Instagram fashion empire Fashion Nova is being accused of allegedly underpaying its employees as they churn out clothing from Los Angeles factories, according to an investigative report by The New York Times.
The report revealed that the company, known for its association with Cardi B and duplicating celebrity outfits for affordable prices, has been under investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor since 2016.
The investigation revealed that Fashion Nova factories owed employees $3.8 million in back wages, after allegedly only paying $2.77 per hour.
The current minimum wage in Los Angeles is $14.25 for companies with 26 or more employees. A report released in September discovered that out of all the factories that were investigated in the LA area, Fashion Nova was using 50 of the factories violating labor laws.
What the report fails to make clear is that Fashion Nova is not directly responsible for paying factory workers under minimum wage. Instead, Fashion Nova is contracting the work out to independent companies that are responsible for paying the factory workers.
In fact, Fashion Nova contracts out all of its work, including the designing of the clothes.
Fashion Nova responded to the allegations on social media saying that the company would not work with any contractors that were not following California workforce laws.
For the contractors that already have an agreement with Fashion Nova, they will be placed on a six-month probationary period for a first-time violation, then contracts will be suspended indefinitely for second-time violations.
“Any suggestion that Fashion Nova is responsible for underpaying anyone working on our brand is categorically false,” Fashion Nova stated. “We have already had a highly productive and positive meeting with the Department of Labor in which we discussed our ongoing commitment to ensuring that all workers involved with the Fashion Nova brand are appropriately compensated for the work they do.”
To add insult to injury, the social media influencer go-to brand is also being accused of housing employees in factories with unsatisfactory conditions.
One employee described working in harsh conditions, such as “ramshackle buildings that smelled like bathrooms.”
“There were cockroaches. There were rats,” said former employee Mercedes Cortes, 56. “The conditions weren’t good.”
Up until 2018, 80 percent of Fashion Nova’s clothing was made in the United States. By 2019, most of the work was being outsourced overseas to avoid strict labor laws.
