Alliance for Responsible Apparel Manufacturing and Purchasing (ARAMP)

Income inequality

Central LA East LA South LA San Gabriel Valley Gateway Cities

Pilot or new project, program, or initiative (testing or implementing a new idea)

L.A. boasts the largest garment workforce and manufacturing hub in the United States. The city's unique ecosystem includes hundreds of cut & sew factories, dye houses, screen printers, designers, recyclers, and numerous other creative, manufacturing, and distribution firms, all driving a vital economic engine for the region. The apparel industry, both locally and globally however, is rife with wage theft, discrimination, and sweatshop conditions, including in Los Angeles. The power imbalance between factory owners and global brands has resulted in a “race to the bottom” dynamic, in which the lowest manufacturing bid gets the production contract, which makes it extremely difficult for ethical manufacturers to stay in business. Consequently, workers face rampant labor violations that limit economic opportunity.

ARAMP’s core strategies are:
Standards Enforcement, Worker Empowerment:
ARAMP establishes tiered labor standards to which factories agree to adhere, including the right to form a union. These factories form a Designated Factory List (DFL). The GWC will oversee committees of workers currently employed at the factories, who will monitor conditions and report violations to the GWC to ensure compliance with ARAMP standards.
The committees will provide a space for workers to develop new skills. They will create leadership opportunities, such as committee governance, meeting facilitation, report writing, and training employees in the ARAMP standards monitoring process.
The GWC will establish a parallel High-Road Training Program (HRTP) in which workers will garner skills such as ESL, digital literacy, advanced sewing, pattern making, and sustainable production techniques. ARAMP partners will have access to HRTP trained workers and opportunities to send existing employees to training.
Recruitment of Institutional Purchasing Partners:
ARAMP will facilitate new opportunities for participating factories by connecting them to organizations that commit to source from ARAMP approved factories. The heart of this work will be to ensure consistent, long-term contracts to support ethical manufacturing, and jobs creation.
We will launch a campaign in Fall 2025 to generate pledges from institutional purchasers to produce 50,000 garments between Labor Day 2025 and May Day 2026.

ARAMP focuses on the 35,000+ garment workers in LA, most of whom are immigrants, women, and people of color from low-income communities and highly vulnerable to exploitation. By empowering workers and supporting local, ethical manufacturers, ARAMP will directly improve the working conditions and economic opportunities for this marginalized population.
Steering institutional purchasing dollars to local factories will spur investment in our economy, benefitting not just factory workers, but all those connected to the garment-production ecosystem, such as designers, garment dyers, printers, and embroiderers.
Los Angeles’ vibrant industry allows for transformational ideas to be explored and experimented with, particularly those with worker-centered approaches and a focus on sustainability. What we achieve in L.A. can serve as a model for the global industry, demonstrating how innovative worker-centered practices can lead to a more equitable and sustainable future.