Beginnings

LA Speedy was started almost 20 years ago by my mom and dad, Sun and Jai Lee. They often tell me stories of the early years when my dad would walk around the fashion district all day making sales, borrowing friend’s office spaces for meetings, and both [my parents would] work until 10 PM fulfilling orders in the warehouse. Neither of them had a background in fashion or business, but they managed to run a successful company, raise their children, and live a relatively comfortable life. As cliché as it may sound, they were living the American dream.

What started out as a two-person apparel wholesale company has now grown into a full-fledged, vertically integrated, apparel manufacturing AND wholesale company where we supply retailers with quality blanks. A lot happens in our 10,000 sq. ft facility. We are cutting fabric, making markers, sewing patterns, trimming pieces, and fulfilling orders 6 days out of the the week. This is where you can find me overseeing operations and making sure everything is running smoothly.

LA Speedy is not a sexy place to work. In fact, it might be one of the most unsexy places to work. The warehouse gets mind-numbingly cold during winters, unbearably hot in the summer, the air is constantly filled with the buzz of cutting and sewing machines, and there is clutter EVERYWHERE. But what the warehouse lacks in sexiness, it makes up for in character. There’s something about this gritty, no nonsense, workhorse of a factory that I have come to love.

LA Speedy has been my “home” for the past five years, and it’s where I’ve been given an opportunity to grow, not only as a “business man”, but as a person. And as a product of my parents’ American dream, I am compelled to continue to build on the success of LA Speedy. I’m motivated to provide the best products we can make, produce it ethically, and connect with our customers/supporters along the way.

I will be updating this blog periodically just to share my thoughts, progress, and ideas to whomever would like to read it. I think people are inherently skeptical of businesses and often dehumanize them…I do it, too! But I am hoping that this blog will bridge that gap between company and customer by sharing what goes on behind the scenes here at LA Speedy.