Made in L.A.: How One Manufacturer Is Getting Creative to Thrive

LOS ANGELES — Rolls of brightly colored fabric are being slowly rolled out on the cutting table of Los Angeles manufacturer 9b Apparel. The company, which employs more than 150 people across five factories in L.A., works with more than 200 customers offering services in cut-and-sew, denim, knits, heavyweights and outerwear. Owner Art Rahbar surveyed a worker as he prepped fabric that will be used by children during summer camp to make tank tops. The company recently began working with Amazon after one of the tech giant’s representatives approached it and asked 9b to produce a few items that didn’t interfere with what the firm already does for its clients. It’s more one-off projects, such as an apron and breastfeeding line, at the moment rather than anything that’s fueling Amazon’s quest to dominate fashion. The company survived the last recession when it turned its own business model on its head and introduced flexible manufacturing, meaning no minimums on the cut-and-sew, instead choosing to work with manufacturers that, at the time, were writing much smaller orders. “Everybody thought we were going to die; it worked, especially during the recession because people didn’t want big quantities,” Rahbar said. The firm shifted again more recently with a turn beginning about

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