Rampage Settles Labor Case

Rampage Clothing Co., one of the biggest garment manufacturers in Southern California, has consented to an agreement with the U.S. Labor Department requiring the company to make sure its contractors stop violating the minimum wage law and other federal labor standards.

The agreement, expected to be announced this week, adds Vernon-based Rampage to a growing number of major Southern California garment firms similarly obligated to assure that their merchandise is not produced under sweatshop conditions.

Frustrated in past attempts to curb apparel industry abuses by going after the small sewing contractors who commit the worst violations, authorities in recent years have switched their strategy and begun pressuring the manufacturers that hire rogue contractors. That effort made headlines in 1992, when Guess Inc., the jeans maker that is Southern California’s biggest apparel maker, signed a similar agreement.

A Labor Department official who asked not to be named said government inspectors have found, on several occasions, that Rampage products were being made by contractors who were violating minimum wage and overtime pay laws.

A spokeswoman for Rampage said the company agreed to the pact “to become part of the solution” to problems in the industry.

Rampage, which makes clothing for girls and women, posts annual sales of around $245 million and employs more than 1,200 workers. It owns about 50 stores operated under the Judy’s, Rampage and Friends names.