rHope Partners with Garment Worker Center Los Angeles

rHope is happy to have a new partnership with The Garment Worker Center and had a great time visiting the center with Marissa Nuncio. Garment Worker Center (GWC) is a worker rights organization whose mission is to organize low-wage garment workers in Los Angeles in the fight for social and economic justice.  GWC also promotes fair trade shopping and they sell handmade, fair trade items from around the world through their Shop With a Heart Project. Their intention is to provide alternatives to mass produced, sweatshop-made clothing and goods at affordable prices.. We are excited that they will be selling some of our wallets and clutches.

Each purchase provides livelihoods for women who live in poverty in India via Chhoti si Asha and also goes towards to protecting garment workers in Los Angeles. If you purchase one of our amazing wallets you are also choosing a product that is made of jute, a biodegradable material and also has fabrics made from repurposed materials. One product gives to three causes!

Below is a bit more on Garment Workers.

The idea to create a Garment Worker Center was during the infamous Thai garment worker slave case in El Monte California. Dozens of workers had been trafficked from Thailand and imprisoned in an apartment building made into a makeshift factory.

GWC addresses the systemic problems of wage theft, unhealthy and unsafe working conditions, and the abusive and inhumane treatment faced by workers on-the-job.

They are the only center in Los Angeles, and the state, dedicated entirely to garment worker issues.

I’m so glad Garment Workers approached us! I first learned about them with an event we worked together on with South Asians for Justice Los Angeles and a few other organizations. The event was to raise awareness about the collapse of the Rana Plaza-8 story building  which lead to a death toll of over 1000, making it one of the worst garment disasters in history.