during the day and did not return.
The manufacturer, whom Javier asked not to be appointed, remained closed all week.
The 54 -year -old said that he did not know how he would financially provide his family if he couldn’t go to work. He lives with his wife, daughter and 9-year-old grandchildren. Only his daughter, who has legal status, leaves the house.
“We are mainly put in cage,” he said.
The fashion district is not as important on the economy of Los Angeles as before, said economist Christopher Thornberg de Beacon Economics.
“The clothing industry has been struggling for some time,” he said. “He has trouble because it is an expensive place to do business … And clothes are a company that is really difficult to do in the United States.”
The reality is that undocumented migrants are “only part of our workforce,” added Thornberg. “Obviously, it’s bad for these families and it’s bad for these companies, and I don’t think you are doing a lot outside of fear and then try to create political points for yourself.”
A handful of customers have gone through Santee Alley – a normally colorful experience. But on Thursday, they were entitled to mainly metal grids.
Not a single customer sailed in an accessory, an Alley Jim Hwang store has been operating for more than two decades. Business has been lamentable for six days in a row, said Hwang.
“My opinion is that most people work hard. (The federal government) think if they have no documents, they are criminals and should be expelled. But most people work,” said Hwang.
Malia Lew, a sales associate at the Sunday Brunch, a swimsuit wholesaler, said that she had her identification and work documents since Raid of room clothes – even if she is an American citizen.
“We thought we too were searched, and we heard that they were taking anyone,” said Lew.
The minimalist showcase which she works has two colorful bikinis racks that line the two sides. Lew sits at an office backwards, facing the front entrance. The door is open to customers, but she said she was ready to lock the door at any time.
Lew’s boss assured her that she could close the store if she needs it.
“I will not compromise my security,” said Lew.