L.A. Industry: Giving Back with Style

The Los Angeles apparel industry has a long history of supporting charities within its own community and the community at large. But too often the industry gets mired in its own publicity—both good and bad—and the sense of community that fosters such philanthropic work is overlooked. This year, California Apparel News has taken a look at the charity work done by some of the prominent apparel and textile industry organizations in Los Angeles. It is by no means a comprehensive list of the good work done by members of the fashion industry. Indeed, members of the apparel and textile industries organize fundraisers and host events nearly year-round to benefit worthy organizations. This is just a sampling of a few of the ways the industry gives back with style.

California Mart Designer of the Year Ahmanson UCLA Adult Congenital Heart Disease Center

The Ahmanson/UCLA Adult Congenital Heart Disease Center will be the beneficiary of proceeds from this year’s California Mart Designer of the Year Awards. The awards ceremony will be reinstated in spring 2001, after a six-month hiatus, to honor Los Angeles designers and raise money for the medical center, which is a tertiary referral facility that provides services specifically tailored to the needs of adults with congenital heart disease.

Judah Hertz, principal in Hertz Investment Corp. and owner of the California Mart, has hosted an annual dinner Gala for the past four years to raise funds for the Ahmanson/UCLA Congenital Heart Disease Center, founded by Dr. Joseph K. Perloff, director of the center. This year the dinner gala will take on a twist, combining California’s apparel industry with the charity event.

Karen Mamont, executive director of marketing for the California Mart, said she wanted to bring back the Designer of the Year Awards and jumped at the chance to combine it with Hertz’s annual benefit.

“California designers need to be honored—they are unique,” said Mamont.

“Taking what the apparel industry does best and what it contributes to Los Angeles and California as a whole and attaching that to Judah’s benefit is a great opportunity,” she continued.

Hertz Investment owns several prominent buildings in Los Angeles, including the Wiltern Theatre and the Jewelry Mart, but Mamont said the most recent acquisition, the California Mart, is more than a building. It’s the main center of California’s fashion industry, she said.

Hertz took a humble approach to his fundraising efforts for the UCLA Congenital Heart Disease Center, saying, “God puts people in certain positions to do things.”

The California Mart Designer of the Year Awards will be held at the Park Plaza Hotel on April 1, 2001, and will feature a fashion show and silent auction.

To attend, sponsor or donate items to the event, contact Mamont at (213) 630-3737.California Fashion Foundation

The California Fashion Foundation (CFF), a branch of the California Fashion Association (CFA), was founded in 1997 to address issues concerning persons directly involved in the Los Angeles apparel industry. The CFF intends to further emphasize a goal of the CFA, founded in 1994 as a voice for the industry, which is to provide a positive image of the apparel industry.

“[The association] is a response to negative press in the industry,” said Ilse Metchek, director of the CFF and executive director of the CFA. “It’s our way of saying we do care and that we do great things,” continued Metchek.

The CFF is a partner of the School Bell Program, which provides clothing to children in need. The CFF also targets schools comprised primarily of children of apparel industry workers. The organization also donates 10 percent of its receipts from yearly events to the scholarship program developed by the Textile Association of Los Angeles.

The CFF lends its support to the children of garment and textile workers by sponsoring day care, scholarship, and clothing programs. The CFF decides which schools are candidates for assistance through an application process in which students take home a questionnaire to their parents, asking in what industry they’re employed. The school is deemed eligible for CFF funding if at least 40 percent of the student body are children of apparel industry workers.

The organization recently launched a pilot art and education program for after-school and during school breaks at Los Angeles Elementary, where more than 40 percent of the students at the elementary school are children of garment and textile workers.

The CFF, which has more than 250 volunteer members, raises money and generates donations of clothing through fund-raising events and solicitation. Its next event, planned for March 14, 2001, is an exhibition of Academy Award-nominated costumes that will be on display at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM) in Los Angeles.

To contact the California Fashion Foundation, call Metchek at(213) 688-6288, or visit its Web site: www.californiafashion.org. City of Hope Apparel Industries Group

This year marks the 67th year the Apparel Industries Group has supported the City of Hope. The group was founded in 1937 under the name Merchants and Manufacturers Club and over the years has raised more than $50 million to fight cancer and other chronic diseases such as AIDS and diabetes.

City of Hope, originally named the Los Angeles Sanitarium, was chartered in 1913 as the Jewish Consumptive Relief Fund, but its roots are found in theapparel industry of Los Angeles in 1912.

Sam Cook, a Russian immigrant who operated a tailor shop in a downtown Los Angeles building, found his second story tenant, a 21-year-old fellow garment worker,dead of tuberculosis on the sidewalk outside the tailor shop. Cook and several other garment workers immediately began collecting money to pay for the young man’s funeral. The incident sparked the founding of the City of Hope, which began as two tents on a 10-acre plot of land in Duarte, Calif. The facility has now grown to occupy 100 acres, with 100 buildings housing primarily research facilities.

Many of the buildings were constructed through funds provided by the Apparel Industries Group, according to Joe R. Broady, director of archives for City of Hope.

Many well-known names in the Los Angeles apparel industry have dedicated themselves to the City of Hope organization, including Lee Tabak, founder of Tabak of California, Emanuel H. “Mannie” Fineman, founder of Hollywood Casuals, Lee and Seymour Graff, founders of Graff Californiawear, Diane Trauth Randall, founder of Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit Designs and YES Clothing founder George Randall.

City of Hope president and chief executive officer Gil N. Schwartzberg is an apparel industry veteran who got his start with Manufacturers Bank, then served as a lawyer for apparel industry clients and later became vice chairman of the board of L.A. Gear Inc. It was at Manufacturers Bank that Schwartzberg first became involved with the City of Hope.

“Many of the people at the Manufacturers bank, which was located on 9th [Street] and Los Angeles Street, were on the board at the City of Hope,” he said.

The City of Hope is now one of only five comprehensive cancer centers in California. Both Schwartzberg and Broady credit the apparel industry’s support with the success of the City of Hope.

The City of Hope National Medical Center and Beckman Research Institute is located at 1500 East Duarte Rd., Duarte, Calif. 91010-3000. For information, call (800)-423-7119.Jewish Federation Fashion DivisionThe Fashion Division of the Jewish Federation, founded in 1948, helps to clothe needy children in the Los Angeles community and to raise funds for the Jewish Federation as a whole. The Jewish Federation and its fundraising arm, the United Jewish Fund, have become the second largest non-sectarian fundraising organization in Los Angeles, according to the organization.

The apparel industry has a long history with the Jewish Federation. Federation records place the first recorded person of Jewish descent in Los Angeles as a garment industry worker. Jacob Frankfurt was a tailor in the garment business who came to Los Angeles in 1841.

“We deal with worldwide problems in relation to Jewish people, but also community problems on a non-sectarian level,” said Howard Gilman, chairman of the Fashion Division of the Jewish Federation and owner of Los Angeles-based Pacifica Textiles.

The Fashion Division gathers funds primarily by soliciting members to donate money or clothing.The money raised—$1.5 million in 1999—is for the Jewish Federation as a whole, while the clothing is solicited for activities implemented directly by the Fashion Division.

The main annual event is Camp Max Strauss, an annual camp for inner-city kids.

“We go to our customers and ask them for money and clothing...and we clothe 1,100 kids for camp,” said Gilman.

The organization also sponsors an annual clothing distribution day at its Westside center, a Chanukah party and a day at the Staples Center for local children to attend a basketball or hockey game.

Past chairs of the Fashion Division include Stanley Hirsh, owner of the Cooper Building, Judy Knapp, co-owner of Knapp Studios, and Bob Mirvis of M.G.T. Industries.

For more information, contact Gwenn Drucker-Flaitt, director of the Fashion Division, at (323) 761-8297, or Gilman, at (213) 623-2840. California Apparel Industries Save-A-Life

California Apparel IndustriesSave-A-Life is a non-profit organization founded in 1967 to assist anyone within the California apparel industry—regardless of position—in need of financial assistance due to illness or misfortune.

“Our motto is: ’We take care of our own,’” said Save-A-Life president Patty Craven. “That is anybody who makes a living in the garment industry, whether they be buyers, retailers, wholesalers manufacturers, office and warehouse personnel, truck drivers, etc.—the people that fall between the cracks....”

The organization raises money primarily through funds gathered at its annual dinner dance held each November. This year’s dinner honored City Girl designer Nancy Bolen and City Girl chief executive officer Ron Perilman. Money is also raised through membership fees, which are $250 for a life membership. The Save-A-Life staff is comprised of volunteers working out of an office at the California Mart.

Industry veteran Willie Miller runs the office. Miller has been a member of Save-A-Life since 1968 and served as president of the organization from 1985 to 1986.

The day-to-day operations of Save-A-Life have remained consistent over the years, but the amount of funding has decreased, Miller said.

Craven agreed, noting, “Times are hard for people and we’re just not getting the people who give $75,000 [anymore].”

Recent examples of Save-A-Life’s help include one woman who arrived at the Save-A-Life office dressed professionally in a “nice suit and looking very respectable,” Craven said, continuing, “She tried to start her own clothing company and then experienced financial difficulties, [and] was living in her car.”

Save-A-Life helped the woman find an apartment and “got her back on her feet,” she said.

The group also came to the aid ofof one of its member’s daughters. The young woman had complications related to the birth of her child and Save-A-Life stepped in and paid some of the hospital bills, Miller said.

The organization practices direct involvement on a personal level; they do not give the applicants money, but instead help them take care of necessary expenses. Save-A-Life also grants scholarships to students studying at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College, West Valley Occupational Center and the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM).Save-A-Life also donates equipment to schools and hospitals and offers free mammograms through St. Vincent Hospital and prostate screening through the California Hospital Medical Center. Save-A-Life is located at 110 E. 9th St., Suite A-760, Los Angeles, Calif. 90079. For more information, contact Craven or Miller at (213) 622-4357.Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Fashion Industries Guild

The Fashion Industries Guild of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center was established in 1956 by members of the Los Angeles garment and apparel industry and has raised millions of dollars for specific projects at the hospital.

“We take on a project and we pledge to pay out so much money on that project over a given period of time,” said Hal Kaltman, one of four vice presidents of the Fashion Industries Guild and owner of Los Angeles-based Hal Kaltman Textiles.

The guild has concentrated primarily on pediatric programs over the past twelve years, according to Kaltman. However, it is also raising funds for the hospital’s neo-natal intensive care program.

“Our partnership with Cedars-Sinai has enabled the medical center to grow as a world-class health care organization,” said Kenneth Weinbaum, president of the Fashion Industries Guild.

Some of the programs and centers the guild has funded include the Ruth Bregman Pediatric Clinic and the Ruth Bregman Special Children’s Program, which funds clinical care and biomedical research for children who have HIV/AIDS. The guild also jointly endowed the GUESS?/Fashion Industries Guild Chair in Community Health, funded the construction of the seventh floor south patient tower, the Barney Morse Rehabilitation Center, the Harvey S. Morse Conference Center and the Fashion Industries Guild Florence and Duke Becker Building.

The guild raises money primarily through an annual dinner gala. Milo Revah, founder of Revah Industries, maker of JNCO Jeans, was named the guild’s Man of the Year for 2000 at an event this fall that raised $550,000 for Cedars-Sinai.

The group also plans to reinstate its May charity sale after a one-year hiatus. Local manufacturers donate apparel for the sale, which is held in the Exhibition Hall at the California Mart. The sale is open to the public and in the past has raised up to $100,000.

“We are an extremely large industry compacted into a very small community,” said Kaltman, who has worked with the organization since 1987.

“At some point, every one of us touches on everybody else’s life in one way or another.”

For more information on the Fashion Industries Guild of Cedars-Sinai, contact Weinbaum at (323) 584-5400 or Kaltman at (213) 627-9055.Lucky Brand FoundationGene Montesano and Barry Perlman, owners of Lucky Brand Dungarees, formed the Lucky Brand Foundation four years ago. The group raises funds for various children’s charities at its annual “Black Tie and Blue Jeans Gala,” which includes performances by rock and roll icons such as James Brown, the Stephen Stills Band and B.B. King, as well as comedians Dennis Miller and Dana Carvey. Los Angeles apparel industry notables turn out in their best blue jeans and eveningwear for the event, which raised an estimated $700,000 this year.

Some of the charities funded by the Lucky Brand Foundation include the Oralingua School for the Hearing Impaired, which teaches children to hear with the use of cochlear implants; Island Dolphin Care, a dolphin-assisted therapy program for children with developmental, emotional or physical difficulties; Shane’s Inspiration, which built a “boundless” playground in Griffith Park where disabled and able-bodied children can play together; Chase Place, a group that builds art therapy rooms at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles; Bridge School, an educational facility for children with severe speech and physical impairments and the Association for Children with Down Syndrome, a training and educational facility.

Lucky Brand Dungarees is a Vernon, Calif.-based denim manufacturer owned by New York-based Liz Claiborne Inc.

For more information on the Lucky Brand Foundation, call (310) 899-9191.Joyce Eisenberg-Keefer Breast Center at the John Wayne Cancer Institute at Saint John’s Health Center

New Mart owner Joyce Eisenberg-Keefer joined the fight against cancer as a means of responding to personal sorrow: Her husband, Ben Eisenberg, lost a ten-year battle with the disease in 1986. In 1993, Eisenberg-Keefer teamed with her husband’s physician, Dr. Armando Giuliano, to form the Joyce Eisenberg-Keefer Breast Center at the John Wayne Cancer Institute at Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica.

Eisenberg-Keefer juggles her time between her work at the New Mart and her ongoing support at the cancer center.

“Every year I measure what they need [financially],” she said.

Funding the project has not been cheap. Eisenberg-Keefer said she put down $1.8 million to open the facility seven years ago, and she is still committed to maintaining a high level of quality for the center’s clients.

“It’s like a Ritz Carlton hotel,” she said.

However, Eisenberg-Keefer said the quality of medical care means much more than running a center that looks good.

The Breast Center offers procedures such as lymphatic mapping, which gives doctors a better understanding of each patient’s diagnosis. And it also offers simple things like a “positive appearance center,” which offers women emotional support and makeovers while they undergo chemotherapy treatment.

Eisenberg-Keefer said the center also provides basic necessities to women who are living with the disease. “We have hats and clothing and things that one might need to wear if they’re going to be in the sunshine,” she said.

Eisenberg-Keefer said it’s a facility that has taken on a life of its own as it has grown, adding that she remains very enthusiastic about her continued involvement with the center.

“We just wanted to give back to the community,” she said. “We’re positive we’re going to find a cure one day, and then we won’t need the breast center.”

For more information on the Joyce Eisenberg-Keefer Breast Center, call (310) 582-7100.

Compiled by David Mushegain and Alex Coolman