California Apparel News

Garment workers who filed suit against XOXO Clothing Company Inc. last month announced a settlement has been reached with the Vernon, Calif.-based contemporary juniors manufacturer to pay the workers $62,000 for wages owed by XOXO contractor Martinez & Sons Sportswear.

The settlement is five times the wages the workers are owed for an approximate six-week period they received no payment from the contactor. The settlement amount and the time it took to reach an agreement between the manufacturer and representatives for the plaintiffs, Los Angeles-based Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC), has come as a surprise to all parties, according to Muneer Ahmad, a staff attorney for the APALC.

“I think that XOXO realized that they were going to have a fight on their hands and that it was going to be a losing fight,” Ahmad said.

The timing, just weeks before the holidays, couldn’t be better for the 12 workers, Ahmad added.

“Here are a couple of workers who, just a few weeks before Christmas, are going to get several thousand dollars each to help get through the holidays. I think they are very happy with the settlement,” he said.

Ahmad said the wages awarded varied from worker to worker, that legal fees incurred—which he would not divulge—were “minimal,” allowing that they were “several thousand dollars each.”

The hasty settlement prompted industry speculation that XOXO heeded to demands from its New York-based parent company Aris Industries Inc. to settle the case quickly, quietly and economically—a scenario Michael Novicoff, attorney for XOXO, dismissed as “not at all true.”

There has “never been a difference of opinion between the parent and the subsidiary in this matter,” he added.

Novicoff also went on to say that he was “a little troubled” that the efficient resolution of the settlement would suggest to the public that “we did something wrong.”

“The truth is we feel that anyone involved in the production of our garments should be treated properly and fairly,” said Novicoff. “Nobody ever alleged that XOXO did anything wrong here, and I think the lawyers for the workers would agree with that as well. This lawsuit was filed because one of our contractors failed to pay its employees.”

XOXO will now pursue legal matters with George Arrington, an owner of Martinez & Sons at the time of the alleged labor violations, Novicoff said.

Ahmad claims media attention spurred at his group’s first press conference, held on the sidewalk in front of the company’s Rodeo Drive store, caused enough consumers to contact XOXO to ask about the case.

“I think consumer pressure played a role in that it sent a message to XOXO that not only were they going to be held accountable to the workers involved in the case, but also to consumers,” said Ahmad.

Novicoff, in turn, said he was “not aware” of any public outcry involving the case.

“We’ve never really done anything but settle as soon as we found out about the problem,” said Novicoff. “We came forward and made good on our promises.”