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L.A. fashion student fights FIDM's partnership with fast-fashion retailer Shein

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L.A. fashion student fights FIDM's partnership with fast-fashion retailer Shein

A Los Angeles fashion student is taking a stand against one of the largest fashion producers in the world after Shein announced a partnership with the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandise.

Lexy Silverstein, a 20-year-old student at FIDM, is speaking out against her school’s collaboration with Shein, saying the move marks the antithesis of much-needed sustainability in the fashion industry.

As one of the largest fast-fashion companies in the world, Shein, among others, is known for producing a large amount of clothing and accessories with cheap materials and oftentimes, questionable labor practices. 

 “I was just shocked,” Silverstein said. “The biggest thing for me is, how can a fashion institute that markets itself as one of the Top 10 most sustainable fashion schools in the world partner with Shein, one of the biggest fast fashion contributors in our industry today?”

  • Pages from the Shein website, left, and from the Temu site, right, are shown in this photo, in New York, Friday, June 23, 2023. Chinese e-commerce retailer Temu has filed a lawsuit accusing its rival Shein of violating U.S. antitrust law by blocking clothing manufacturers from working with Temu. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
  • A page from the Shein website is shown in this photo, in New York, Friday, June 23, 2023. China's fast fashion retailer Shein is facing a lawsuit that claims the company is infringing on copyrights in a way that amounts to racketeering. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
  • FILE - The seal of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission at SEC headquarters in Washington is seen, June 19, 2015. A bipartisan group of more than a two dozen lawmakers are asking the SEC to put the brakes on an initial public offering by Chinese fast fashion retailer Shein until it verifies it does not use forced labor from the country’s predominantly Muslim Uyghur population. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

Silverstein believes her school needs to practice what it preaches to its students every day. 

Shein had offered 12 FIDM students a $40,000 scholarship and the chance to design a custom collection for the company.

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Despite the welcome addition of such opportunities, Silverstein believes Shein is not the right company for FIDM to consider and doing so is a hypocritical move.

“I’ve always wanted these scholarships to be honored,” Silverstein said. “Just by a better company because Shein was the worst possible option for something like this.”

Earlier this year, a U.S. Congressional Commission pressed Shein on its labor operations, Suggesting the Chinese company uses trade loopholes to allow imports from band regions that use Uyghur-forced labor.

Uyghurs are a mainly Muslim-ethnic minority in China. Some human rights groups and Western governments have accused the country of administering forced labor and internment against the minority group.

The U.S. Commission also expressed concerns over product safety hazards and intellectual property theft.

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Shein has denied all allegations, with its CEO confirming that the company produces around 1,000 new items per day.

“We learn sustainability and we’re taught that we’re the future of the fashion industry, but there can be no future of the fashion industry and no future of the planet if we keep going at the rates Shein is going,” Silverstein said.

Silverstein spoke with her FIDM classmates who also said they felt the partnership did not align with their values as fashion designers and students. 

Silverstein started a petition to end all fast-fashion partnerships with FIDM in the future. So far, the petition has garnered around 5,000 signatures.

In a statement to KTLA, FIDM said, in part, that after consideration, the partnership and scholarship “would allow talented students who may not otherwise be able to complete their education to do so.”

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Shein also stood by the collaboration saying the opportunity removed “some of the barriers typically associated with the fashion industry.”

Silverstein is now working with her school to create a committee of student representatives who would have more input and voice regarding similar partnerships in the future.

“The students can have more of a say in what happens at our school and in future partnerships so the school can really align with how its students genuinely feel,” Silverstein said.

When asked what the average person can do to combat wasteful fashion practices in their daily lives, Silverstein said the changes are easy.

Buying from thrift or second-hand stores, renting clothes instead of purchasing new, and investing in higher quality pieces that will last longer than cheap items that may lose their structure and shape after several wears and washes are great first steps.

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The full statement from Shein regarding the case reads: 

“The purpose of this scholarship program and curriculum is to benefit up-and-coming design students in the LA community by removing some of the of the barriers typically associated with the fashion industry.  With more than 20 proud FIDM alums currently working at SHEIN and our U.S. corporate headquarters only a few blocks away from FIDM’s campus, this is a cause close to our hearts, and is part of SHEIN’s commitment to empowering young designers and artists through our SHEIN X designer incubator program.”

The full statement from Barbara Bundy, Vice President of Education at FIDM, reads:

“We are grateful for the scholarship opportunities Shein has brought our students to further their education. After careful consideration of the project, we determined it would allow talented students who may not otherwise be able to complete their education to do so. Through this partnership, the 12 students have been given insight into the business side of fashion and how a product is made end-to-end.”

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Los Angeles, Ca

Police detain 2 people at Vice President Harris’ Brentwood home during curfew hours

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Police detain 2 people at Vice President Harris’ Brentwood home during curfew hours

Police confirmed to KTLA that officers detained two people at Vice President Kamala Harris’ home in Brentwood during curfew hours on Saturday.

The Los Angeles Police Department said a call came into the West L.A. station around 4:40 a.m., reporting a potential burglary on the Vice President’s property.

Officers responded to the residence located on Bundy Drive, north of Sunset Drive, and found two individuals on the property.

Some reports said the subjects were two men dressed all in black, but that detail has yet to be confirmed by police.

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LAPD said officers detained the two people who were breaking curfew, but have since released them as they found no evidence that they were committing a crime.

Details are extremely limited, police did not immediately say what the two people were doing on the Vice President’s property or whether the incident would be further investigated.

National Guard members and local enforcement from the LAPD, Santa Monica Police and Airport Police Departments reminded residents that they will continue to patrol fire zones from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., ready to arrest anyone for trespassing, looting or any other type of violation.

Brentwood, as well as communities in the San Fernando Valley, were growing areas of concern as the Palisades Fire began climbing inland over the mountains on Friday and Saturday.

The Palisades Fire, already one of the most destructive natural disasters in Los Angeles history, erupted on Tuesday, Jan. 7. As of Saturday evening, it had claimed 5 lives, burned 23,654 acres and was 11% contained. More than 5,000 structures, many of them homes, have been destroyed in the Pacific Palisades and Malibu.

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For more updates on the fire, click here.

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Los Angeles, Ca

Firefighters race to contain Los Angeles wildfires

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Firefighters race to contain Los Angeles wildfires

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Firefighters raced Saturday to cut off spreading wildfires before potentially strong winds return that could push the flames toward the world famous J. Paul Getty Museum and the University of California, Los Angeles, while new evacuation warnings left more homeowners on edge.

A fierce battle against the flames was underway in Mandeville Canyon, home to Arnold Schwarzenegger and other celebrities not far from the Pacific coast, where swooping helicopters dumped water as the blaze charged downhill. Firefighters on the ground used hoses in an attempt to beat back leaping flames as thick smoke blanketed the chaparral-covered hillside.

At a briefing, CalFire Operations Chief Christian Litz said a main focus Saturday would be the Palisades Fire burning in the canyon area, not far from the UCLA campus.

“We need to be aggressive out there,” Litz said.

County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said the LA area “had another night of unimaginable terror and heartbreak, and even more Angelenos evacuated due to the northeast expansion of the Palisades Fire.”

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  • Palisades Fire
  • Palisades Fire

Light breezes were fanning the flames, but the National Weather Service warned that strong Santa Ana winds — the nemesis of firefighters — could soon return. Those winds have been largely blamed for turning the wildfires into infernos that leveled entire neighborhoods around to city where there has been no significant rainfall in more than eight months.

The fire also was threatening to jump over Interstate 405 and into densely populated areas in the Hollywood Hills and San Fernando Valley.

The hunt for bodies continues

The grim work of sifting through the devastation continued Saturday, with teams conducting systematic grid searches with cadaver dogs, said Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna. He said a family assistance center was being established in Pasadena, and he urged residents to abide by curfews.

“We have people driving up and around trying to get in just to look. Stay away,” he said.

The fires have consumed about 56 square miles (145 square kilometers) — an area larger than San Francisco. Tens of thousands of people remained under evacuation orders and new evacuations were ordered Friday evening after a flare up on the eastern side of the Palisades Fire.

Since the fires first began Tuesday just north of downtown LA, they have burned more than 12,000 structures, a term that includes homes, apartment buildings, businesses, outbuildings and vehicles.

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No cause has been determined for the largest fires, and early estimates indicate the wildfires could be the nation’s costliest ever. A preliminary estimate by AccuWeather put the damage and economic losses so far between $135 billion and $150 billion.

  • All eight homes belonging to several members of the Williams family were destroyed by the Eaton Fire in Southern California on Jan. 8, 2025. (Williams Family)
  • Altadena, CA - January 8: The remains of a home lost in the Eaton fire on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025 in Altadena, CA. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Rays of kindness amid the devastation

So many volunteers showed up to help at donation centers Saturday that some were being turned away. That was the case at a YMCA in the Koreatown neighborhood. By late morning, cars with would-be helpers were also being turned back from the Santa Anita Park horse racing track, where donations of necessities were being accepted.

At the race track Friday, people who lost their homes could be seen sifting through stacks of donated shirts, blankets and other household goods. Altadena resident Jose Luis Godinez said three homes occupied by more than a dozen of his family members were destroyed.

“Everything is gone,” he said, speaking in Spanish. “All my family lived in those three houses and now we have nothing.”

Officials warn against returning to burned homes

Some residents have been venturing back to see what can be salvaged after wildfires destroyed their homes, sifting through rubble for keepsakes. But officials on Saturday urged them to stay away, warning that the ash can contain lead, arsenic, asbestos and other harmful materials.

“If you’re kicking that stuff up, you’re breathing it in,” said Chris Thomas, a spokesman for the unified incident command at the Palisades Fire. “All of that stuff is toxic.”

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Residents will be allowed to return — with protective gear — after damage teams have evaluated their properties, Thomas said.

City leadership accused of skimping on firefighting funds

Allegations of leadership failures and political blame have begun and so have investigations. Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday ordered state officials to determine why a 117 million-gallon (440 million-liter) reservoir was out of service and some hydrants had run dry. Meanwhile, Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said city leadership failed her department by not providing enough money for firefighting. She also criticized the lack of water.

“When a firefighter comes up to a hydrant, we expect there’s going to be water,” she said.

At least 11 people have been killed, five in the Palisades Fire and six in the Eaton Fire, according to the LA County medical examiner’s office. Officials said they expected that number to rise as cadaver dogs search leveled neighborhoods and crews assess the devastation, and on Friday authorities established a center where people could report the missing.

Progress made on fighting the Eaton fire

Firefighters for the first time made progress Friday afternoon on the Eaton Fire north of Pasadena, which has burned more than 7,000 structures. Officials said most evacuation orders for the area had been lifted.

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LA Mayor Karen Bass, who faces a critical test of her leadership as her city endures its greatest crisis in decades, said several smaller fires also were stopped.

The level of devastation is jarring even in a state that regularly confronts massive wildfires.

___

Ramer reported from Concord, New Hampshire. Associated Press writers Gene Johnson in Seattle and Justin Pritchard in Los Angeles, and videographer Manuel Valdes in Arcadia, Calif., contributed.

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Los Angeles, Ca

Firefighters race to contain Los Angeles wildfires with menacing winds forecast to return

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Firefighters race to contain Los Angeles wildfires with menacing winds forecast to return

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Firefighters raced Saturday to cut off spreading wildfires before potentially strong winds return that could push the flames toward the world famous J. Paul Getty Museum and the University of California, Los Angeles, while new evacuation warnings left more homeowners on edge.

A fierce battle against the flames was underway in Mandeville Canyon, home to Arnold Schwarzenegger and other celebrities not far from the Pacific coast, where swooping helicopters dumped water as the blaze charged downhill. Firefighters on the ground used hoses in an attempt to beat back leaping flames as thick smoke blanketed the chaparral-covered hillside.

At a briefing, CalFire Operations Chief Christian Litz said a main focus Saturday would be the Palisades Fire burning in the canyon area, not far from the UCLA campus.

“We need to be aggressive out there,” Litz said.

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County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said the LA area “had another night of unimaginable terror and heartbreak, and even more Angelenos evacuated due to the northeast expansion of the Palisades Fire.”

Only light breezes were fanning the flames, but the National Weather Service warned that locally strong Santa Ana winds — the nemesis of firefighters — could soon return. Those winds have been blamed for turning wildfires into infernos that leveled entire neighborhoods in the LA area, where there has been no significant rainfall in more than eight months.

The fire also was threatening to jump over Interstate 405, a main traffic artery through the area, which could become a gateway to densely populated areas in the Hollywood Hills and San Fernando Valley.

The hunt for bodies continues

Even as the fires spread, the grim work of sifting through the devastation continued Saturday, with teams conducting systematic grid searches with cadaver dogs, said Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna. A family assistance center also was being set up in Pasadena, said Luna, who urged residents to abide by curfews.

“We have people driving up and around trying to get in just to look. Stay away,” he said. “We understand that this is extremely stressful and absolutely challenging, but we appreciate the public’s cooperation as we work together to get through this crisis.”

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The fires have consumed about 56 square miles (145 square kilometers) — an area larger than San Francisco. Tens of thousands of people remained under evacuation orders and new evacuations were ordered Friday evening in an area that includes part of Interstate 405 after a flare up on the eastern side of the Palisades Fire.

Since the fires first began popping up around a densely populated, 25-mile (40-kilometer) expanse north of downtown LA, they have burned more than 12,000 structures, a term that includes homes, apartment buildings, businesses, outbuildings and vehicles. No cause has been identified yet for the largest fires.

The fires are still burning but early estimates indicate the losses so far could make the wildfires the nation’s costliest ever. A preliminary estimate by AccuWeather put the damage and economic losses so far between $135 billion and $150 billion.

Survivors return to the wreckage of their homes

On Friday, many residents returned in a state of shock. For some, it was a first look at the stark reality of what was lost as the region of 13 million people grapples with the ominous challenge of overcoming the disaster and rebuilding.

Bridget Berg, who was at work when she watched television coverage of her house in Altadena erupt in flames, came back for the first time with her family two days later “just to make it real.”

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Their feet crunched across the broken bits of what had been their home for 16 years.

Her kids sifted through debris on the sidewalk, finding a clay pot and a few keepsakes as they searched for Japanese wood prints they hoped to recover. Her husband pulled his hand out of rubble near the still-standing fireplace, holding up a piece of petrified wood handed down by his grandmother.

“It’s OK. It’s OK,” Berg said as much to herself as others as she took stock of the destruction, remembering the deck and pool from which her family watched fireworks. “It’s not like we just lost our house — everybody lost their house.”

City leadership accused of skimping on firefighting funds

Allegations of leadership failures and political blame have begun and so have investigations. Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday ordered state officials to determine why a 117 million-gallon (440 million-liter) reservoir was out of service and some hydrants had run dry. Meanwhile, Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said city leadership failed her department by not providing enough money for firefighting. She also criticized the lack of water.

“When a firefighter comes up to a hydrant, we expect there’s going to be water,” she said.

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At least 11 people have been killed, five in the Palisades Fire and six in the Eaton Fire, according to the LA County medical examiner’s office. Officials said they expected that number to rise as cadaver dogs search leveled neighborhoods and crews assess the devastation, and on Friday authorities established a center where people could report the missing.

The disaster took homes from everyone — from waiters to movie stars. The government has not yet released figures on the cost of the damage, but private firms have estimated it will climb into the tens of billions. The Walt Disney Co. announced Friday it will donate $15 million to respond to the fires and help rebuild.

The flames hit schools, churches, a synagogue, libraries, boutiques, bars, restaurants, banks and local landmarks including the Will Rogers’ Western Ranch House and a Queen Anne-style mansion in Altadena that was commissioned by wealthy mapmaker Andrew McNally and had stood since 1887.

Progress made on fighting the Eaton fire

Firefighters for the first time made progress Friday afternoon on the Eaton Fire north of Pasadena, which has burned more than 7,000 structures. Officials said most evacuation orders for the area had been lifted.

LA Mayor Karen Bass, who faces a critical test of her leadership as her city endures its greatest crisis in decades, said several smaller fires also were stopped.

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Crews earlier Friday had been gaining ground on the Palisades Fire, which burned 5,300 structures and is the most destructive in LA’s history.

California National Guard troops arrived on the streets of Altadena before dawn to help protect property in the fire evacuation zone, and evening curfews were in effect to prevent looting after several earlier arrests.

The level of devastation is jarring even in a state that regularly confronts massive wildfires.

Meghan and Harry visit

On Friday, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan visited the Pasadena Convention Center to help hand out food to evacuees.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who live about 90 miles (145 km) north of the Los Angeles area, also listed organizations supporting fire victims on their website.

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Ramer reported from Concord, N.H.

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