There is no Fashion District
without garment workers.
The DTLA 2040 Community plan does not serve as a plan for the Garment District, its residents, or its workers and will displace our industry, labor, and our own community as it exists today.
Being able to create, collaborate, and manufacture in a central space provides the connectivity necessary for our industry to thrive.
The DTLA 2040 Community Redevelopment Plan.
DTLA 2040 is a community plan for Downtown Los Angeles that will establish development standards for the next two decades.
“The garment district redevelopment plan, also known as 2040, is a legislation that is currently in motion to rezone the Los Angeles garment district by 2040. The reformation plans currently laid out by the city zoning board would be detrimental to what remains of the garment industry and community in the area.” — The Garment Worker Center
The plan is centered around the introduction of more housing in downtown Los Angeles through rezoning the permitted uses for existing buildings. The plan aims for 20% of the housing growth proposed for the city to be constructed in the downtown area.
The DTLA 2040 website centers prosperity as one of its pillars, with a goal to “Support DTLA’s status as a world-class destination for tourism, food and culture by supporting the hospitality industry’s growth.”
It aims to achieve this through allowing “new restaurants to provide beer and wine across DTLA to support small businesses and grow DTLA as a vibrant cultural destination,” and encouraging “hotel development across DTLA to support tourism and remove hurdles to new hotels in the Fashion District and Arts District.”
What harm will 2040 cause?
As members of the Coalition to Protect Garment Worker Jobs, we believe that the DTLA 2040 Community plan does not serve our district, which relies on the existence of industrial use buildings.
The locality and functionality of the Garment District is what creates the connectivity and scaffolding necessary for our work continue on as it has for the last 130 years.
The actions proposed by 2040 will undoubtably suffocate our industry.
This displacement has already begun with stricter certification and license policies. Both of which have become arduous and nearly impossible to attain through insufficient staffing and few resources for businesses who did not previously require them. We have also seen firsthand, that permitted building uses have already begun to change, preventing the introduction of new manufacturing businesses in advance of the plan’s launch.
"It's an existing industry that can't be ignored or dismissed or steamrolled for luxury development." — Marissa Nuncio, executive director of the Garment Worker Center
What can we do?
Organizers like the Garment Worker Center dedicate their efforts towards raising awareness and amending the plan to be inclusive of the industry as it stands. GWC is a workers' rights organization whose mission is to unite LA garment workers in the fight for social and economic justice.
GWC is at the front of this movement, and is spearheading the campaign and coalition to Protect Garment Worker Jobs. Anyone can show support for the cause through signing the petition, learning more and spreading awareness about the risks the plan poses, and by taking action. We encourage LA locals to learn the history, and come out to hear GWC speakers, attend demonstrations, and volunteer with GWC programming.
Thanks to the work of the GWC and the show of solidarity from the community, there have been some succeses!
As of May 2023, the proposed development plan has been adapted to include some vital alterations, like the prohibition of new hotels in the Garment District, incentives to build more housing if a property owner dedicates 50% of their building to manufacturing, a prohibition on conversion of viable industrial spaces into luxury lofts, and some protections against displacement of garment businesses in existing buildings.
However, there is still much more to fight for.