The Hidden Side of Fashion, a Mission Sewing Factory

SF Indie Fashion posted a compelling story that originally appeared in Action Orange yesterday, in which blogger Lisa Katayama visited a recently abandoned sewing factory located in the Mission. Katayama's friend Jenny spent much of her childhood playing in the factory, while her mother worked among a dozen or so other Chinese women making stacks of dresses for Macy’s at a wage of $2-3 per dress, which in turn sold for hundreds of dollars each.

One of the businesses in the factory, which had been in operation for thirty years, closed this month due to declining revenues. Most of the women who worked there, who don't speak English, are uneducated, and don't possess any other skills besides sewing, will now be filing for unemployment. As SF Indie Fashion put it, "It’s a reminder that fashion is not born on the rack, nor is it all glitz and glam, and that, yes, real people make the clothes, shoes and handbags we covet and blog about and wear."