California Apparel News

After several years in decline, California’s manufacturing jobs held steady in 2006, according to the most recent data available from the California Employment Development Department (EDD). Textile mills, which posted a 5 percent jump in 2005, didn’t fare as well, suffering a 3.1 percent drop in 2006.

In California, the number of apparel manufacturing employees— including those working in apparel, knitting mills and cut-and-sew factories—grew from 78,000 individuals in 2005 to 79,200 in 2006. Though meager, the half-a-percentagepoint growth represents the first uptick in California’s apparel manufacturing in several years. In 2005, Los Angeles County alone saw a loss of 3,000 manufacturing jobs as companies looked overseas for less expensive production. This year, the county lost only 200 manufacturing jobs.

Jack Kyser, chief economist with the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., said it appears that apparel manufacturing employment in the state has leveled off. “It could be that most of the manufacturing jobs that could go to Asia already have gone,” Kyser said. Another factor keeping apparel manufacturing jobs steady is California’s recent influx of fast fashion. “We’ve got H&M, Zara and Forever 21,” he said. “They want new, and they want it right away. You can’t have fast fashion if your goods are in a container for a month on the ocean.”

Textile mills in Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange counties saw job losses that drove the state’s number of textile employees to shrink approximately 3 percent over last year. Of the counties that track textile mill employment, only Los Angeles County posted no losses, keeping all of its 10,500 employees.

The Inland Empire posted the state’s most robust growth in clothing and accessories retail employment, with a 9.2 percent jump over last year. Alameda and Contra Costa counties followed Riverside and San Bernardino counties, posting the state’s second-best retail employment growth, with a 6.9 percent increase over last year. Only Orange County posted losses in retail employment, losing 1,100 jobs between October 2005 and October 2006.

“Retail [employment] numbers are skewed this year because of the Federated acquisition of Macy’s.We have stores still sitting vacant. It should be interesting to see what retailers move in to occupy the stores left empty by the merger,” Kyser said.

—Erin Barajas