Made in L.A. takes the viewer through the lives of three Latina immigrant sweatshop workers in L.A., who fight the exploitative conditions of the garment industry. They fight relentlessly for three years against the clothing retailer Forever 21 to win basic labour protection like unpaid and overtime wages from the company. In the process, with the help of the Garment Labour Center, these women are transformed from invisible, undocumented women workers into strong, empowered women who take charge of their lives and destinies and emerge as winners, united in their struggle.

One of the compelling moments in the film is when Lupe, one of the three workers, visits the Tenement Museum during the national campaign against Forever 21, and hears that the term’ sweatshops’ was used for the first time in 1897 to describe the conditions in which poor immigrants were forced to work out of poverty. She realizes that nothing has changed until the present day and sweatshops still have the same conditions. She comes back energized to tell her brothers and sisters in the struggle the importance of organizing, and joins the centre as an organizer herself soon afterwards.

Because of the many layers of employment relationship in the garment industry supply chain, it is difficult to pin responsibility on the retailer for the conditions of the factory workers at the bottom of the chain. Yet in this documentary, we can see workers winning a lawsuit against the company in a groundbreaking decision reached in court which states that the systematic use of sweatshops by retail companies is punishable by law.

This film is a powerful visual tool to show unions and workers how a small team of determined workers emerged victorious after three long years of struggle against a powerful fashion house in the US, and highlights the importance of organizing, perseverance for their rights and the power of being united.