by After nearly 30 years of representing the movers and shakers in the state’s apparel and textile industry, the California Fashion Association is undergoing a major change.
The Los Angeles-based association, which had 400 members 10 years ago, is merging with the California Retailers Association in northern California.
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The move comes as CFA membership has dwindled to 143 over the years, and it has been difficult to find a replacement for Ilse Metchek, the organization’s first and only president who led the non-profit since its incorporation in 1995.
Metchek had considered closing the group that is the voice of the industry on a number of issues, including federal and state legislation and issues facing LA as the nation’s largest clothing manufacturer.
“Succession planning has been on the books for 15 years,” Metchek wrote to CFA members when she recently announced the merger. “However, due to financial constraints resulting from insufficient participation in the membership, it is not possible to maintain two ‘executive’ salary levels. In fact, even getting an effective administrative assistant was a ‘message’ based on the income received.”
She said a subsequent conversation with the California Retailers Association, a 60-year-old nonprofit based in Sacramento, was about a merger because the two organizations often address the same topics that affect their industries. “They are currently working on the issues affecting major California retailers for apparel, home furnishings and sporting goods,” Metchek noted. “The problems we have in our industry are the problems they have now, from shipping to legislation to education.”
She notes that theft is another concern that affects both retailers and manufacturers as well as sustainability, new technologies, minimum wage and waste management.
When Metchek announced she was considering retirement, there was an outpouring of people who didn’t want to see her go. “Ina, you kept the voice of the industry alive and made this town a player,” wrote Jonathan Kaye of Kayo from California, a longtime Los Angeles clothing maker.
“Glad to hear you’re not retiring,” wrote Maureen Storch, senior vice president of membership for the American Apparel & Footwear Association. “Congratulations on your merger with the CRA.”
“You’ve done a great job,” wrote Ed Mandelbaum, president of the bicoastal Designers & Agents contemporary fashion trade show launched in 1998.
Metchek is stepping down as CFA president, but will serve as an independent industry consultant to the association, helping to write the CFA newsletter and providing other valuable information. The CRA will distribute the CFA newsletter and seek continued membership. In addition to advising the CFA, Metchek will consult with various clients on specific programs, create seminars and analyze current events and how they affect the textile and apparel industry.
The California Fashion Association was organized a year before an explosive clothing scandal in 1995. Authorities found up to 80 workers sewing clothes in slave-like conditions in an apartment complex surrounded by razor wire in the Los Angeles suburb of El Monte . . Some said they had been there for years and were unable to leave because they had paid off debts allegedly incurred in bringing them from Thailand to the United States. The scandal spread across the country and was a black eye for the LA clothing industry.
LA Mayor Richard Riordan wanted to prevent this type of incident from happening again. As a result, Metchek was tapped to lead the newly formed nonprofit to promote industry awareness, disseminate information to manufacturers, educate the public and conduct outreach.
In many ways, Metchek is the glue that holds the industry together with her more than 50 years of experience. For 17 years, she worked at Anjac, a major clothing manufacturer in downtown Los Angeles, where she started as a designer and buyer and eventually became president. In 1983, after her first husband, Mitch Metchek, died, she took $250,000 in insurance money and bought Anjac to control her own destiny. She renamed it Ilse M, making dresses until she closed the company in 1991.
She wanted to be the president of White Stag Inc., a division of Warnaco Industries, for a few years, and then moved to the California Market Center, a hub of clothing and textile showrooms, where she was an executive until she took over the CFA. .
She fought hard to preserve the industry and maintain the 40,000 apparel and textile manufacturing jobs that make LA the center of US apparel production, which never stays the same. “Day to day, week to week, month to month, it’s a constant change,” Metchek said. “It can be bad. It might be good, but you’re never bored.”
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