american apparel-C/d?

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american apparel- go ahead schmooze

― jack schwartz, Saturday, 8 January 2005 03:35 (twenty years ago)

You mean, stuff like spurs and chaps and ten-gallon hats?

― Aimless (Aimless), Saturday, 8 January 2005 03:52 (twenty years ago)

You mean that silly store that is proudly non-sweatshop and yet has rediculously shoddily made clothing in unispired designs, yes?

― mouse (mouse), Saturday, 8 January 2005 04:57 (twenty years ago)

I love the way their shirts fit me and haven't found them to be shoddily made. Overpriced, yes.

― mcd (mcd), Saturday, 8 January 2005 05:05 (twenty years ago)

i like their shirts! i have a bunch of them, also a nice zip-up non-hoody hoody. i can get 'em cheap tho so yeah.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Saturday, 8 January 2005 05:08 (twenty years ago)

The hem on mine fell apart the first time I washed it. Quite annoying as I had been very very happy to find a plain solid colored thing. Perhaps "shoddily made" was unwarranted slander though.

― mouse (mouse), Saturday, 8 January 2005 05:10 (twenty years ago)

You should send it back, dude, that's wack.

My fave t-shirts are Calvin Klein undershirts, black. This is the first place I've ever admitted this fact.

― mcd (mcd), Saturday, 8 January 2005 05:12 (twenty years ago)

ads = dud, prices = dud, business practices = okay

― hstencil (hstencil), Saturday, 8 January 2005 05:57 (twenty years ago)

i mean, aside from the ads and the prices.

― hstencil (hstencil), Saturday, 8 January 2005 06:08 (twenty years ago)

There's one shirt I want from there that's like $32. I'll get it and report back. It's this one, but I'm not sure of the color yet:
http://www.americanapparel.net/morephotos/2412/2412_01.jpg
I like their brand, website, ads and the variety of colors. We'll see if I like their actual product!

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Saturday, 8 January 2005 06:40 (twenty years ago)

Oh, and of course their business practices are a good example. I wish a less sexy brand would do the same thing on a larger scale. The Saturn of leisure wear.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Saturday, 8 January 2005 06:41 (twenty years ago)

you really like the ads? I find them kind of atrocious.

― hstencil (hstencil), Saturday, 8 January 2005 06:45 (twenty years ago)

it always weirds me out that they practice PC no sweatshops but then have scantily clad unPC adds (but i ain't complaining because those bitches be hot!!!!!)

― JaXoN (JasonD), Saturday, 8 January 2005 06:45 (twenty years ago)

yeah like put some of your union workers in the ads, bitches.

― hstencil (hstencil), Saturday, 8 January 2005 06:52 (twenty years ago)

I sort of like how the models are a little 'different'. More natural/earthy I guess? I mean I know they're super thin and beautiful, but the aesthetic embraces a slightly broader (and every so slightly more realistic) notion of beauty - or maybe it's just hott hipsters. Also, the photography is great. I like how a lot of it seems digital on purpose.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Saturday, 8 January 2005 06:56 (twenty years ago)

There's a horrible AA ad on the back of this month's ReadyMade.

"This is so-and-so at age 12 she lived in filth and disease in Mexico City, now she's a product manager for us..." That's a paraphrase but not too far off. It struck me as a little racist and far too self-congratulatory.

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Saturday, 8 January 2005 06:56 (twenty years ago)

spencer, please, for your sake, visit nebraska or iowa or kansas or kentucky or indiana sometime. it doesn't have to be for that long.

― hstencil (hstencil), Saturday, 8 January 2005 06:59 (twenty years ago)

supposedly the owner is a big pig and dates all his models (but what do i know?)

― JaXoN (JasonD), Saturday, 8 January 2005 07:00 (twenty years ago)

Stence dude, I think you're making some unfortunate assumptions about me. I don't need to prove to you that I understand what's real, but suffice to say, I've spent plenty of time in place other than L.A. or NYC. Also, we are talking about fashion here, and how clothes are sold.

xxpost
Yikes, haven't seen that one. However self serving though, it does address issues most other brands just hope will go away...

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Saturday, 8 January 2005 07:02 (twenty years ago)

dude, i was just kidding about that. but yeah, i don't think their models are "earthy," except maybe mr. pig ceo dude doesn't make 'em put on makeup while he's making 'em put on his undies.

and fuck advertising, commercial psychology, psychological methods to sell should be destroyed! let's see d. boon in some levis.

― hstencil (hstencil), Saturday, 8 January 2005 07:04 (twenty years ago)

But they're basically trying to sell to young urban hipsters, what else should they do? I doubt they need consultants to say, "sexy" young people. I'm just comparing them relative to other brands selling to the same demographic.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Saturday, 8 January 2005 07:08 (twenty years ago)

For example, this girl is on their homepage:
http://www.americanapparel.net/storefront/images/homepage/winterwear.jpg
She's not your typical Gap or Banana Republic model...

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Saturday, 8 January 2005 07:10 (twenty years ago)

well it's just like economies of scale, and wishing a bigger brand would have the same employment practices. Maybe if they put real real people in their ads, and not not-quite-models, others would follow suit.

not sure why i'm bitching to you about it, it's just that waify white girls with no ass and no tits are so boring at this point.

xpost that girl is better than their average model, but she's also not wearing undies like most of their girls.

― hstencil (hstencil), Saturday, 8 January 2005 07:12 (twenty years ago)

How do you know she's not wearing undies!!

Also, good point about real real people. But of course, the biggest brand that does that is... Wal-Mart.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Saturday, 8 January 2005 07:15 (twenty years ago)

well, yeah, wal-mart is evil, no argument here. but i'd argue their real real people are probably good for their brand, seeing as they distract the average american idiot from realizing that by shopping at wal-mart they're debasing almost every aspect of america's retail economy.

― hstencil (hstencil), Saturday, 8 January 2005 07:18 (twenty years ago)

They're poppin' up everywhere like a horrible case of acne. I just don't get it, though. That weird, grotty, retro almost-porn aesthetic. The weird Jim Jones like mascot/founder dude on the monitors (they've since dropped that gimmick, I believe). The clothes don't look especially exciting.

I give them a year.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 8 January 2005 07:20 (twenty years ago)

they've been around for much longer than a year already.

― hstencil (hstencil), Saturday, 8 January 2005 07:21 (twenty years ago)

I've never heard of this company!

― jaymc (jaymc), Saturday, 8 January 2005 08:28 (twenty years ago)

they've been around for much longer than a year already.

have they? Oh well.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 8 January 2005 08:33 (twenty years ago)

i like how the one on ludlow & houston is open until 2am, so you can buy some undies on the way home, or if someone threw up on you at the bar, you can get a new shirt real easy.

there's a big one that opened not too long ago right on north 6th in williamsburg too.

but i dont like how bright it is in the store. hurts eyes

― phil-two (phil-two), Saturday, 8 January 2005 10:20 (twenty years ago)

No one has brought up that interview he (the owner, Dov Charney) gave in Jane magazine where he jerked off in front of the interviewer. Seeing as it was ok by her, I can't see reason to be too upset for some reason. I can't find the whole article on the web.

http://www.jewlicious.com/index.php?p=77

I actually will only buy T shirts made on American Apparel now. The cotton is supersoft and it fits girls well (even the boy cut fits girls well). I am too tired of boxy super ass long t shirts that you have to wash 1000 times to get pliable.

― S!monB!rch (Carey), Saturday, 8 January 2005 16:00 (twenty years ago)

i like how they dont have any designs on their clothes. nice and plain.

― cutty (mcutt), Saturday, 8 January 2005 16:11 (twenty years ago)

I've heard some really sketchy things about the guy that runs AA.... One of the stores sprouted up on Court St literally overnight.

― Aaron W (Aaron W), Saturday, 8 January 2005 16:37 (twenty years ago)

i own so much aa shit it's ridiculous. the stuff is well-fitted, well-made, soft, and not too expensive. i think almost everyone of my t-shirts has come from them. and spencer, i have that shirt in brown, pink and light blue. buy it!

― Jams Murphy (ystrickler), Saturday, 8 January 2005 16:46 (twenty years ago)

Another good thing about their shirts is that the necks don't try to strangle you.

― S!monB!rch (Carey), Saturday, 8 January 2005 16:53 (twenty years ago)

the owner

http://www.americanapparel.net/presscenter/articles/images/20041123nytimes02.jpg

― S!monB!rch (Carey), Saturday, 8 January 2005 17:01 (twenty years ago)

spencer! i have several of the shirts that you posted (incl. the brown one), actually i'm wearing the long-sleeved version now. they are great! you'll like 'em a lot. so comfy and nice-looking.

and stencil they DO put their workers in the ads, not all of them, but they do. i've seen 'em!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Saturday, 8 January 2005 18:23 (twenty years ago)

DUD.

for a company that prides itself on being so progressive, everything else about this place is so weird and assbackward. clothes-specific, the cuts & sizing is ungenerous. none of this fits real people. i was in the NYC store a couple weeks ago and tried on this one piece dress which was XL and it barely went over my hips, no thanks to the lack of a real cut. [it was basically 2 pieces of straight fabric sewed together. ugh!]

and the owner, he creeps me out, especially after that article in JANE magazine where he started masturbating in front of the writer. EW.

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Saturday, 8 January 2005 18:44 (twenty years ago)

Yanc3y and s1ocki, thanks for the recommendations, I'm going to go today!

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Saturday, 8 January 2005 19:35 (twenty years ago)

a few things:

The founder is canadian, so i think the name is funny.

Although AA doesn't operate a "sweatshop" (per se, his factory in LA's garment district is right in the thick of all the other "sweatshops"), AA does pay reasonably well (about 30% above average after 6 months of employment) and offers insurance.

AA "unknowingly" hires illegal immigrants and when the AA employees threatened to unionize a year or two ago, he gave a very awkward and unbelievable comment that i can't remember but i'd have to dig through stacks of back-issues Apparel News to find.

So whenever I hear the "Yeah, these clothes are made in America by Americans!" comments, it's hard to maintain a straight face.

― gygax! (gygax!), Saturday, 8 January 2005 19:46 (twenty years ago)

I didn't think "made in America by Americans" was the focus, but rather "not made in sweatshops" or "not made in an exploitative way".

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Saturday, 8 January 2005 19:56 (twenty years ago)

(i'm thinking of the connotations of the name... seemingly it's only "brand" device).

― gygax! (gygax!), Saturday, 8 January 2005 19:57 (twenty years ago)

(well, that and the sleaze factor that's touched on a few times on this thread already).

― gygax! (gygax!), Saturday, 8 January 2005 19:58 (twenty years ago)

I think the connotation of the name suggests that it's not made abroad in a maquiladora or something.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Saturday, 8 January 2005 20:00 (twenty years ago)

Yeah I read that Jane article too and I think it was actually quite cleverly written. I can't recall the writer, so I might be giving her too much credit, but it seems that she was smart enough to know that passing a moral judgement on the guy would just cause a defensive reaction in the readers, so she just gave us what felt like a relatively neutral description. A description with every seedy detail that left me, and probably many others with the total heebs.

― Kim (Kim), Saturday, 8 January 2005 20:13 (twenty years ago)

I put a link to excerpts from the JANE article above. The author was Cl4udine K0.

― S!monB!rch (Carey), Saturday, 8 January 2005 20:19 (twenty years ago)

classic in theory, dud "in real life."

― Danzig and Jeanne-Claude (deangulberry), Saturday, 8 January 2005 20:35 (twenty years ago)

i like how the one on ludlow & houston is open until 2am, so you can buy some undies on the way home, or if someone threw up on you at the bar, you can get a new shirt real easy.

I love that this is a concern for Phil.

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Saturday, 8 January 2005 21:18 (twenty years ago)

Wait, why is the regular looking brown girl more "real" than a thin white girl?

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Saturday, 8 January 2005 21:20 (twenty years ago)

Because thin white girls are an urban legend, silly.

― Kim (Kim), Saturday, 8 January 2005 21:23 (twenty years ago)

She's quite pretty, but so are many thin white girls.

Matinee t-shirts are from American Apparel: http://www.indiepages.com/matinee/fanclub.html

― youn, Saturday, 8 January 2005 21:24 (twenty years ago)

knew it!!!

xpost

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Saturday, 8 January 2005 21:24 (twenty years ago)

Wait, why is the regular looking brown girl more "real" than a thin white girl?

I posted that to point out that they use models that don't look like typical models (and not in an ironic sense like Calvin Klein a few years back). Brown and white had little to do with it (but maybe a tiny bit).

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Saturday, 8 January 2005 21:41 (twenty years ago)

i actually ordered a t shirt and had to send it back because they "accidentally" sent me one on haynes instead of AA, like advertised, and I will no longer stand for non AA t shirts.

the models are more bennetton than abercrombie.

― S!monB!rch (Carey), Saturday, 8 January 2005 21:42 (twenty years ago)

thin white girls aren't an urban legend, they're an urban surplus.

― hstencil (hstencil), Saturday, 8 January 2005 21:42 (twenty years ago)

ok, here's my two cents
1. overpriced? well you want sweatshop free labor you gotta pay for that. you pay $5 for a shirt and the little malaysian kid gets his .06. you want some (questionable) american from LA to make her $10/ hr, you're paying $25 you tee. labor, shipping, materials, retail, come on people this is basic econ.
2. maria-- i believe that straight dress only comes in one size and i am a size 11 and i own it, it's snug but it's stretchy. i find the fit to be quite nice on all their products
3. who cares if the owner is a perv/ sleeps with models etc etc. let's not scapegoat anyone here, the guy's doing a good thing whether or not some other things he does are not so good.
4. as for quality, they are simple, american made cotton items, you want a shirt that will last forever, spend you $30 on the RL or Brooks Brothers tee, but don't ask where it was made
5 and the models... they are hott and they are hott in a real way. they are thin yes, but i think they are not as thin as regular models and i know people who look like these models, yes, i live in chicago, go to art school and hang out with urban hipsters, but i would say many more of these types exist than the other. scantily clad? sure... but sex sells, and it always will. besides, some of them are wearing clothes more clothes than an abercrombie ad. (Are we trying to sell clothes here, cause the model is naked?)
6. the stores give good looking college kids who are too cool to work at starbucks/guess/ abercrombie a chence to get a job where they can have insurance etc AND not feel like they are being ass-raped by "the man".
ok that's all i've got

― Holly (an appletross), Saturday, 8 January 2005 22:01 (twenty years ago)

1. overpriced? well you want sweatshop free labor you gotta pay for that. you pay $5 for a shirt and the little malaysian kid gets his .06. you want some (questionable) american from LA to make her $10/ hr, you're paying $25 you tee. labor, shipping, materials, retail, come on people this is basic econ.

bullshit. $25 is what you charge if you want the same profit margin as the manufacturers who pay that kid $.06. I mean, I do obv. think it's better to pay workers real wages and not exploit developing country labor, but let's be honest here, at the end of the day it's all about profit.

3. who cares if the owner is a perv/ sleeps with models etc etc. let's not scapegoat anyone here, the guy's doing a good thing whether or not some other things he does are not so good.

this is kinda like saying, and I know I'm invoking Godwin's Law here, "who cares if Hitler hates the Jews, he's a vegetarian!" It's not so much that I care one way or the other how this guy handles his private life, it's as a CEO of a corporation he should probably have a more responsible idea of what liability means to his company, esp. if he wants his company to have a long-term future after he's gone.

― hstencil (hstencil), Saturday, 8 January 2005 22:07 (twenty years ago)

you know that you just slammed AA for wanting the same profit margin as the larger companies and then talked about how they're not concerned about the longevity of the company, right?

― Danzig and Jeanne-Claude (deangulberry), Saturday, 8 January 2005 22:10 (twenty years ago)

well that profit margin is gonna go bye-bye when they have to defend themselves from myriad sexual harassment lawsuits!

― hstencil (hstencil), Saturday, 8 January 2005 22:11 (twenty years ago)

and I don't think profit is wrong, I just think let's be honest and call it what it is. It's not like AA is taking a loss to pay workers a decent wage (and since they are a for-profit company, obv. it would be ridiculous to expect them to).

― hstencil (hstencil), Saturday, 8 January 2005 22:12 (twenty years ago)

i kind of like that guy... he is a crafty jew.

― cutty (mcutt), Saturday, 8 January 2005 22:13 (twenty years ago)

you may have to defend his ass in court one day.

― hstencil (hstencil), Saturday, 8 January 2005 22:14 (twenty years ago)

What do they pay as factory wages? For some reason I feel like I read somewhere it was $13 an hour.

― S!monB!rch (Carey), Saturday, 8 January 2005 22:15 (twenty years ago)

i guess it depends how you view it. you can focus on the negative aspects of this company and how it keeps them from attaining the unattainable 100% WORLD'S BEST GRANDPA award or you can just say, ok they're a little better those other guys out there.

but when all is said and done, their clothes seem wimpy to me and i'd rather paid some foreign amputee his half a cent, because he makes rad, durable shirts.

― Danzig and Jeanne-Claude (deangulberry), Saturday, 8 January 2005 22:15 (twenty years ago)

The dude jerked off in front of the reporter 8 times! You have to kind of admire the guy that his business is still successful and she kept watching. They are already getting ready to open stores in London and Japan.

― S!monB!rch (Carey), Saturday, 8 January 2005 22:18 (twenty years ago)

the other thing is, I'm against sweatshop/exploitive labor in theory, but what happens to those workers when everybody stops buying those clothes and the manufacturers close down their shops? Nobody on any side in the globalization debate has a good answer for this.

― hstencil (hstencil), Saturday, 8 January 2005 22:19 (twenty years ago)

has anyone seen the clip of him on the AA website from CNN?

the part where he screams in the factory makes me love him. he's a maniac.

― cutty (mcutt), Saturday, 8 January 2005 22:25 (twenty years ago)

they can go to law school or something. (xp)

― Danzig and Jeanne-Claude (deangulberry), Saturday, 8 January 2005 22:25 (twenty years ago)

i'm wearing an AA shirt right now. plus, i just jerked off in front of hstencil.

― cutty (mcutt), Saturday, 8 January 2005 22:31 (twenty years ago)

you're a rockist!

― American Apparel and Jeanne-Claude (deangulberry), Saturday, 8 January 2005 22:33 (twenty years ago)

dude, that's gross.

― hstencil (hstencil), Saturday, 8 January 2005 22:33 (twenty years ago)

dude, you didn't say that the first seven times!

― cutty (mcutt), Saturday, 8 January 2005 22:35 (twenty years ago)

zunged.

― hstencil (hstencil), Saturday, 8 January 2005 22:36 (twenty years ago)

Haters are just jealous because this guy gets paid to be lewd in public, anyone's dream job.

― American Apparel and Jeanne-Claude (deangulberry), Saturday, 8 January 2005 22:38 (twenty years ago)

I'd let him jerk off in front of me. His moustache is hypnotic.

― S!monB!rch (Carey), Saturday, 8 January 2005 22:41 (twenty years ago)

c on m(oustache)?

― hstencil (hstencil), Saturday, 8 January 2005 22:41 (twenty years ago)

he probably does great sock puppets.

― S!monB!rch (Carey), Saturday, 8 January 2005 22:43 (twenty years ago)

My AA shirt I am wearing now is the classic american baby blue with a Surf Nicaragua print on it.

― S!monB!rch (Carey), Saturday, 8 January 2005 22:44 (twenty years ago)

I WHOLEHEARTEDLY SUPPORT THIS MASTURBATING JEW ENTREPRENEUR.

― cutty (mcutt), Saturday, 8 January 2005 22:46 (twenty years ago)

don't you want to break stereotypes, tho?

― S!monB!rch (Carey), Saturday, 8 January 2005 22:47 (twenty years ago)

I WHOLEHEARTEDLY SUPPORT THIS ANTI-SWEATSHOP MASTURBATING JEW ENTREPRENEUR.

― cutty (mcutt), Saturday, 8 January 2005 22:48 (twenty years ago)

he kinds reminds of terry richardson. sans the tattoos.

― phil-two (phil-two), Saturday, 8 January 2005 23:06 (twenty years ago)

phil, i was so going to say that earlier.

he IS the terry richardson of the garment industry.

― cutty (mcutt), Saturday, 8 January 2005 23:06 (twenty years ago)

well I haven't seen these clothes but I like the windbreaker on the website and the tees sound good. and I wish I could jack off at work but alas, I can't, so I'm not going to slam him for that. I'm a little surprised there haven't been any harrassement lawsuits against the guy just yet so maybe some of this is mythmaking to bolster the brand in our new nonPC Vice loving culture.

― kyle (akmonday), Saturday, 8 January 2005 23:11 (twenty years ago)

ihttp://www.themodernage.org/dailypics/sisley-richardson.jpg

― phil-two (phil-two), Saturday, 8 January 2005 23:13 (twenty years ago)

i don't think there have been/are going to be lawsuits because everything seems consensual. and wouldn't you want to bang him? Phil-Two?

― S!monB!rch (Carey), Saturday, 8 January 2005 23:14 (twenty years ago)

but even in consensual situations, someone, at some point, would decide to bring a lawsuit or a complaint, I think. I mean, someone is going to take an opportunity to make some money (note that I by no means think that all sexual harrassment claims are groundless attempts to screw employers, far from it; but, I would think in a company where this kind of behaviour is rampant, someone would). maybe it just hasn't happened yet.

― kyle (akmonday), Saturday, 8 January 2005 23:16 (twenty years ago)

His biggest defense is actually that he is so blatant about it. Nothing to hide, nothing to lose.

― S!monB!rch (Carey), Saturday, 8 January 2005 23:19 (twenty years ago)

and wouldn't you want to bang him? Phil-Two?

no not really. i mean unless he takes a picture of me sucking his dick for his next ad campaign. then, okay! the american apparel guy or terry richardson, i guess. dont matter.

― phil-two (phil-two), Saturday, 8 January 2005 23:22 (twenty years ago)

wait, no, i take that back

― phil-two (phil-two), Saturday, 8 January 2005 23:23 (twenty years ago)

He's also pretty damn reminiscent of Eugene Hutz.

― Collardio Gelatinous (collardio), Saturday, 8 January 2005 23:26 (twenty years ago)

Funny, S!mon, I made a sock puppet for my friend's birthday just last week that looks a lot like that moustachioed owner.

You have all the Real Genius shirts?

― Paul Eater (eater), Saturday, 8 January 2005 23:33 (twenty years ago)

I have ALL the REAL GENIUS shirts.

― S!monB!rch (Carey), Saturday, 8 January 2005 23:38 (twenty years ago)

real genius shirts what?

― American Apparel and Jeanne-Claude (deangulberry), Saturday, 8 January 2005 23:46 (twenty years ago)

http://xs10.xs.to/pics/05010/IMG_0023.JPG

― S!monB!rch (Carey), Saturday, 8 January 2005 23:47 (twenty years ago)

There he is!

― Paul Eater (eater), Sunday, 9 January 2005 00:16 (twenty years ago)

if the owner sexually harassed me i'd be sort of ok with it. no ones going to sue that guy he is hip

― Holly (an appletross), Sunday, 9 January 2005 00:50 (twenty years ago)

fucking hell that is the best puppet EVER

― kyle (akmonday), Sunday, 9 January 2005 00:53 (twenty years ago)

He has been featured in Vice magazine at least 2x, very 2002.

― gygax! (gygax!), Sunday, 9 January 2005 01:16 (twenty years ago)

who, that puppet? are you saying my taste in puppets it totally unhip?

― kyle (akmonday), Sunday, 9 January 2005 01:19 (twenty years ago)

Gygax, lay off the puppet, you fun-hating ass.

― American Apparel and Jeanne-Claude (deangulberry), Sunday, 9 January 2005 01:20 (twenty years ago)

What do they pay as factory wages? For some reason I feel like I read somewhere it was $13 an hour.

That's a good question, because what I notice is that they promote themselves as "sweatshop-free" not "living-wage."
Are they paying minimum wage on the factory floor (I've never seen that $13)? Are their workers unionized?

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Sunday, 9 January 2005 01:43 (twenty years ago)

$13 is a LOT for unskilled labor

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Sunday, 9 January 2005 03:13 (twenty years ago)

i don't think anyone's being dishonest; i think holly's comments are well aware of the profits american apparel are expecting to make. all business is about profit. that's why we have businesses.

if a.a. can established a successful business model that includes paying all employees insurance and paying a living wage for unskilled work, that's great, and they should make a handsome profit too, why not?

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Sunday, 9 January 2005 03:20 (twenty years ago)

i mean, when i say, "oh, they need to charge more because it costs more," i'm implying too the "need" for profit. i'm often really bothered by how stupid you seem to presume other people are when responding to their posts.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Sunday, 9 January 2005 03:23 (twenty years ago)

if that bothers you, then you must be bothered by %95 of ilxors!

― Emilymv (Emilymv), Sunday, 9 January 2005 03:41 (twenty years ago)

Oh my gawsh, I love the puppet. He looks grouchy.

― Je4nne ƒury (Jeanne Fury), Sunday, 9 January 2005 04:33 (twenty years ago)

$13 is a LOT for unskilled labor

I've never seen $13 cited anywhere before. That's what I'm saying, they advertise as sweatshop-free, not living-wage. If it is $13, though, good for them.

hstencil is responding to the assertion that a $25 pricetag is necessary for a non-sweatshop clothing company to turn a profit. That is bullshit. American Apparel would probably still turn a profit at $12.50 or $15 for a basic t-shirt. It just wouldn't turn as great a profit, which is all hstencil said.

I have a real aversion to any capitalist enterprise trumpeting moral superiority - "look, we pay a decent wage, not like those guys," because it's really just a nice marketing hook. The guy behind this isn't a philanthropist. He's a guy who figured out that playing to middle-class American guilt is a good business model.

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Sunday, 9 January 2005 05:23 (twenty years ago)

if he didn't propose a business model that included a margin of profit commensurate to (or approaching that of) other, similar manufacturers, how do you suppose he would have gotten investors? and why should he not expect as much of a profit as similar manufacturers? if it turns out people aren't willing to pay, then he won't make money. people seem to be willing to pay at the moment.

maybe it is a marketing hook. maybe it's a marketing hook *and* an ethical business model. if what he's trumpeting doesn't turn out to be true, or turns out to be less than meets the eye, then that's bad. otherwise i don't see how the employee-friendly policy is somehow compromised by it also being used in the marketing.

the bottom line is: if the company doesn't make clothing people want to buy, then they will eventually go out of business. the "no-sweatshop" thing no doubt helps brand identity, but i don't think it's the kind of thing that will make a business in the long run.

i have no idea how good their clothing is. i think their chicago stores opened pretty recently. and i can't afford new clothes at the moment anyhow.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Sunday, 9 January 2005 05:45 (twenty years ago)

For me, the best thing about this thread is knowing that a company that seems to have pretty simple, decent-looking clothes is around. I mean, never mind the made-in-America angle, those shirts look pretty nice!

― jaymc (jaymc), Sunday, 9 January 2005 06:02 (twenty years ago)

Plus, I'll give money to a fellow masturbator any day.

― jaymc (jaymc), Sunday, 9 January 2005 06:02 (twenty years ago)

their berkeley store will be opening directly across from the gap, across the street from campus, in a month. I'm sure it will do pretty well.

― kyle (akmonday), Sunday, 9 January 2005 06:08 (twenty years ago)

Amateurist, I'm not disputing his right and privilege to skim as much off the top as any other company. I'd rather the masturbating Jew got his than the Walton family.

But hstencil's response and now mine are to a very specific assertion - that these high prices are the only way AA can turn a profit. Not turn a decent profit or put the masturbating Jew's many illegitimate children through pre-school - just to stay in the black. And that's crap. Nike doesn't use sweatshop labor to stay in the black, they use it to make a 500% markup. AA doesn't charge $25 to stay in the black, they charge $25 because they can get away with it, thanks to a relatively high-income demographic and sweet marketing hook.

Whatever good he does isn't compromised by the marketing - it's still better for any company to pay a decent wage (maybe even a good one if the $13 is right) than a shitty wage no matter what. That doesn't ease my aversion to capitalism hailing itself as public savior and for the sense of superiority found on the part of the company itself (and the sense of superiority I suspect it feeds in many buyers).

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Sunday, 9 January 2005 06:26 (twenty years ago)

milo you are welcome to try to start your own company that pays a living wage to US workers and sells t-shirts for $10. I'm sure many masturbating jews would be happy to give you the money to begin this enterprise.

― kyle (akmonday), Sunday, 9 January 2005 06:31 (twenty years ago)

OK I found the $13 figure in the New York Times article written about them.

"A manifesto on a wall of most of the stores tells that the merchandise is "sweatshop free," made in America by workers who are paid a living wage ($13 an hour on average) and sold at a reasonable price (about $15 for a T-shirt). Shoppers also learn that the company eschews ties "with the corporate right and the politically correct left."

The American Apparel website has a pretty large press center with lots of links, plus that CNN video cutty was talking about where you can see that the workers all seem to make over $10 an hour. They even have 2 people on site to give massages to workers all day, and a huge waiting list of people waiting to be employed at the store. Also T shirts are $15 not $25. Other stuff in the store is more, but they have a pretty big selection of styles of shirts, hoodies, dresses and underwear now.

― S!monB!rch (Carey), Sunday, 9 January 2005 07:21 (twenty years ago)

Actually here is a list off all the things they offer, which is pretty much better than %90 of the jobs I have had:

http://www.americanapparel.net/mission/workers.html

― S!monB!rch (Carey), Sunday, 9 January 2005 07:30 (twenty years ago)

$13 on the floor = good for them. (Is it is just sad old lefty-ism that I'd be happier if their well-treated employees unionized? Damn the Man.)

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Sunday, 9 January 2005 08:03 (twenty years ago)

PS my friend Edward who works at AA told me:
a t-shirt is $15
and all factory workers are insured and therefore cannot be illegal.
and yes, this is america, people need to make profit.

― Holly (an appletross), Sunday, 9 January 2005 08:41 (twenty years ago)

masturabating jew haha. . .

Long before this company opened their own stores and own lines they were a wholesale supplier. Every babydoll tee I own (e.g. all of my band tees) are AA. As far as I'm concerned it's good product.

That Jane article that Kim so accurately summed up upthread was the first I knew of anything about the company. I tried to find it for my boyfriend last weekend to show him how creepy this guy was but I think I threw it away.

I don't think he's doing anything wrong. He's attempting to use better business practices, hooray for him. His sexual creepiness didn't come off as harrassing to me. It didn't seem like he was forcing his grossness on any chick who didn't want it. I mean I wouldn't have let him masturbate in front of me but I appreciate the writer taking one for the team.

― Miss Misery (thatgirl), Sunday, 9 January 2005 08:53 (twenty years ago)

i'm just saying that it's only a matter of time, if this guy's habits are really so blatant, that somebody will change their mind about it being consensual. Which is neither here nor there, really, as far as I'm concerned. As I said before I don't really care what the guy does, though if I held significant equity in his company ('cause despite the web site's talk about not taking money from the "right" or "left" they had to get funding from somewhere).

and as far as profit goes, milo pretty much encapsulated what I was getting at. I don't have a problem with a company making a profit, hell even a ridiculously huge one - I'm a capitalist after all. I just would rather not pretend that just because a company does some things right that they are like Jesus or something. It's still a corporation, it's still capitalism, and despite me being relatively okay with that system (for the most part), it's not utopia (duh). I would think there are quite a few ILXors who hold much more radical (in a sense) views on capitalism and corporations than I do, so I find it interesting to be one of the few to bring up that point on this thread.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 10 January 2005 02:45 (twenty years ago)

are you a fucking commie or something?

― Miss Misery (thatgirl), Monday, 10 January 2005 03:14 (twenty years ago)

haha, nope! I used to work at an investment bank, for chrissakes!

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 10 January 2005 03:17 (twenty years ago)

who exactly is elevating them to jesus status?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 10 January 2005 07:21 (twenty years ago)

the Romans.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 10 January 2005 16:54 (twenty years ago)

hey, thanks for being nice about this, hstencil. i was a bit of a jerk in my last post.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Monday, 10 January 2005 20:44 (twenty years ago)

Was Jesus a masturbating Jew?

― tokyo rosemary (rosemary), Monday, 10 January 2005 21:20 (twenty years ago)

Anyway, I am with Carey and Sam on the girl cut shirts = awesome.

There is an AA outlet where I work and apparently I can get a 20% discount there.

― tokyo rosemary (rosemary), Monday, 10 January 2005 21:23 (twenty years ago)

all factory workers are insured and therefore cannot be illegal

untrue on two counts:

#1) insurance is optional (not required) for AA employees

#2) "The law says Charney can't knowingly hire someone who's an illegal immigrant, but he says just try to figure out who's legal and who isn't."

"But the fact of it is, and I'll speak in general terms so no one gets in trouble, but the entire industrial area of Los Angeles is generally populated with blue collar workers that are falsely documented and, if the three of us wanted to go get some green cards, we could have them in two hours at Macarthur Park."
Dov Charney (5/14/04)

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 10 January 2005 21:28 (twenty years ago)

All of you people who have no problem with this guy jerking off in front of the writer -- would you feel the same way if Dov was in his 70s?

― Je4nne ƒury (Jeanne Fury), Monday, 10 January 2005 21:35 (twenty years ago)

I'd be impressed!

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Monday, 10 January 2005 21:38 (twenty years ago)

Yes, he's a sexist asshole, but apparently the writer didn't have much of a problem with it - the end of the Jane article gives the impression that she slept with him.

― Lukas (lukas), Monday, 10 January 2005 22:08 (twenty years ago)

Also, I have an unbelievably soft & comfy t-shirt from AA, it was like $13. I never thought of cheap t-shirts as a luxury item before.

Americal Apparel may turn out like Krispy Kreme - after the glow fades, you realize it's not all that, but it changed the way you'll think about shirts/donuts forever, so you're always grateful.

― Lukas (lukas), Monday, 10 January 2005 22:11 (twenty years ago)

I think the moment of truth for AA will be when they are faced with the decision that all maturing businesses evenutally face: do they diversify beyond their core products to reach more consumers (e.g., by selling pants, accessories, etc.) or do they keep things streamlined while modestly altering the look of their core product offerings from time to time?

But whatevs. I like the shirts. I got an Oneida T printed on an AA shirt, and liked it so much that I went out and bought some of the blank ones.

― rasheed wallace (rasheed wallace), Monday, 10 January 2005 22:24 (twenty years ago)

My guess is that in the long run, they'll go the way of "The Body Shop" and with more and more profitable ubiquity we'll gradually hear less and less of how much 'better' their practices are.

― Kim (Kim), Tuesday, 11 January 2005 01:43 (twenty years ago)

the next question is, what size do you wear? how do you feel about shrinkage?

― cutty (mcutt), Tuesday, 11 January 2005 02:03 (twenty years ago)

I got a Hella AA shirt and it shrunk in horrible ways. It looks like blouse or something. Hella weak.

― American Apparel and Jeanne-Claude (deangulberry), Tuesday, 11 January 2005 02:05 (twenty years ago)

he did but only with the utmost and highest of intentions

― jesus the masturbating jew, Tuesday, 11 January 2005 03:58 (twenty years ago)

i think y-que on vermont buys the shit at wholesale prices and sells em for much less to YOU the consumer. bulk those $25 shirts are about $5 a piece. i always just thought they were for printing on.

wow i never heard about that guy. his comment about how masturbating in front of women was, uh...?gMasturbation in front of women is underrated. It's much easier on the woman. She gets to watch, it's a sensual experience that doesn't involve a man violating a woman, yet once the man has his release, it's over and you can talk to the guy.?h Most every girl I know sometime in their childhood, pre-teen, teen, adult life has had to watch some random creepy guy jerk off to her and it doen't make for heart-warming memories. It's about as sensual and exciting to watch as a homeless guy taking a shit on your burrito and you're about as inclined to want to talk to the guy afterwards. I'm not quite sure how it doesn't count as harrassment or perhaps in un-politicized parlance 'totally fucking nauseating'. that seems to be a pretty big line crossed for everyone to be so hip and laid-back about.

― lolita corpus (lolitacorpus), Tuesday, 11 January 2005 08:00 (twenty years ago)

otm. isn't it nice to know the guy must think some "sensual" experiences *do* involve violating a woman?

― Kim (Kim), Saturday, 22 January 2005 19:18 (twenty years ago)

i guess aged hipsters can get away with stuff other people can't and receive figurative high-fives for it because they have vice mag cred and sell cheap clothing.

― Riot Gear! (Gear!), Saturday, 22 January 2005 21:23 (twenty years ago)

spencer! i have several of the shirts that you posted (incl. the brown one), actually i'm wearing the long-sleeved version now. they are great! you'll like 'em a lot. so comfy and nice-looking.
and stencil they DO put their workers in the ads, not all of them, but they do. i've seen 'em!

-- s1ocki (slytus...), January 8th, 2005 1:23 PM.

http://www.americanapparel.net/presscenter/articles/images/20041123nytimes02.jpg

http://www3.sympatico.ca/mark.slutsky/moustache72.jpg

coincidence?

― bnw (bnw), Monday, 24 January 2005 00:32 (twenty years ago)

bump

― bump, Monday, 24 January 2005 01:18 (twenty years ago)

I don't think I get it?

Also, I just realized the other night that I see one of their models out pretty regularly at clubs. She's very normal looking in person. I wouldn't have assumed that she was a model.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 24 January 2005 01:24 (twenty years ago)

bottom pic is slocki.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 24 January 2005 01:25 (twenty years ago)

hahaha omg, so pwned

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 24 January 2005 01:30 (twenty years ago)

Haha, now I get - sort of.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 24 January 2005 01:56 (twenty years ago)

plus they're both jewish and from montreal or something?

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 24 January 2005 02:03 (twenty years ago)

tho i'm not gonna speculate on slocki's sexual practices.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 24 January 2005 02:04 (twenty years ago)

Don't start jerking off in front of us though, slocki.

haha xpost

― tokyo rosemary (rosemary), Monday, 24 January 2005 02:06 (twenty years ago)

IT'S A LIVING

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 24 January 2005 03:13 (twenty years ago)

(haha though actually i do have a couple of connections to the guy)

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 24 January 2005 03:14 (twenty years ago)

http://www.gawker.com/news/dov_again.jpg

These actually look like a pair of tighty whities I dyed pink. I was wondering why someone was wearing my underwear.

― S!monB!rch (Carey), Thursday, 27 January 2005 20:47 (twenty years ago)

i guess aged hipsters can get away with stuff other people can't and receive figurative high-fives for it because they have vice mag cred and sell cheap clothing.

ok... i received a memo (dead serious) that read: Vice officially has no credibility. I wouldn't have taken it seriously if i didn't receive it from someone who i wouldn't have guessed even knew what vice magazine was. So, let's never hear about Vice credibility again. Instead, let's find a better way for Ryan McGinley's beautiful new photographs to be seen. he's really gotten much better in the last year.

― firstworldman (firstworldman), Thursday, 27 January 2005 21:06 (twenty years ago)

five months pass...

uhhhhhhh huh.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/10/fashion/sundaystyles/10HARASS.html?8hpib=&pagewanted=print

― caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Saturday, 9 July 2005 13:15 (twenty years ago)

well nobody saw THAT coming

― s1ocki (slutsky), Saturday, 9 July 2005 14:23 (twenty years ago)

i have to admit having more sympathy with charney than perhaps i should simply because his ascendance as an enterpreneur seems so *unlikely*

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Saturday, 9 July 2005 14:37 (twenty years ago)

hahaha. I have to say that I find the stores and the hot girls that work in them kind of alarming. I like the clothes though. Still, he is going to lose this case big time.

― kyle (akmonday), Saturday, 9 July 2005 14:47 (twenty years ago)

the whole "well they weren't very good workers" argument vaguely reads like, "well she was dressed for it". Everyone's really friendly in those stores, but in a very privileged sort of way that I find off-putting.

― Gear! (Ill Cajun Gunsmith) (Gear!), Saturday, 9 July 2005 14:50 (twenty years ago)

i haven't actually been in any of the chicago stores yet, should i?

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Saturday, 9 July 2005 15:04 (twenty years ago)

good clothes, not sure about the prices. I have one of those shirts the defendant is wearing upthread ($32, if I remember correctly) and I don't feel like I'd ever have to get anything at that store again.

― Gear! (Ill Cajun Gunsmith) (Gear!), Saturday, 9 July 2005 15:14 (twenty years ago)

their stuff lasts forever though in my experience.

― kyle (akmonday), Saturday, 9 July 2005 15:19 (twenty years ago)

are you an immortal being?

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Saturday, 9 July 2005 15:20 (twenty years ago)

I should amend that to add that all bands should use their t-shirts, and I'm more likely to invest in a band shirt if it's American Apparel.

― Gear! (Ill Cajun Gunsmith) (Gear!), Saturday, 9 July 2005 15:22 (twenty years ago)

dov charney is a masturbatin', sexual harassin' DUD. ditto for their clothes, which despite all its claims about being sweatshop free dont fit people with curves.

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Saturday, 9 July 2005 15:43 (twenty years ago)

their stuff is pretty stretchy and clingy

― kyle (akmonday), Saturday, 9 July 2005 15:48 (twenty years ago)

what's wrong with masturbating? ok, at work, i dunno.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Saturday, 9 July 2005 15:52 (twenty years ago)

do you have anecdotal evidence maria?

― cousin larry bundgee (bundgee), Saturday, 9 July 2005 16:15 (twenty years ago)

despite all its claims about being sweatshop free dont fit people with curves

I'm not sure I see the connection.

Also, their stuff is snug-fitting, but whether or not you like that fit isn't necessarily a question of curviness.

Though "Made by real people for unreal people" would be a fun tag line.

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Saturday, 9 July 2005 16:58 (twenty years ago)

"made by real people for sale to curve-free people by employees who are unaware of the reputation of the company's founder"

― cousin larry bundgee (bundgee), Saturday, 9 July 2005 17:13 (twenty years ago)

ditto for their clothes, which despite all its claims about being sweatshop free dont fit people with curves.

There is an interesting conflation at work in this statement, but I can't seem to unpack it.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Saturday, 9 July 2005 17:32 (twenty years ago)

it means that the clothes are lyin', masturbatin', sexual harassin' DUDS.

i am wearing the overpriced hoodie sweatshirt right now and while snug, it has yet to cross any lines.

― cousin larry bundgee (bundgee), Saturday, 9 July 2005 17:36 (twenty years ago)

just for the record, re: overpriced stuff, my band's tshirts are all AA, and hand-screened by another company, and we can still sell them for $10 and make money. Just throwing that out there -- I have no doubt that the retail stores are probably expensive as hell.

― Hurlothrumbo (hurlothrumbo), Saturday, 9 July 2005 18:26 (twenty years ago)

the hooded sweatshirts are $45 and are a little softer but generally not much different than any other brand's sweatshirt. i've heard that a certain store owner has a stand during a nearby farmer's market / swap meet and sells things for much lower prices...

― cousin larry bundgee (bundgee), Saturday, 9 July 2005 18:32 (twenty years ago)

their zippers suck!!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Saturday, 9 July 2005 18:49 (twenty years ago)

the one AA shirt i have, a slint shirt, is nice. but i think i made my objections known upthread. his investors should ask him to resign.

― hstencil (hstencil), Saturday, 9 July 2005 19:40 (twenty years ago)

he definitely seems like a complete dickhead -- but if I were an investor, I'd probably reserve judgment until the last possible moment. But hey, I'm not, so I hope he gets fucking whaled on in court.

― Hurlothrumbo (hurlothrumbo), Saturday, 9 July 2005 21:52 (twenty years ago)

I bet it will settle out of court before it ever goes to trial

― kyle (akmonday), Saturday, 9 July 2005 22:03 (twenty years ago)

I don't know, he plays such a high-profile game with his sex-in-the-office thing, it would be a total retreat for him to settle. I can easily imagine him aching to fight this in a public forum. You might be right, though.

― Hurlothrumbo (hurlothrumbo), Saturday, 9 July 2005 22:08 (twenty years ago)

COME ON YOU GUYZ IT'S BEEN MONTHS SINCE SOMEONE'S MADE FUN OF HIM ON THIS THREAD FOR BEING JEWISH!!!111!! LET'S KEEP UP THE ANTI-SEMITISM LOLZ!!ONE

― matlewis (matlewis), Saturday, 9 July 2005 22:29 (twenty years ago)

My t-shirt fit perfectly until I washed it. Who are these men with frames smaller than me that can fit these shirts!? Are they too tiny to notice?

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Saturday, 9 July 2005 22:35 (twenty years ago)

I'm not criticizing them for shrinking though, I know all clothes do that, I was just too air-headed too remember.

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Saturday, 9 July 2005 22:36 (twenty years ago)

do you have anecdotal evidence maria?

of course. nothing in that store fits me.

fit is a concern for me, as a person who's a size 14-16. yes, ive tried their larger sizes but thats not the issue -- its the way they cut their clothes. serging together two pieces of interlock with a straight seam into a rectangle and calling it a dress is going to fit only a small segment of the population. ive had to hack several of my AA pieces to make them fit me properly. even on the AA website you can see how straight the cuts are on their clothes. even their models are too curvaceous to handle them. [i will give dov credit where credits due: the models have figures!]

years ago, i worked at a coffeeshop where some of the employees were also fit models for urban outfitters. their bodies were shaped similar to mens -- very straight with no hips and boobs. i never wore their clothes for that reason [and that most of their sizing stopped at 10-12].

there isnt much difference between AA & UO's products, its just the mentality propelling them. i applaud AA for their attempt to give their workers fair pay and incredible benefits, but until they create clothes that fit all sorts of people not just scrawny folks, ill always lump them in the same category with UO.

p.s. i totally love the misspelling of "polaroids" on their website.

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Saturday, 9 July 2005 22:51 (twenty years ago)

I bet it will settle out of court before it ever goes to trial

that's not necessarily much better. of course no admission of guilt is fine, but losing money to litigation -- whether in or out of court -- is still a loss.

― hstencil (hstencil), Saturday, 9 July 2005 23:11 (twenty years ago)

but until they create clothes that fit all sorts of people not just scrawny folks, ill always lump them in the same category with UO.

100% OTM

― Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Sunday, 10 July 2005 01:12 (twenty years ago)

I dunno, I have curves, and their shirts always fit me.

I applied to work at the AA outlet but they never called me back. I guess I wasn't hot enough in the photo they took of me.

― tokyo nursery school: afternoon session (rosemary), Sunday, 10 July 2005 02:58 (twenty years ago)

nobody makes clothes that fit all sorts of people. it doesn't have all that much to do with curves, either. a lot of stores have clothes that don't fit me properly because i'm gangly and awkward. it's just what happens when one company tries to make clothes to fit a variety of shapes, someone gets left out. no big deal.

― caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Sunday, 10 July 2005 03:08 (twenty years ago)

It's more about proportions: their clothes are very body-hugging, not very forgiving. Curvy or skinny is fine, as long as you are ok with people seeing every possible ripple in your bod.

― Mary (Mary), Sunday, 10 July 2005 03:20 (twenty years ago)

I find the whole AA thing pretty gross and contrived to tell you guys the truth. That's my bottom line... even if I would ever like the clothes.

― scout (scout), Sunday, 10 July 2005 04:38 (twenty years ago)

you find solid color t-shirts gross and contrived?

― cousin larry bundgee (bundgee), Sunday, 10 July 2005 04:40 (twenty years ago)

caitlin, im not trying to say their clothes should fit every person. AA wants to appear like a fair and just company but really, the goals are half-assed. they offer excellent wages to their workforce but make clothes that accomodate a certain body type. its not as if they're churning out a line for every fashion season. i happen to really dig basic things -- good t-shirts, simple skirts -- and it disappoints me that the company cant get it right.

mary, if you've sewed for a while, you're probably familiar with how the shape of a pattern can affect an outfit. it is possible to make form fitting clothes without resorting to cutting and sewing on a straight line.

whatever, im done with arguing. dov charney, i have a serger too! if you show yours ill show you mine.

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Sunday, 10 July 2005 04:56 (twenty years ago)

I just find it hard to respect clothing companies that don't make any attempt to make clothes for people of varying body sizes. I most certainly get the impression that the main reason they don't is because they don't want to be associated with the fatties.*

* When you read that sentence, please pronounce the word "fatties" the same way that Henry Winkler does on Arrested Development.

― Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Sunday, 10 July 2005 05:04 (twenty years ago)

I'm also dubious about whether or not the non-sweatshop thing is really a genuine political move for them, or instead a marketing hook to reel in their target market of hipsters and indie types.

― Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Sunday, 10 July 2005 05:06 (twenty years ago)

I mean, I'm normally willing to give the benefit of the doubt about that sort of thing, but this guy is an obvious creep.

― Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Sunday, 10 July 2005 05:07 (twenty years ago)

it's pretty obvious that they're aiming their clothes at svelte attractive young hipsters. it's not even debateable. railing against AA because their hoodies don't come in XXXXLarge is beyond silly. most hip clothing designers don't even go up to XLarge or XXLarge, which AA does.*

a creep's a creep, but the size of the clothes have little to do with it.

* this is where you say that their XXLarge is actually a mislabeled Large.

― cousin larry bundgee (bundgee), Sunday, 10 July 2005 05:25 (twenty years ago)

instead a marketing hook to reel in their target market of hipsters and indie types.

I have no problem with this. Do you really believe that any corporations are going to change their evil practices out of the goodness of their hearts? Businesses have to see that good labor or environmental practices are popular with customers and good for the bottom line before we ever see any changes.

Also, the anti-thin complaints here are absurd. The owner of AA is a jerk because he's a sexist pig. Urban Outfitters is evil because the owner gives tons of money to scumbags like Rick Santorum. The fact that these places make clothes for gasp, skinny people is a pretty minor offense in the grand scheme of things. And as a skinny guy I'm grateful for any stores that make mens clothes that aren't ridiculously baggy and designed for beefy american jocks.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Sunday, 10 July 2005 05:52 (twenty years ago)

I don't think I have a straight line on my body, and I still love their cuts, colors and cotton. It's the only t-shirt/tank top/cheap skirt that I will buy now. As sad as it may seem, the clientel that is shopping at their stores in major cities is not going to be heavy in demand for XL, XXL, XXXL. It is not attractive, cost-wise, to produce those sizes and then have the majority sit on the shelves.

Out of the 8000 jobs I have had, I have yet to experience one where the environment never had innuendo, explicit comments, raunchiness etc etc. I'm sorry if these women were traumatized, but where exactly did they think they were working. AA totally has the sleazy 70s low budget porn image. I am leaning towards thinking that this is not going to affect DC or AA in the least bit.

― h0t h0t h0rsey (Carey), Sunday, 10 July 2005 07:02 (twenty years ago)

Ha, in the one store I've been in they actually decorated the walls with vintage copies of penthouse. Do they do that in every store?

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Sunday, 10 July 2005 07:30 (twenty years ago)

I still haven't bought that shirt I was going to get. Haven't tried them on so not sure how they fit on me. Me Me Me. I might be a little drunk right now.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Sunday, 10 July 2005 08:21 (twenty years ago)

I guess I wasn't hot enough in the photo they took of me.

wrong.

― hstencil (hstencil), Sunday, 10 July 2005 09:19 (twenty years ago)

I like their track jackets. They do run small, though.

― Jordan (Jordan), Sunday, 10 July 2005 11:07 (twenty years ago)

four weeks pass...

i might check this out when im down in london, the clothes look pretty good quality and plain clothes are a fucker to get hold of.

im a bit put off by the name "american apparel" though. "british garments" would make me run a mile...

― ambrose (ambrose), Sunday, 7 August 2005 21:42 (twenty years ago)

oh shit can i juts say, looking at that site, that skinny t shirts that are thin but really long, and come down way past yr waistline look ridiculous! this is really, really not a good look. it looks like you got a small tshirt then stretched it over yr knees for ages or something. skinny t shirts should be shorter please.

― ambrose (ambrose), Sunday, 7 August 2005 21:45 (twenty years ago)

hipsters were frolicking in skimpy bathing suits in front of one of the LA stores yesterday

― Dr. Glen Y. Abreu (dr g), Sunday, 7 August 2005 22:08 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...

http://www.americanapparel.net/storefront/hotshort/images/banner.jpg

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 16:12 (nineteen years ago)

yes?

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 16:14 (nineteen years ago)

Just... interesting.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 16:16 (nineteen years ago)

you are one horny dude, chow.

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 16:17 (nineteen years ago)

Jess, you of all people are requiring a reason for me to post that??? I would think you might appreciate my effort.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 16:17 (nineteen years ago)

Weren't you the one that posted those girls looking in a refrigerator? (nb - I actually remember that).

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 16:17 (nineteen years ago)

only ONE of these women grace the next Ween cover.

― miccio (miccio), Thursday, 6 October 2005 16:18 (nineteen years ago)

haha spencer i didnt mean it as an insult!

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 16:51 (nineteen years ago)

if anything i admire your forthrightness

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 16:51 (nineteen years ago)

Where is that refigerator pic anyway?!

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 16:52 (nineteen years ago)

sadly i dont even remember what you're referring to :(

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 16:58 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.shaneland.co.uk/personalpages/shane/images/edgbaston/11902.jpg

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 17:20 (nineteen years ago)

― Roxymuzak, Mrs. Carbohydrate (roxymuzak), Thursday, 6 October 2005 17:21 (nineteen years ago)

haha sooooo not opening that at work

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 17:23 (nineteen years ago)

It's safe.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 17:25 (nineteen years ago)

haha in what context did i post that originally?

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 17:26 (nineteen years ago)

On this thread:
jess and this board

Which devolved into a discussion of that bust of Mace Windu.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 17:32 (nineteen years ago)

oh great that has the puma blowjob pic on. THANKS DUDER.

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 17:37 (nineteen years ago)

...

― gear (gear), Thursday, 6 October 2005 17:38 (nineteen years ago)

I opened a magazine a month or two back to see a two-page aa advertisement that was basically a huge shot of some girl's ass. I think she was wearing one of their products, but I couldn't be bothered to... ok, I was a little bothered, but in a good way.

― mike h. (mike h.), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:11 (nineteen years ago)

they have basically stopped pretending the ads are anything other than softcore at this point.

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:12 (nineteen years ago)

are there like 5 nyc stores?

― Jonothong Williamsmang (ex machina), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:13 (nineteen years ago)

dude there's at least 5 in montreal alone!!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:19 (nineteen years ago)

like spencer, i too prefer women without heads.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:21 (nineteen years ago)

that does make me wonder: do they shoot the male models without heads too?

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:23 (nineteen years ago)

or, you know, crop the photos. not cut the model's heads off.

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:23 (nineteen years ago)

Do they even have male models? I don't recall seeing one in any print ads.

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:25 (nineteen years ago)

i would assume they do on the website. i've never shopped there so i dunno.

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:27 (nineteen years ago)

i do remember them having male models back in the day before they realized their bread and butter was "this is bridget. she's barely legal and has a pair of underwear too small for her stretched over her ass. SEE?"

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:27 (nineteen years ago)

I have definitely seen recent print ads with male models, who had their heads. One was an old man.

― n/a (Nick A.), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:28 (nineteen years ago)

These must be some damn good socks, better than any I've owned:

http://www.americanapparel.net/presscenter/ads/images/laurenphoenix.jpg

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:28 (nineteen years ago)

there are about five AA stores in L.A. too. as far as I can tell all the girls who work in them look like the girls in the ads. actually the guys do as well.

― gear (gear), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:28 (nineteen years ago)

Some of the girls who work in them are in fact the same ones in the ads.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:33 (nineteen years ago)

i am not going to say some of these girls aren't attractive. i do find the ads a little creepy at times.

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:35 (nineteen years ago)

it's almost like sex... sells!!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:38 (nineteen years ago)

"bridget was photographed in a series of poses inspired by her favorite 1970s vintage erotica. she just decided that on her own. we were going to go with a sears-catalog kind of look, but she was all like 'no, i think it would be fun to recreate vintage pornography, because i have a personal hobbyist interest in it and have favorite poses and shots i'm interested in re-enacting, as a form of personal expression.' we wanted to be sensitive to her needs, so here we are."

― nabisco (nabisco), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:39 (nineteen years ago)

why is it creepier to sexualize indie girls than more conventional model-lookin' girls?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:39 (nineteen years ago)

it's not.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:40 (nineteen years ago)

Because indie is more "real," man.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:40 (nineteen years ago)

i find plenty of advertising creepy slocki

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:43 (nineteen years ago)

especially the one of the cgi nail fungus pulling the big toenail up and jumping around inside of it like it was a bouncy castle

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:43 (nineteen years ago)

advertising is creepy, period.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:44 (nineteen years ago)

It's like those cool indie girls are "selling out."

xpost:
YES.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:45 (nineteen years ago)

http://cargobay.starwars.com/misc/statues/minibusts/mace_bust.jpg

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:46 (nineteen years ago)

oh, spencer, forget it.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:46 (nineteen years ago)

I find it disturbing when bad indie/emo gets played on commercials because this world is truly perverse if that music can actually inspire someone to buy something.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:47 (nineteen years ago)

Your search - cgi nail fungus - did not match any documents.

Suggestions:
- Make sure all words are spelled correctly.
- Try different keywords.
- Try more general keywords.
- Try fewer keywords.

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:47 (nineteen years ago)

stence, this is like rockism.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:48 (nineteen years ago)

Like that awful ad where they're driving a car with that horrible whiny voiced song going and the couple is talking, but no words come out, rather CARTOON FISH AND UNICORNS AND SHIT come out in speech bubbles? I mean why would anyone want that car?

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:48 (nineteen years ago)

i agree with that, spencer. find another strawman.

xpost - no, it's not.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:48 (nineteen years ago)

I watched LOST with my gf the other night and that commercial started and I closed my eyes and told her to cover hers too. She deeply regrets her decision to watch the CGI nail fungus.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:49 (nineteen years ago)

i want to climb to the top of the mountain, ally

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:49 (nineteen years ago)

i guess what i'm getting at is that lots of people (not on this board, mind, but lots of indie types i run into) seem to be ESPECIALLY offended by AA's use of sexuality in advertising, as if it's a new thing. but maybe that's just because AA is catering more to their specific demographic and getting up in their specific grills.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:49 (nineteen years ago)

stence, everything is. Rockism/Popism is the ultimate binary - the yin/yang of everything, that is why we are here.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:50 (nineteen years ago)

i have never seen the fungus ad. is it a particular indie toenail?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:50 (nineteen years ago)

jorel are you seriously accusing Spencer's sort of jokey sarcastic posts of strawmanism????? I mean he's the one posting the freaking AA ads and bein' all horny and shit about it.

xpost jess seriously that makes me want to rip my own teeth out, stop it.

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:50 (nineteen years ago)

NB the last time I was in the LES American Apparel the two pretty-hot employees (one of whom was wearing a longish AA polo-type shirt and nothing else, which you'd think would have people dropping shirts all day and then asking her to bend over and pick them up) started having a conversation, while I was paying, about how hard-up they were for guys and how only psychos ever thought they were hot. The conversation seemed to start so clearly for my benefit that I had a bunch of social-awkwardness moments (are they fishing for compliments? do they for some reason think I'm checking them out and are pre-emptively calling me a psycho?) before deciding that they were just getting off on being teasy. Which was kind of insulting. I just needed a clean t-shirt and shit.

I buy basic stuff from AA (in there any men's not-basic stuff at AA?) -- usually long-sleeve t-shirts, polo shirts, or sweatshirts.

xpost - THAT NAIL FUNGUS SHIT IS PAINFUL TO WATCH! It totally just crankys up that dude's toenail like the hood of a car!

― nabisco (nabisco), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:50 (nineteen years ago)

it's maggie gyllenhaal's toenail

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:51 (nineteen years ago)

spencer, you really need to either get out more, or get out less.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:51 (nineteen years ago)

one of whom was wearing a longish AA polo-type shirt and nothing else

dear lord.

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:51 (nineteen years ago)

xpost:
We are pulling each others' legs right?

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:52 (nineteen years ago)

anyway he's really singing mountain??? I remember it as him babbling about rainbows. I wanna walk to the side of the end of the rainbow or something like that. Mountains are so dull and not as tweeeeeeee.

the CGI nail fungus is gross. Anything involving nail fungus is gross, why do advertisers seem to think cartoon representations of fungus under your nails is really cool? Cos as long as I've been alive, anti-fungal foot meds are all about cartoon fungi setting up Habitat for Humanity colonies in your toenails.

xpost nabisco that is a weird fucking conversation you overheard. Maybe they were hitting on you.

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:53 (nineteen years ago)

(although I secretly believe what I'm saying is true)

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:53 (nineteen years ago)

Jess, it was like halfway between a long polo shirt and an actual shirt-dress. Probably a shirt-dress that was very small. Like it came right down to around the, umm, "sub-gluteal fold." She was the kind of skinny where it doesn't really matter, though -- that kind of skinny where you can see whatever and it's just like some random leg.

― nabisco (nabisco), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:54 (nineteen years ago)

what a gross description of a dress and a girl, nabisco, what the hell.

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:55 (nineteen years ago)

a shress!!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:55 (nineteen years ago)

nitsuh are you sure it wasn't a pubescent boy?

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:55 (nineteen years ago)

oopsie!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:56 (nineteen years ago)

and i can't believe she thought you were a psycho. she's the psycho!

― carly (carly), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:56 (nineteen years ago)

Remember Bill Paxton in True Lies?

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:56 (nineteen years ago)

Also, the girl in the Honda commercial makes me all CRAZY.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:57 (nineteen years ago)

the girl with the unicorns coming out of her mouth?!?!?!?! CRAZY good or CRAZY bad?????????????????????

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:57 (nineteen years ago)

This threads makes me wish I either watched more TV or less. I can't tell.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:58 (nineteen years ago)

i am so glad we have gotten to a point where they can joke about sex toys on sitcoms and have hallucinogenic trips in car ads

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:58 (nineteen years ago)

i not-so-secretly believe that spencer's probably saying what he believes, yeah.

anyway, i won't deny the occasional pleasures of being sold to, but - and i know this will out me as corny-for-life on ilx - i am really glad that there are still a few things in human experience that have nothing to do with commerce.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:59 (nineteen years ago)

I don't remember unicorns - that would somehow make her even HOTTER.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:59 (nineteen years ago)

But see Ally either they were (a) hitting on me, or (b) like anti-hitting on me, or (c) so unconcerned with my penis-holding presence that they'd just say that shit like it wouldn't be awkward, or (d) getting off on being teasy. (a) seems kind of unlikely, because, you know, I'm pretty fine and all, but I'm guessing half-dressed American Apparel salesgirls don't need to hit on the likes of me. (b) seems unlikely because I hadn't done anything but ask for a shirt. (c) and (d) are both possible and insulting in opposite directions, which is kind of funny.

xpost - that's not a gross description, is it? She was reasonably cute and all, like normal LES cute.

― nabisco (nabisco), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:59 (nineteen years ago)

like what?? Getting arrested?

xpost to stence

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Thursday, 6 October 2005 18:59 (nineteen years ago)

Like indie, stence?

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:00 (nineteen years ago)

if you were holding your penis, i think they knew what they were doing

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:00 (nineteen years ago)

Nabisco, what does it matter? The correct response is to smirk and say, "I'm not "psycho" while making the quotation marks gesture.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:01 (nineteen years ago)

dudes, like SUNSETS you soulless FUCKS.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:02 (nineteen years ago)

spencer wasn't even the one who asked the question about levels of creepiness! it was slock1! and I think he has a point to a certain extent in terms of perception. I would wager a bet it's because indie types are generally played as being younger girls in the media, while model types range all of the ages, from 18 to 27. WHY AM I FIGHTING THE FIGHT ON THEIR BEHALF DOODS WTF

nabisco next time whip it out and jizz on the t-shirt they're selling you and then run out of the store.

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:02 (nineteen years ago)

sunsets are totally commercialized! coffee companies have purchased rights to sunsets!

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:03 (nineteen years ago)

with or w/o the t-shirt? xp

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:03 (nineteen years ago)

sunsets were actually purchased by the mcrand corporation in 1976. mcrand is now a division of sony.

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:03 (nineteen years ago)

why is it creepier to sexualize indie girls than more conventional model-lookin' girls?

-- s1ocki (slytus...), October 6th, 2005 12:39 PM. (slutsky)

Because indie is more "real," man.

-- Spencer Chow (spencercho...), October 6th, 2005 12:40 PM. (spencermfi)

I totally stand by that.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:05 (nineteen years ago)

you stand by your sarcastic comment?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:05 (nineteen years ago)

Also Ally, most fashion models are between the ages of 13 and 14.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:06 (nineteen years ago)

i dont even know when spencer is being serious anymore

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:06 (nineteen years ago)

No, I stand by the fact that indie models are perceived as being more "real" than fashion models. I don't think I was saying anything particularly wild there.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:06 (nineteen years ago)

i mean, is what kind of name is "spencer chow" anyway?

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:07 (nineteen years ago)

xpost - perceived by whom? models are models, to me anyways. i tend not to pay much attention to them.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:07 (nineteen years ago)

YEAH RIGHT

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:08 (nineteen years ago)

b-b-b-boiiiing

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:08 (nineteen years ago)

You go, Spencer.

― 400% Nice (nordicskilla), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:09 (nineteen years ago)

serious answer alert!!

perceptions! It looks creepier because...I dunno, not cos its real, more like A) indie is associated with young in the media (despite whatever reality there is, I'm sure this will change eventually as indie people get old as fuck) B) indie is "girl next door" representation and making her totally a ho is uncalled for, while model-conventional-types, they're expected to be the slutty cheerleader/sorority girl etc. It has to do with the stereotypes of perception in the media.

OTOH where do Suicide Girls fit into this?

ALSO it seems to me that it is considered a bad reflection on a person if the only women he fancies are the conventional model stereotypes versus the indie girls (cf Calum), so it evens out in the end doesn't it?

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:09 (nineteen years ago)

AA ads aren't 'creepy' because of the indie-girls in the ads (though the ones championing their heroic efforts to save poor Marta or something from the slums of Mexico by making her assistant retail manager was pretty bizarre) but the lighting and poses. They're much more confrontational than most t-shirt and underwear ads for the magazines they appear in. Even an FHM or Maxim ad with scantily clad ladeez has more traditional/less Valley-porn chic lighting.

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:09 (nineteen years ago)

xpost

So far as I can tell the creepiness of AA sexualizing has nothing to do with "indie" and everything to do with the maybe deliberately-creepy cam-whore / vintage-porn look they have going on. (Look at the insert shots in that socks ad upthread! That's not like fashion-ad sexualizing, that's like hardcore stills.) It's kind of weird to be reading the Onion on the train or Pitchfork at work or something and see that kind of design vibe leaking out at you (especially when there's some sense that it's the company head's personal sleaze vibe getting marketed all across at you).

Add to that the fact that AA clothes reads, to me at least, as totally unsexy. Maybe this is just the men's line, but I mean geez, it's just cotton basics -- it's like an alternative to buying Hanes at K-Mart, not some sort of orgy. But I think the sexy ads are completely aimed at women, really, with the message that when you buy AA undergarments you will become cool hipster-sexy tough-arty-girl like in the ads. Are they hinging a lot of their business plans on the women's-undergarments market?

― nabisco (nabisco), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:09 (nineteen years ago)

Apparently the model in that one I posted is actually a porn star herself, so at least they aren't coy about it.

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:10 (nineteen years ago)

I have no response for Jess' excellent *snap*.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:10 (nineteen years ago)

Also it's slightly weird because the ads DO make a claim of realness -- they're like "these are our employees." I can see how sexualizing your own employees might stick out a bit more, or seem creepy, though on the other hand I can see how it might seem kind of gesturally nice, too. But they ARE making a realness claim, of sorts.

― nabisco (nabisco), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:11 (nineteen years ago)

what if you like ugly girls?

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:11 (nineteen years ago)

Nabisco, way to kill the fun by being right.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:12 (nineteen years ago)

Stence is so over fashion.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:12 (nineteen years ago)

PERCEIVED BY PEOPLE. THE POPULATION. THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD. THE DUDERS ON THE MAGGIE GYLLENHAJAMAHAL THREAD. NOT SPECIFICALLY J. HSTENCIL ESQ. BUT OTHER DUDES, YOU KNOW THE ONES. PEACE OUT.

seriously the world would be better if we focused on solving the nail fungus commercials instead of the opposition of indie and fashion and the ways they intermingle.

xpost other than the shit on this thread I've never seen an AA ad so I am talkin' about my ass in regards to these ads specifically. I mean whatever, they just look kind of stupid to me, like I took these photos.

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:12 (nineteen years ago)

Ally's "B) indie is "girl next door" representation" is essentially what I'm saying. Indie music is also a "girl next door" kind of thing.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:13 (nineteen years ago)

as it turns out i actually used to hang with the person who does these ads which is totally weird!!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:13 (nineteen years ago)

The fact that those are real employees is creepy cos I mean it seems to open up an atmosphere ripe for sexual harrassment. Also they get paid crap probably!

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:13 (nineteen years ago)

NB I was bored the other day and took cameraphone pictures of myself for the underwear thread and boy howdy it's just occurred to me that they REALLY look like American Apparel ads (only x10).

― nabisco (nabisco), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:14 (nineteen years ago)

HSTENCIL J. CAT

― Jonothong Williamsmang (ex machina), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:14 (nineteen years ago)

I just can't beleive that AA went for a real porn star in the ads. The indie jailbait seemed to have it's niche. I mean, a company can't be all things to all people.

― Jimmy Mod wants you to tighten the strings on your corset (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:14 (nineteen years ago)

dudes, clearly the only way forward is to wear nothing but promotional beer merchandise. embrace your commidification.

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:14 (nineteen years ago)

when I said I am talking about my ass, I meant out my ass. Apologies for any confusion here.

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:14 (nineteen years ago)

I think the owner gypsy dude is a fucking sleaze and I think the clothes are overpriced.

― Je4nn3 ƒur¥ (Je4nne Fury), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:15 (nineteen years ago)

This guy is totally nude:
http://lamicil2006.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/2003-10-13-lamisil.jpg

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:15 (nineteen years ago)

I meant, this guy:
http://www.lamisil.com/images/tools/digger/about_fungal_nail_infection.gif

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:16 (nineteen years ago)

Tell us about sleazy things.

xpost

Thank god spencer is too dumb to know about TRIPOD.COM

― Jonothong Williamsmang (ex machina), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:16 (nineteen years ago)

Can we blame Terry Richardson for AA's ad style?

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:16 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.lamisil.com/sp/images/slideshow/sp_homepage_slide_image.jpg

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:17 (nineteen years ago)

damn you, chow.

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:17 (nineteen years ago)

those inserts upthread look like beautiful agony stills

porn

― cozen (Cozen), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:25 (nineteen years ago)

aaagggh Spencer bad Spencer

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:25 (nineteen years ago)

Milo, yes. Terry Richardson+digicam = AA.

also: Dermatofito... TM????

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:26 (nineteen years ago)

nabisco, does this mean you'll be reviving the underwear thread?
or, like so many of us, are you just taking photos to stockpile in case someone else revives it?

if i sound eager to see nabisco's aa-style camera phone porn, i am.

― carly (carly), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:26 (nineteen years ago)

i was serious about the beer merch, btw. i love my light-up tequila necklace.

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:27 (nineteen years ago)

Oh I had a light up Bud Light one for a while? But I broke it.

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:28 (nineteen years ago)

haha when i think about 20k copies of that photo floating around the city right now i get kind of nauseous

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:28 (nineteen years ago)

God, Spencer, that's even worse -- that picture is like permanent painful anticipation of the moment where he cranks that crusty nail open.

My cameraphone-porn will not be shared, for complicated reasons.

― nabisco (nabisco), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:29 (nineteen years ago)

here's the tripod pic I was "too dumb" to post:
http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:evhn7svq9jIJ:http://lamicil2006.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/2003-10-13-lamisil.jpg

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:30 (nineteen years ago)

What's up with the little geyser's in the commercial???

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:30 (nineteen years ago)

...stop...please...

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:30 (nineteen years ago)

Isn't there an ad for something that depicts mariachis living in your teeth or did I dream that up?

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:31 (nineteen years ago)

So, Claudine Ko has an article in the new Giant Robot where she talks about her experiences with creepy dudes, and the AA dude gets an anonymous mention! It turns out he's not the only creepy guy who has exposed himself to her, but he isn't portrayed too negatively in this article since he asked permission and she was "on assignment" in the jungles of LA...

― mike h. (mike h.), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:32 (nineteen years ago)

a short lived tabasco ad, i believe

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:32 (nineteen years ago)

xpost

Starburst, I think

― Jimmy Mod wants you to tighten the strings on your corset (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:32 (nineteen years ago)

Did we talk about the Starburst "Hello" ad?

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:36 (nineteen years ago)

Not that I recall.

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:37 (nineteen years ago)

hands up how many people have important work they're putting off and how many are just bored?

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:38 (nineteen years ago)

No one on ILX has "important" work.

― n/a (Nick A.), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:39 (nineteen years ago)

I am totally procrastinating.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:39 (nineteen years ago)

If by important work you mean 'getting on with my life' then yes. Also, Ally can we juxtapose the picture of strong with swag with the picture of strongo and the bear?>

― Jimmy Mod wants you to tighten the strings on your corset (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:39 (nineteen years ago)

"important" = "i have to do this so i dont get fired," come on nick

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:40 (nineteen years ago)

Well it's not rocket surgery but I'm sure the power structure here considers it "important". Or do they all just PRETEND??

― Laurel (Laurel), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:40 (nineteen years ago)

pretend.

― carly (carly), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:41 (nineteen years ago)

My work is a little el sleepy today. They're waiting for the Oct 21 issue to innundate me with requests.

And I dunno if I still gots that picture online, you gotta wait til I get home.

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:41 (nineteen years ago)

Jet Propulsion Engineer not exactly Rocket Scientist.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:42 (nineteen years ago)

oh let's not

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:42 (nineteen years ago)

last nite at gang of four: "hey, miller lite dude!"

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:42 (nineteen years ago)

Did Tom stop washing his hair because of the stop washing your hair thread?

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:42 (nineteen years ago)

spreading the gospel of porky pig style is the most important work any of us could ever do, people

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:43 (nineteen years ago)

yes. I hate ILX.

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:43 (nineteen years ago)

that was an xpost but it applies in many ways to both statements.

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:43 (nineteen years ago)

Nono, "rocket surgery" was an accidental mashup performed by old colleague -- it's usually "they're books -- not ROCKET SCIENCE", alternately, "...not BRAIN SURGERY". Add water & stir.

― Laurel (Laurel), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:46 (nineteen years ago)

I think I meant to post that to Jon's thread, but whatever, they're all blurring now.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:46 (nineteen years ago)

sitting at work, waiting for someone to get back to me, eating wasabi peas, wondering when the crap i ordered from american apparel will get here.

― mike h. (mike h.), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:48 (nineteen years ago)

I would pay for advertisements of aa models eating wasabi peas,I think I've eaten half a can since this morning.

― mike h. (mike h.), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:52 (nineteen years ago)

mike h otm

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:54 (nineteen years ago)

he TOTALLY ate those peas.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:55 (nineteen years ago)

He ate the shit out of those peas.

― n/a (Nick A.), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:56 (nineteen years ago)

oh man. he so ate them!!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:57 (nineteen years ago)

we are soooooo bored.

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:57 (nineteen years ago)

so bored!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:58 (nineteen years ago)

working a real desk job suddenly makes ilx make a whole new kind of sense

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:58 (nineteen years ago)

Did we already note that mine & Ally's bud light/coors light/sam adams/jack daniels paraphernalia and Jess's tequila necklace et al. ALL CAME FROM THE SAME PUB QUIZ.

― TOMBOT, Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:00 (nineteen years ago)

I think you guys are joking, but all I know is that there were peas in that can earlier and now there aren't.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:00 (nineteen years ago)

Think about it.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:01 (nineteen years ago)

half a can since this morning seems a bit piker-ish, really

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:01 (nineteen years ago)

unless mike lives in fiji

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:01 (nineteen years ago)

why you gotta bring up that stupid pub trivia as if that was something that was our idea or even that fun or exciting or anything like that? Why you gotta make it sound like we suck?

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:02 (nineteen years ago)

i got free shots at pub trivia too.

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:02 (nineteen years ago)

jess please tell me you didn't go to Max's and win that tequila shit.

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:03 (nineteen years ago)

oh no. dude. no.

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:04 (nineteen years ago)

haha holy fuck

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:04 (nineteen years ago)

listen we are now against the organizer of previous pub trivia group, you and me and Tom we should join forces and defeat our old team.

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:07 (nineteen years ago)

Stop conflating things!
http://www.rotovibe.com/images/atf.jpg

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:08 (nineteen years ago)

so much of what made that night special had to be cut from the article. like the drunken blonde woman and her "son" and their creepy incestuous subtext.

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:08 (nineteen years ago)

"girlfriend? i thought she was your mom??"

"oh...um...she is. i just meant...uh..."

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:09 (nineteen years ago)

I wonder if our old team was there. By any chance was there a shouty, busty indie-chick type who kept yelling insults at the owner's team (ie the old dudes smoking cigars?)?

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:09 (nineteen years ago)

there was not. was there a grizzled old dude with long frizzy grey hair?

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:13 (nineteen years ago)

there's always that dude.

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:14 (nineteen years ago)

Do you guys realize I put exactly 7 minutes into that and you're not roffling??

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:14 (nineteen years ago)

i have my images turned off! i love you, spencer.

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:15 (nineteen years ago)

hahaha dude seriously I didn't even notice, I was too busy being horrified that Jess went to Max's trivia night.

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:16 (nineteen years ago)

i'm in central iowa, is a piker like a biker?

― mike h. (mike h.), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:18 (nineteen years ago)

I have never been to a trivia night, do you guys recommend it?

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:18 (nineteen years ago)

I wish we had useful pub trivia, we do have a silver strike bowling league at some local bars. You know, that video game that has a huge trackball like the golf one, only you... bowl.

― mike h. (mike h.), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:20 (nineteen years ago)

You should come all the way to Baltimore and come to Max's with us, that'd be pretty freakin sweet. Then we fight my old team, in the parking lot, behind the alley, like old times. Who is with me?

wait, jess wtf are you in baltimore for?

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:20 (nineteen years ago)

piker = BE A MAN AND DOWN THAT CAN

xpost: ally i am music ed at baltimore city paper now!

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:21 (nineteen years ago)

wtf ally, everyone knows that now. haikunym told me when we went to a brewers game together a couple months ago!

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:23 (nineteen years ago)

...

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:23 (nineteen years ago)

wtf!!!!!!!!!! i am so out of teh loop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i was just in bmore like a few days ago for teh yankees game.

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:23 (nineteen years ago)

umm.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:24 (nineteen years ago)

i am so roffling at american toe fungus. love the bikini/bra.

― carly (carly), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:24 (nineteen years ago)

so is everybody just going to baseball games all the time now

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:24 (nineteen years ago)

well this is the most i have posted to ile in months too

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:24 (nineteen years ago)

matt and i basically got drunk and gossiped about ilx. the brewers lost.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:25 (nineteen years ago)

so is everybody just going to baseball games all the time now

aw, jealous? sorry the expos left, bro.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:26 (nineteen years ago)

http://static.flickr.com/31/50044337_7e80f20576_m.jpg

ok, now my life is complete

― mike h. (mike h.), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:26 (nineteen years ago)

i went to a baseball game.

― 400% Nice (nordicskilla), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:26 (nineteen years ago)

My gf's family lives in the DC area, I will visit and quiz soon!

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:26 (nineteen years ago)

if i have my way i'll be going to a football game. i will gossip about you there, jess.

xpost spencer that is delightful news!

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:28 (nineteen years ago)

baltimore is kind of a depressing football town.

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:29 (nineteen years ago)

seriously we should hang out sometime. like meet halfway, we'll hang at fort meade.

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:32 (nineteen years ago)

word.

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:36 (nineteen years ago)

Your unheard of friend TEE

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:46 (nineteen years ago)

An L.A. clothing maker noted for his progressive labor practices has been sued by his insurance company, which says he created a sexually hostile work environment. In a complaint filed this week in federal court in L.A., Navigators Insurance Co. seeks to cancel an employment liability policy taken out by American Apparel Inc. and to escape any obligation to pay for pending harassment claims. The suit claims company owner Dov Charney lied about having a zero-tolerance policy against sexual harassment. In two sexual harassment suits filed in May, former employees charged that Charney exposed himself, appeared in the office clad in underpants and made derogatory comments about women, the Los Angeles Times reported.

― mike h. (mike h.), Friday, 7 October 2005 22:00 (nineteen years ago)

They forgot the "shocka" at the end of that paragraph.

― Je4nn3 ƒur¥ (Je4nne Fury), Friday, 7 October 2005 22:55 (nineteen years ago)

one year passes...

so, their sizes are getting much larger, right?

― W i l l, Thursday, 24 May 2007 17:28 (eighteen years ago)

S'cos their customers are getting much larger.

― everything, Thursday, 24 May 2007 17:29 (eighteen years ago)

no no, guys, the lowpoint of this thread was the fattey discussion, let's bring it back to the important things: toe fungus and trivia teams

― the schef (adam schefter ha ha), Thursday, 24 May 2007 18:04 (eighteen years ago)

lots of the slouchy brightly coloured american apparel sundress versions going on here today

― rrrobyn, Thursday, 24 May 2007 18:13 (eighteen years ago)

The thread revive sounds like an exchange from Airplane!.

― Spencer Chow, Thursday, 24 May 2007 18:15 (eighteen years ago)

i've noticed that they've expanded certain styles to 2X and 3X, which probably has a lot more to do with their increasing market share than actually catering to fat ppl

― elmo argonaut, Thursday, 24 May 2007 18:21 (eighteen years ago)

as far as I know the actual sizing specs are the same

― elmo argonaut, Thursday, 24 May 2007 18:22 (eighteen years ago)

they still need more / better neutral colored options imho, the superbright color trend is on the way out and will be kicked by fall

― elmo argonaut, Thursday, 24 May 2007 18:24 (eighteen years ago)

well it'd be pretty hard to keep calling themselves "American Apparel" without servicing the victims of our country's favorite disease

― TOMBOT, Thursday, 24 May 2007 18:24 (eighteen years ago)

i have always liked bright colours!

― rrrobyn, Thursday, 24 May 2007 18:29 (eighteen years ago)

how is 'bright colours' a trend! they're colours!

― rrrobyn, Thursday, 24 May 2007 18:29 (eighteen years ago)

but i get what you mean

― rrrobyn, Thursday, 24 May 2007 18:29 (eighteen years ago)

No longer "Sweatshop Free" as of January 2007.

― Steve Shasta, Thursday, 24 May 2007 18:31 (eighteen years ago)

link/source?

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 24 May 2007 18:35 (eighteen years ago)

rrrobyn, i dunno, i just get the feeling that resurrecting the neon palette has crossed over from "playful" to "obnoxious"

― elmo argonaut, Thursday, 24 May 2007 18:36 (eighteen years ago)

i'd like to see that, too, Shasta

― elmo argonaut, Thursday, 24 May 2007 18:36 (eighteen years ago)

oh NEON well that's another thing
(i do like neon though, but not as much on clothes)

― rrrobyn, Thursday, 24 May 2007 18:40 (eighteen years ago)

nu-rave killed it

― elmo argonaut, Thursday, 24 May 2007 18:42 (eighteen years ago)

as far as I know the actual sizing specs are the same

maybe, but the shirts i just received are unquestionably larger than the same-size ones from a year ago. they even vary within the shipment-- one color feels XL and the other more like 2XL.

― W i l l, Thursday, 24 May 2007 18:44 (eighteen years ago)

are they the same style & fiber content?

― elmo argonaut, Thursday, 24 May 2007 18:51 (eighteen years ago)

Guys,

They dropped "Sweatshop Free" from their branding.

Now it says "Made In Downtown LA, Vertically Integrated Manufacturing".

― Steve Shasta, Thursday, 24 May 2007 19:15 (eighteen years ago)

same style, the basic 2001 t-shirt. 100% cotton afaik (can't actually check labels as they winging their way back to LA for vertically integrated exchanging)

― W i l l, Thursday, 24 May 2007 19:19 (eighteen years ago)

the superbright color trend will keep going for fall.. plus I don't think neon has really taken off yet in most of US.. so, more of that on the way

― daria-g, Thursday, 24 May 2007 19:20 (eighteen years ago)

daria, you may be right as far as mid-tier retailers picking up on the neon trend and riding it out, but for my purposes it will have become passe :P

― elmo argonaut, Thursday, 24 May 2007 19:22 (eighteen years ago)

we've seen your flannel shirt, dude.

― TOMBOT, Thursday, 24 May 2007 19:24 (eighteen years ago)

i may have to retire it ;_; RIP gay lumberjack

― elmo argonaut, Thursday, 24 May 2007 19:27 (eighteen years ago)

i got a brown taupe members only jacket now, i think i'll be ok

― elmo argonaut, Thursday, 24 May 2007 19:33 (eighteen years ago)

I thought AA was sweatshop free as soon as they started selling those flip flops that said they were made in some asian country.

― Yerac, Thursday, 24 May 2007 19:34 (eighteen years ago)

or rather not sweat shop free. anyway, who owns them now, I forget who took over their debts.

― Yerac, Thursday, 24 May 2007 19:35 (eighteen years ago)

define "sweatshop"

― elmo argonaut, Thursday, 24 May 2007 19:42 (eighteen years ago)

not advocating unethical labor here, but "sweatshop" is more of a rhetorical image rather than a regulatory definition -- just curious if changing their branding tagline actually means they've also changed their manufacturing process

― elmo argonaut, Thursday, 24 May 2007 19:55 (eighteen years ago)

I wish they would make regular denim jeans. Also their styles only look good on the skinniest people.

― Hurting 2, Thursday, 24 May 2007 21:31 (eighteen years ago)

actually i love how square-shouldered their tees are, they help hide my gut. i don't think i'd buy their denim but i wish they had more button-down styles and some patterning.

― goth casual, Thursday, 24 May 2007 23:02 (eighteen years ago)

I wish they sold some things that were'nt made of t-shirt materials or lame.

Not that I'd actually buy their stuff, I think they're creepy. They=the company.

― Abbott, Thursday, 24 May 2007 23:29 (eighteen years ago)

patterns that are not horizontal stripes would be nice, yeah

― elmo argonaut, Friday, 25 May 2007 02:29 (eighteen years ago)

old navy for hipsters

i miss benetton

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 25 May 2007 03:58 (eighteen years ago)

four weeks pass...

ok this is pretty funny: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/21/fashion/21ROW.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1182523584-OosvFJ8HWDRix9DGG+WO1w

― Alex in Baltimore, Friday, 22 June 2007 15:19 (eighteen years ago)

eric wilson's "i'm a bit above all this" tone is amusing given that his piece is essentially an american apparel advertisement

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 22 June 2007 15:22 (eighteen years ago)

i'm gonna go to american apparel and buy some shit today

― the schef (adam schefter ha ha), Friday, 22 June 2007 15:24 (eighteen years ago)

who hasn't been drunk in our hoodies
who hasn't been drunk in our hoodies
high ho the dairy-o
who hasn't been drunk in our hoodies

― El Tomboto, Friday, 22 June 2007 15:26 (eighteen years ago)

I heard it's really easy to shoplift there, you should do that instead. xp

― jessie monster, Friday, 22 June 2007 15:26 (eighteen years ago)

I'm gonna go to the secret service headquarters and get some plane tickets

― El Tomboto, Friday, 22 June 2007 15:27 (eighteen years ago)

motherfuckers

― El Tomboto, Friday, 22 June 2007 15:27 (eighteen years ago)

I'ma get drunk.

― jessie monster, Friday, 22 June 2007 15:28 (eighteen years ago)

your plane tickets will not be as brightly colored as my hoodie

― the schef (adam schefter ha ha), Friday, 22 June 2007 15:28 (eighteen years ago)

but not in an american apparel hoodie.

― jessie monster, Friday, 22 June 2007 15:28 (eighteen years ago)

eric wilson's "i'm a bit above all this" tone is amusing given that his piece is essentially an american apparel advertisement

otm, exactly what i thought as i was reading it

― Will M., Friday, 22 June 2007 15:29 (eighteen years ago)

i bought a bunch of cheap AA stuff at the street sale last week

― s1ocki, Friday, 22 June 2007 15:34 (eighteen years ago)

hey me too! well, three t-shirts, nothing else, but still. one of them is pink!

― Will M., Friday, 22 June 2007 15:34 (eighteen years ago)

three months pass...

http://store.americanapparel.net/halloween.html

MY MIND

― Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved, Sunday, 21 October 2007 22:54 (seventeen years ago)

"whores of Hollywood" seems to be a recurring theme - Roller Girl, Pretty Woman, etc. (ok, maybe only those two, I quit looking after Pretty Woman)

― milo z, Sunday, 21 October 2007 22:58 (seventeen years ago)

there are like 15,000 o_O things about AA but they make unobjectionally great t-shirts.

― J0rdan S., Sunday, 21 October 2007 22:59 (seventeen years ago)

at least for bare bones skinny ppl like myself.

― J0rdan S., Sunday, 21 October 2007 22:59 (seventeen years ago)

three weeks pass...

i have two of those polo shirts that spencer posted a link to upthread - the blue w/ green stitching and red w/ white stitching. they're a nice fit (i'm skinny and broad-shouldered) except the buttonholes get stretched out of shape quickly and the collar is a little too aggressively 70s. anyway it's nice, not quite as nice as a RL polo shirt but good value for the money.

― moonship journey to baja, Tuesday, 13 November 2007 18:40 (seventeen years ago)

now, here's why i revived the thread. i got a tshirt from there, after the 1st wash and dry there's a big rip in the shoulder seam. do you think i can take it in and get a replacement? i don't have the receipt anymore. =(

― moonship journey to baja, Tuesday, 13 November 2007 18:40 (seventeen years ago)

just take it back and tell them what happened. Their seams rip all the time, it won't be a shock to them.

― Yerac, Tuesday, 13 November 2007 18:44 (seventeen years ago)

their clothes suck but their t-shirts are nice. i can't roll with those polo shirts, really, i hate the collars and i only wear mine when i'm out of clean clothes. though v, i have a t-shirt with a similar rip in the shoulder seam and another shirt with a rip in the collar seam.

― omar little, Tuesday, 13 November 2007 18:46 (seventeen years ago)

on the polo shirt I have the buttons only stay buttoned for like 5 mins. annoying.

― Jordan, Tuesday, 13 November 2007 18:52 (seventeen years ago)

^^ EXACTLY what happened to me!! the buttonhole gets stretched!!!

― moonship journey to baja, Tuesday, 13 November 2007 19:01 (seventeen years ago)

on another note i REALLY like the organic cotton t-shirts. it's such a nice, warm off-white and it goes really nice w/ anything vintage / military / workwear / outdoorsy.

― moonship journey to baja, Tuesday, 13 November 2007 19:02 (seventeen years ago)

i have a ringer t-shirt that's okay, but the neck is so loose that i can't really wear an undershirt with it

on the other hand, my band track jacket is AA and i wear that every day, <3

― Jordan, Tuesday, 13 November 2007 19:06 (seventeen years ago)

i have upwards of 15 shirts from AA and none of the seams have torn. very weird.

the buttonhole thing is a problem for me though, too.

― J0rdan S., Tuesday, 13 November 2007 19:13 (seventeen years ago)

i love the polo shirts :(

― s1ocki, Tuesday, 13 November 2007 21:55 (seventeen years ago)

which polos do you guys prefer? the ones that are like form-fitting lacoste material or the more t-shirty ones (cotton i guess)?

― J0rdan S., Tuesday, 13 November 2007 21:57 (seventeen years ago)

t-shirty

― moonship journey to baja, Tuesday, 13 November 2007 22:09 (seventeen years ago)

(not pique)

― moonship journey to baja, Tuesday, 13 November 2007 22:09 (seventeen years ago)

t-shirty

i have a couple terry-ish ones tho... not terry, but more of a weave i guess?

― s1ocki, Tuesday, 13 November 2007 22:13 (seventeen years ago)

one month passes...

http://americanapparel.net/presscenter/ads/samples/newyorktimes0712.jpg

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Sunday, 30 December 2007 09:38 (seventeen years ago)

sweet!

― Tracer Hand, Sunday, 30 December 2007 11:20 (seventeen years ago)

two weeks pass...

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-charney17jan17,0,1233679.story?coll=la-home-center

― chaki, Thursday, 17 January 2008 20:37 (seventeen years ago)

huffington post linked to that story with the headline "American Apparel CEO Slapped With Sex Suit" -- which really just sounds like he was struck in the face with a new style of AA garment.

― elmo argonaut, Thursday, 17 January 2008 20:39 (seventeen years ago)

He ultimately decided against putting it in the American Apparel line. "It wasn't classy," he said.

― Catsupppppppppppppp dude 茄蕃, Thursday, 17 January 2008 20:42 (seventeen years ago)

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2008-01/34782869.jpg

maybe his lawyers will lend him a clue and he won't wear those sex-offender eyeglasses to the trial

― elmo argonaut, Thursday, 17 January 2008 20:44 (seventeen years ago)

i just went to their store in london last week and picked up a lovely purple hoodie. i very much like it.

― stevie, Thursday, 17 January 2008 21:09 (seventeen years ago)

"I weigh 155 pounds, I'm five-10. Am I not fit? Is there any job that is not appropriate for me to do?"

― omar little, Thursday, 17 January 2008 21:12 (seventeen years ago)

I would want nothing to do with this man + employment but they do make for some entertaining True Tales.

― Abbott, Thursday, 17 January 2008 21:13 (seventeen years ago)

Dud

Well, they don't hire union workers while hiding behind their ethical image, which furthermore is exploited as a selling point. Their no-logo image only serves to completely adopt plain clothes for their own use, creating an absent-logo which reaches beyond their own products - wearing a hanes shirt now serves as an ad American Apparel. Not to mention the horrible subjugation of women in almost pornographic ads, which they exploit to create a false sense of "libertarianism" (which Dov Charney himself has stated) to sell their products (while they do embrace many negative ideological elements of greed, an illusion of rebellious behaviour in their ads.) Non-sweatshops and fair pay are admirable (although they're not stopping sweatshops, which are only going to compensate for losses by laying off employees or further cutting corners).

Dov Charney can go to hell for all I care, American Apparel, for their hypocrisy are entirely a dud, and I think it's truly sad that people think of it as being an entirely ethical company.

― mehlt, Thursday, 17 January 2008 21:33 (seventeen years ago)

Their no-logo image only serves to completely adopt plain clothes for their own use, creating an absent-logo which reaches beyond their own products - wearing a hanes shirt now serves as an ad American Apparel.

this is preposterous. the rest of what you say is kind of OTM though I guess

― akm, Thursday, 17 January 2008 21:43 (seventeen years ago)

in fact, that's so preposterous I almost have to assume you are joking

― akm, Thursday, 17 January 2008 21:43 (seventeen years ago)

ya that's insane.

― s1ocki, Thursday, 17 January 2008 21:44 (seventeen years ago)

if it was true it would be brilliant. i don't think it's completely preposterous. i will have to think more.

― elan, Thursday, 17 January 2008 23:51 (seventeen years ago)

which they exploit to create a false sense of "libertarianism" (which Dov Charney himself has stated) to sell their products

Would this not be libertine-ism or is Charney a Ron Paul booster?

― Abbott, Friday, 18 January 2008 00:19 (seventeen years ago)

My fashion-intense sis-in-law can tell by looking if a plain t-shirt is American Apparel or...some other fancy t-shirt maker, or Hane's et. al. I tried telling her about Charney's masturbatory antics, which as a more refined person she didn't appreciate. It was boorish of me.

― Abbott, Friday, 18 January 2008 00:21 (seventeen years ago)

xpost: I'm not sure it's completely preposterous, but I would say it's somewhat limited to their mens stuff, and was probably truer a few years back -- they helped create a moment where wearing a plain solid-color V-neck t-shirt or hoodie seemed somehow like a "look," and as a store branded around selling that sort of thing, they got to profit from it even though you can buy other versions of such plain items pretty much anywhere.

That passed really quickly though (in part because other places started giving their plain items a little more of the kind of styling AA was), which is why AA stuff has had to get increasingly gaudy -- now even their basic mens stuff has more stripes and weird dye effects and whatnot, and they're trying to put everyone in cardigans and bad ties and crap, and the women's stuff veers increasingly out into some demented world of metallic leggings and other things that scream "AA bizarro." (I mean, remember back when the women in their ads were wearing stuff like ... tube socks and underwear? Rather than strangely constructed slutty tube dresses and things?)

― nabisco, Friday, 18 January 2008 00:42 (seventeen years ago)

their track jackets are instantly identifiable

― Jordan, Friday, 18 January 2008 00:43 (seventeen years ago)

I can't tell if that was a fast transition or a slow one: I mean, their original word-of-mouth selling point, so far as I remember, was "oh, if you need basic stuff like t-shirts or sweatshirts or sweatpants, you should try this place, it's a little pricey but the stuff is really nice and fits well." They leaped from there to an over-the-top anything-but-"basic" image within ... three or four years, I guess?

― nabisco, Friday, 18 January 2008 00:44 (seventeen years ago)

Most of the stuff they sell is still pretty basic though.

― Alex in SF, Friday, 18 January 2008 00:51 (seventeen years ago)

I dunno -- lots of them are basic items, made in a "basic" cotton way, but the styling is anything but neutral and common these days! I mean, a metallic tube dress with a turtleneck is not a "basic." A t-shirt isn't "basic" if it's bright pink with a neon-green breast pocket, or striped in some weird two-color dye. Skinny stretch pants and corduroy short-shorts aren't basic, especially if you're wearing them with vests or weird skinny-armed cardigans. And god do they sell a lot of accessories in those places.

― nabisco, Friday, 18 January 2008 00:58 (seventeen years ago)

I think most of the stuff you are describing is like 20% of what they stock though. The rest is still solid t-shirts, hoodies, tracksuits, undies, socks, etc.

― Alex in SF, Friday, 18 January 2008 01:00 (seventeen years ago)

my dark blue tracksuit with white piping is definitely basic for chilling on the weekends and not leaving the house

― El Tomboto, Friday, 18 January 2008 01:01 (seventeen years ago)

Admittedly I haven't been into American Apparel in a while, but that's what I remembered the last time I was there.

― Alex in SF, Friday, 18 January 2008 01:02 (seventeen years ago)

Charney is just too actively odious -- I couldn't wear AA.

― wanko ergo sum, Friday, 18 January 2008 01:02 (seventeen years ago)

charney's active odiousness is because he puts himself in the public eye being a jackass. most people in the fashion business seem to know better than to wind up with their dirty laundry in the newspapers

― El Tomboto, Friday, 18 January 2008 01:04 (seventeen years ago)

on the polo shirt I have the buttons only stay buttoned for like 5 mins. annoying.

-- Jordan, Tuesday, November 13, 2007 6:52 PM (2 months ago) Bookmark Link

i'm wearing this shirt today. i hate it so much.

― Jordan, Friday, 18 January 2008 01:06 (seventeen years ago)

^^ you're just bragging, HULK

― nabisco, Friday, 18 January 2008 01:06 (seventeen years ago)

^^ EXACTLY what happened to me!! the buttonhole gets stretched!!!

-- moonship journey to baja, Tuesday, November 13, 2007 7:01 PM (2 months ago) Bookmark Link

― Jordan, Friday, 18 January 2008 01:07 (seventeen years ago)

^^ EXACTLY what happened to me!! the butt~~onhole~~ gets stretched!!!

-- moonship journey to baja, Tuesday, November 13, 2007 7:01 PM (2 months ago) Bookmark Link

― Jordan, Friday, 18 January 2008 01:07 (seventeen years ago)

sorry,

^^ EXACTLY what happened to me!! the buttonhole gets stretched!!!

-- moonship journey to baja, Tuesday, November 13, 2007 7:01 PM (2 months ago) Bookmark Link

― Jordan, Friday, 18 January 2008 01:08 (seventeen years ago)

see what i did there.

okay, i think i'd better go home now.

― Jordan, Friday, 18 January 2008 01:08 (seventeen years ago)

"every time i stretch and my heaving pectoral muscles bulge against the confines of my tight, straining polo shirt that barely contains my glorious manly trunk, the buttons come loose"

― nabisco, Friday, 18 January 2008 01:09 (seventeen years ago)

"whatever am i to do"

― nabisco, Friday, 18 January 2008 01:09 (seventeen years ago)

it's true, i'm totally jacked.

― Jordan, Friday, 18 January 2008 01:11 (seventeen years ago)

i know what i'm doing xp

― wanko ergo sum, Friday, 18 January 2008 01:11 (seventeen years ago)

i picked up some shirts and a pair of jeans yesterday

― J0rdan S., Friday, 18 January 2008 02:04 (seventeen years ago)

in fact i am wearing one right now

― J0rdan S., Friday, 18 January 2008 02:04 (seventeen years ago)

i still wear their polo shirts like every day

― s1ocki, Friday, 18 January 2008 05:13 (seventeen years ago)

they do jeans now?

― s1ocki, Friday, 18 January 2008 05:13 (seventeen years ago)

i also wore a black hoodie of theirs like every day too... my friend had silkscreened something on it. it was like my uniform. so comfy fit so nice looked so good.

― s1ocki, Friday, 18 January 2008 05:13 (seventeen years ago)

i'm kind of embarrassed to wear a lot of the more recognizable aa stuff outside the house now. it's a good thing most of it has gone from comfortably worn to furniture cleaning rag.

― Yerac, Friday, 18 January 2008 05:28 (seventeen years ago)

i have to say, working with aa (not directly for them) was the worst job I have ever had in my life. the whole company is just really sad and gross, although i do like the 50/50 and 50/25/25 shirts.

― Yerac, Friday, 18 January 2008 05:37 (seventeen years ago)

yeah those blends are reallly nice and soft

― max, Friday, 18 January 2008 05:42 (seventeen years ago)

YA THEY"RE NICE.

― s1ocki, Friday, 18 January 2008 05:56 (seventeen years ago)

they make them in other colors besides grey now

― J0rdan S., Friday, 18 January 2008 05:57 (seventeen years ago)

I kind of hope they throw the book at him and he ends up sharing a cell with Joe Francis.

― Savannah Smiles, Friday, 18 January 2008 10:33 (seventeen years ago)

Their stuff looks so much nicer in the shop than on me.

― Daniel Giraffe, Friday, 18 January 2008 11:11 (seventeen years ago)

two months pass...

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2008/04/01/woody-allen-sues-american-apparel-for-misappropriation/?mod=WSJBlog

― gabbneb, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 16:15 (seventeen years ago)

While Charney is Jewish, it’s not clear what connection consumers are meant to draw between American Apparel clothing and Allen dressed as a Hasidic jew.

― max, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 16:17 (seventeen years ago)

Does anyone know what the yiddish text says? "The __________ Rabbi"?

― Hurting 2, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 16:18 (seventeen years ago)

the comments section says it's "The Holy Rabbi"

― sleep, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 16:19 (seventeen years ago)

"some of the worst movies i have ever seen. Is he not busy trying to nail stepdaughter.

Comment by I have a woody - April 1, 2008 at 10:55 am "

― Savannah Smiles, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 16:24 (seventeen years ago)

Charney apparently has expressed feelings of admiration and kinship with Hassidic "shmata" merchants -- I suppose that's somewhat relevant, right?

http://www.americanapparel.net/gallery/photocollections/commerce/hasidic/

― elmo argonaut, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 16:34 (seventeen years ago)

i got maddie a dvd of all the nick cave videos as a present at some point, it had a lot of lol value.

― Jordan, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 17:03 (seventeen years ago)

oops wrong thread.

― Jordan, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 17:04 (seventeen years ago)

does american apparel handle all their advertising in house? I can't believe they would use a still from a film without any kind of clearance

― akm, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 19:09 (seventeen years ago)

i used to not be able to believe that the ceo of a clothes company would jerk off in front of a journalist, but my beliefs have changed

― max, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 19:10 (seventeen years ago)

their advertising is usually composed with such restraint! xp

― s1ocki, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 19:10 (seventeen years ago)

I am going to drive right by Alvarado and Sunset to confirm whether that is a prank.

John-Paul Gaultier also did a Hasid-inspired collection in March 2003.

http://manolomen.com/2008/03/14/oy-vey-gaultier/

― felicity, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 19:16 (seventeen years ago)

http://gawker.com/379374/sheer-loopiness-after-american-apparel-goes-public

― s1ocki, Monday, 14 April 2008 15:37 (seventeen years ago)

http://finance.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=APP ... is LOL worthy.

― Mr. Goodman, Monday, 14 April 2008 16:21 (seventeen years ago)

There was no American Apparel billboard at Alvarado and Sunset.

― felicity, Monday, 14 April 2008 16:27 (seventeen years ago)

^^^ first line of poignant short story

― s1ocki, Monday, 14 April 2008 16:31 (seventeen years ago)

three weeks pass...

I never knowingly bought any of this company's stuff because well fuck 'em, I can buy logoless t-shirts anywhere else for cheaper, but a while back I bought a band shirt at the merch table after a show and it turned out to be made by AA. After one wash, the tag in the back of the neckhole broke down into a bunch of frayed little threads. Is that normal for their products? It's easy enough to just cut it out of one shirt but if that happened every time it'd be pretty damn annoying.

― Alex in Baltimore, Thursday, 8 May 2008 01:29 (seventeen years ago)

i got two of these sweatshirts one in gray one in black and id like a sea foam one if they still made it wtf

http://i.americanapparel.net/storefront/images/detail/serve.asp?media=5431w_Asphalt.jpg

i had a gray one for a long time then i lost it and was lost myself w/o it and i went to the store but they didnt have it then i went to the website and it was in stock then i googled and found a coupon for $10 off each one and i got free shipping and was totally victorious - nice little staple garment right there i like it cause its all one color no shiny zipper or lameo stitching or whatnot - v clean v good

i had a short sleeve little collared jobby from there too but really it was cut kinda weird - a lot of their cloths are - i do applaud them for their color palette tho

― jhøshea, Thursday, 8 May 2008 01:43 (seventeen years ago)

Used to be all about just simple, nice feeling and fitting clothes that you knew didn't involve any child torture with a little bit of lol crepey, but nowadays if I ever go in there, with all the gold lame one pieces and the pictures which have subtly gotten worse and worse, I just walk out feeling bad about human bodies.

― en i see kay, Thursday, 8 May 2008 03:43 (seventeen years ago)

Let's write that story:

There was no American Apparel billboard at Alvarado and Sunset.

Just an empty tin of French Canadian moustache wax and a remnant of striped jersey material. Trash, like us.

― felicity, Thursday, 8 May 2008 08:10 (seventeen years ago)

Bought some nice black cords from there the other day. V long tho, and I've pretty long legs.

― Raw Patrick, Thursday, 8 May 2008 09:53 (seventeen years ago)

the howlin rain tee i bought tuesday night was AA; the girl at the merch stand was saying "look, you can't even buy *plain AA tees for £10", but i was totally going to buy the tee anyway.

― stevie, Thursday, 8 May 2008 10:10 (seventeen years ago)

If I thought for a second that their clothes would fit me, I'd have no problem with buying some. But I am short and stocky, so they probably wont.

― Scik Mouthy, Thursday, 8 May 2008 10:39 (seventeen years ago)

i made the mistake of buying the size of underwear i normally wear at AA. it doesn't even cover half of my ass, it is like some cruel joke.

― bell_labs, Thursday, 8 May 2008 13:47 (seventeen years ago)

two months pass...

Is there some super-backlash against the v-neck style shirts, I've seen both that adbusters ranting and some online talking using them as a symbol of all that's wrong in the world but I find the one I have kind of comfortable in the 90 degree heat/90 percent humidity mix we're getting

― mh, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 15:38 (seventeen years ago)

i like them a lot but you know they're like all over and now they have the deep v's

― Surmounter, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 15:41 (seventeen years ago)

this is not offensive, and it is a strange thing for people to be worked-up about

― remy bean, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 15:41 (seventeen years ago)

the deep v ones trouble me a little, as I was reticent to show even a small pasty area of my chest to begin with and I don't think it's necessary.

they might be like all over, but I am cool with that and there are no douchebags near here making them a stigma I think

― mh, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 15:55 (seventeen years ago)

i'm cool with it too

― Surmounter, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 15:57 (seventeen years ago)

there is something sort of funny about all this--where some of the most basic, unadorned and universal items of clothing, like cotton short sleeved shirts in various colors, become 'cool,' and the dedicated 'cool' haters of the burt_stanton/adbusters breed begin to froth at the mouth over 'people who wear tshirts' or whatever

― max, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 16:41 (seventeen years ago)

i guess v-necks get a ton of hate because they have at least one identifiable feature that makes them slightly less universal or popular than just the regular crew-neck t

― max, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 16:42 (seventeen years ago)

i think i have too much chest hair to do the v-neck hipster thing

― Jordan, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 16:42 (seventeen years ago)

i switched to beaters awhile ago - crew necks are too hot. i have a few v's also.

the deep v is pretty tacky

― deej, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 16:45 (seventeen years ago)

i have a few things from american apparel (couple of skirts, a dress, some t-shirts) and i wear them often. they hold up well after washing.

― get bent, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 16:46 (seventeen years ago)

i think i have too much chest hair to do the v-neck hipster thing

Oh go on. Live a little.

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 16:48 (seventeen years ago)

I find them overly revealing.

― I know, right?, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 16:48 (seventeen years ago)

I like brady bunch roundnecks much more. I associate plunging necklines with a certain type of greasy looking guy.

― I know, right?, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 16:49 (seventeen years ago)

The only real problem I have with american apparel is the the clothes looking so much better on the shelves than on.

― I know, right?, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 16:50 (seventeen years ago)

All those lovely spectrums of sweatpants.

― I know, right?, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 16:50 (seventeen years ago)

-- max, Tuesday, August 5, 2008 12:41 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

it's kind of annoying. it's like anything a lot of young people like, that's it, it has to suck.

― Surmounter, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 16:52 (seventeen years ago)

i think i have too much chest hair to do the v-neck hipster thing

-- Jordan, Tuesday, August 5, 2008 4:42 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

wear one with a diamond-encrusted big gold star of david necklace and aviator shades.

― s1ocki, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 16:55 (seventeen years ago)

the last thing the world needs is another slocki

― max, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 16:56 (seventeen years ago)

deej you wear beaters?????

― deeznuts, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 16:56 (seventeen years ago)

that's hot

― Surmounter, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 17:06 (seventeen years ago)

i wear them at home but they're not from american apparel. and i don't know how hot they are.

― Surmounter, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 17:09 (seventeen years ago)

i like hanes beaters

― s1ocki, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 17:12 (seventeen years ago)

or hemdelas, as my zeide used to call them

― s1ocki, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 17:12 (seventeen years ago)

i like hanes beaters

-- s1ocki, Tuesday, August 5, 2008 12:12 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

yah these are the ones i have. i had some other brands but they were all loose at the bottom, or the neck was too low, or whatever else

― deej, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 17:15 (seventeen years ago)

i dont actually have any AA shit that i know of, i was just in the mood to talk undershirts

― deej, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 17:15 (seventeen years ago)

i wear hanes beaters too.

― Jordan, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 17:23 (seventeen years ago)

i've been wearing hanes v neck undershirts everyday for years. they are terrific and i don't feel like i'm dressed w/o one anymore

if you want to hate on goofy ass nu rave clothes that are in purple or loud teal or yellow and are either voluminously baggy or tight like a leotard, go ahead and do that, but let's leave ancient forms of undershirt out of it thx

god this is more infuriating that the politics threads

― goole, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 17:29 (seventeen years ago)

purple and yellow arent nu-rave colors

― max, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 17:44 (seventeen years ago)

i mean, they are, but theyre also not

― max, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 17:44 (seventeen years ago)

nu-rave is still a word?

― I know, right?, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 17:46 (seventeen years ago)

purple & loud teal are kind of gay, though

― deeznuts, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 17:46 (seventeen years ago)

oh no shit? never heard that before

― goole, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 17:47 (seventeen years ago)

In Ireland it is taken for granted that only homosexuals and boyband members (venn diagram) wear wife beaters

― I know, right?, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 17:59 (seventeen years ago)

just one of those hilarious cultural differences.

― I know, right?, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 18:00 (seventeen years ago)

I never wear purple t-shirts because that's the territory of my big gay college apartment-mate, who rocked them almost daily

― mh, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 18:01 (seventeen years ago)

There's an American Apparel store due to open just one block up from where I live. We'll see how long it lasts -- especially with an Urban Outfitters right across the street from it.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 18:01 (seventeen years ago)

i didn't know purple was so gay. i thought it was just beautiful.

― Surmounter, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 18:02 (seventeen years ago)

those places go hand in hand everywhere xp

― deej, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 18:02 (seventeen years ago)

ramzi you are so cute sometimes!

― I know, right?, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 18:02 (seventeen years ago)

no YOU are!

― Surmounter, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 18:04 (seventeen years ago)

darkwing duck wore purple

― max, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 18:18 (seventeen years ago)

i hate purple (the colour).

― jed_, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 18:23 (seventeen years ago)

but i love deep Vs n thin chests but, please, not on a hairy chest.

― jed_, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 18:25 (seventeen years ago)

so we're talking about these on GUYS yeah...? cuz v-necks on the girls = mmmmmmm yeah

― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 18:26 (seventeen years ago)

sometimes i rly like the hairy chest v neck. maybe not deep v but i don't know cuz ppl don't do it.

― Surmounter, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 18:28 (seventeen years ago)

no shakey, we're talking deep Vs on girls with hairy chests.

― jed_, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 18:31 (seventeen years ago)

xpost, i've seen people do it.

― jed_, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 18:31 (seventeen years ago)

btw ur v v deep

― am0n, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 18:31 (seventeen years ago)

ba ba dawa!

― I know, right?, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 18:34 (seventeen years ago)

some classic defensive fattey lol posts upthread

― am0n, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 18:36 (seventeen years ago)

kinda lol but mostly stupid
http://store.americanapparel.net/georges.html

Vintage Guess has the answer. Yes, the same frames that gave Sally Jesse Raphael her command over vulnerable housewives across the Midwest will give you that much needed upper hand in the battle of the sexes. Nothing says I’m smart and funny like taking off your eyeglasses, nibbling on the stems, tousling your hair and laughing knowingly at the throngs of men who have fallen at your feet.

Also can be worn unisex if you are into Dan Deacon.

- Non-prescription clear lenses

― am0n, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 19:29 (seventeen years ago)

I always like girls in self conscious sjr glasses, until my stupid ex-housemate started wearing them. Now I really don't like them, but she was such a pain in the arse.

― I know, right?, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 19:33 (seventeen years ago)

Not exactly logical I know.

― I know, right?, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 19:33 (seventeen years ago)

my JESUS HATES THE YANKEES shirt is AA, it's nice and soft, but I like my t-shirt material to be a little bit thicker

― milo z, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 19:36 (seventeen years ago)

Also can be worn unisex if you are into Dan Deacon.

A++

― jed_, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 19:47 (seventeen years ago)

My Erase Errata shirt's AA, started fading about 3 washes in. Nice shirt cos of the design but that's thanks to EE, AA's contribution pisses me

― Niles Caulder, Wednesday, 6 August 2008 10:16 (seventeen years ago)

They rule. Especially the leggings:

http://store.americanapparel.com.au/rsac306.html#i

My missus just ordered these. She wants one of every kind.

― moley, Wednesday, 6 August 2008 16:48 (seventeen years ago)

your missus was brought up right.

― Surmounter, Wednesday, 6 August 2008 16:48 (seventeen years ago)

guys just keep in mind that adbusters is as apocalyptic in mindset as a fundamentalist church -- i don't know why anyone bothers listening to their doomsayings. besides which, v-necks aren't the provenance of the working man and haven't been for ages -- they were only able to be resurrected because they had previously become obsolete.

― elmo argonaut, Wednesday, 6 August 2008 17:35 (seventeen years ago)

They rule. Especially the leggings:

http://store.americanapparel.com.au/rsac306.html#i

My missus just ordered these. She wants one of every kind.

-- moley, Wednesday, August 6, 2008 11:48 AM (53 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

ive been looking at the gold lame ones for a while but I cant imagine where you could where them. What will your wife do with them Moley?

― sunny successor, Wednesday, 6 August 2008 17:43 (seventeen years ago)

all i'm asking for is a little perspective on how popular fashion has appropriated work-specific garments as always and basically forever. it's not like four years ago some avant hipster beat up a prohibition era stevedore and took his t-shirt or anything.

― elmo argonaut, Wednesday, 6 August 2008 17:44 (seventeen years ago)

I didn't know v necks were ever some blue collar thing

― I know, right?, Wednesday, 6 August 2008 17:45 (seventeen years ago)

Nothing says I’m smart and funny like taking off your eyeglasses, nibbling on the stems,

ew tastes like behind your ears

― harbl, Wednesday, 6 August 2008 17:55 (seventeen years ago)

That Adbusters thing seemed to be trying to claim the V-neck t-shirt is some kind of "working class" item and now a "working class" affectation, which strikes me as full-on batshit given that one of the main applications of V-necks over the past half-century has been that you wear them under a shirt and tie so your neck's not bunchy!

― nabisco, Wednesday, 6 August 2008 18:10 (seventeen years ago)

I'm with them on the keffiyeh thing though

― I know, right?, Wednesday, 6 August 2008 18:11 (seventeen years ago)

right but thats what teachers do, not wall street magnates (xp)

― sunny successor, Wednesday, 6 August 2008 18:26 (seventeen years ago)

I think it's fairly universal! Enough so to make it bizarre to act like V-necks were a secret of the working class. The only other style of undershirt that's gone with suits is actually the tank-style "wifebeater," whose class associations have zoomed completely in the other direction.

― nabisco, Wednesday, 6 August 2008 18:32 (seventeen years ago)

eight months pass...

Oh Snap

― The Wild Shirtless Lyrics of Mark Farner (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 16:16 (sixteen years ago)

with a new woody allen movie coming out, everybody wins

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 16:19 (sixteen years ago)

lotta lols on this thread

― rip dom passantino 3/5/09 never forget (max), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 16:20 (sixteen years ago)

Stuart Slotnick - douchey lawyer or Revenge of the Nerds character?

― display names have been changed to protect the innocent (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 16:59 (sixteen years ago)

wow this company sucks

― fucken cumlord (omar little), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 17:16 (sixteen years ago)

spencer is carles

― FREE DOM AND ETHAN (special guest stars mark bronson), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 17:18 (sixteen years ago)

I wonder if a strong enough lawsuit could put these fuckers under.

― Darin, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 17:27 (sixteen years ago)

I didn't think a clothing company would ever make Abercrombie look downright classy by comparison, but here we are.

― display names have been changed to protect the innocent (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 17:29 (sixteen years ago)

what in the hell

― i like to fart and i am crazy (gbx), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 17:30 (sixteen years ago)

are there any companies that could/do reasonably compete with AA with equivalent or superior labor practices while not being as douchey?

― Philip Nunez, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 17:38 (sixteen years ago)

the salvation army

― goole, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 17:40 (sixteen years ago)

i missed this the first go round and perhaps i'm missing something now, but how did AA get this past legal to begin with?

― now is the time to winterize your manscape (will), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 17:40 (sixteen years ago)

or do they not really operate like that, what with "Dov" beating off in front of employees and what not

― now is the time to winterize your manscape (will), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 17:41 (sixteen years ago)

i hear super-douchey things about salvation army. Didn't they do some weird real-estate development deal that kicked out low-income housing?

― Philip Nunez, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 17:42 (sixteen years ago)

wtf their defense in this lawsuit looks compeltely insane - am I missing something or is this not a relatively straightforward case of copyright infringement, i.e., using someone's image without their permission...? (or did AA get permission from whoever owns the rights to Annie Hall...? that isn't addressed in the article)

I want to like these guys cuz of the labor thing and their t-shirts are nice enough but jesus what a bunch of assholes. There's a huge stink in SF right now to keep them from putting a store on Valencia, all these local businesses that I am a fan of (Lost Weekend, Aquarius, ATA, etc.) are lobbying to block it.

― Pre-Beatles Yoko Ono (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 17:45 (sixteen years ago)

this whole argument they're going to try to make is AMAZING, i hope this company goes bankrupt

― fucken cumlord (omar little), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 17:46 (sixteen years ago)

there are many dubious things about the salvation army, such as the way the used furniture smells, but they are at least marginally a force for good imo

― elmo argonaut, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 17:47 (sixteen years ago)

yeah at this point I kinda hope they go down in flames.

altho I guess they brought Arthur a lot of ad revenue lolz

― Pre-Beatles Yoko Ono (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 17:49 (sixteen years ago)

yah i dunno about their real estate deals but if you want shitty ill fitting clothes w/o dov charney's dongsauce or porny ads they're your go-to

― goole, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 17:50 (sixteen years ago)

can you not get Vice magazine in these shitty stores anymore?

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 17:50 (sixteen years ago)

the last time i even saw an issue of Vice magazine with my eyes was in October

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 17:51 (sixteen years ago)

American Apparel stuff fits me perfectly, but dongsauce and porny ads are lame.

― Alex in SF, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 17:52 (sixteen years ago)

i agree the legal arguments = superdick moves (lol dov) but i doubt libel per se will be a successful strategy.

― elmo argonaut, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 17:54 (sixteen years ago)

i hope this company goes bankrupt / i kinda hope they go down in flames

honestly though i don't understand this ^^

― elmo argonaut, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 17:57 (sixteen years ago)

they are trying to force a settlement

― s1ocki, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 17:57 (sixteen years ago)

"who cares about your copyright, pedo" won't work legally, obv, but they're probably hoping that by threatening to bring up all the smut again, allen will settle for a lot less.

xpost!

― da croupier, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 17:58 (sixteen years ago)

i can't help but picture Fred Armisen as Dov shoving his crotch in Allen's face during a deposition - "whatsamatta, Woody, doncha like pictures of YOUNG GURLS no more?"

― da croupier, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 18:00 (sixteen years ago)

honestly though i don't understand this ^^

I think the germans have a word for it

― Pre-Beatles Yoko Ono (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 18:04 (sixteen years ago)

"there are many dubious things about the salvation army, such as the way the used furniture smells, but they are at least marginally a force for good imo"

I was thinking more where could a young hip band or corporation get their t-shirts sourced that isn't AA, but comparable to AA, and say they didn't want to go the
used t-shirt route. If there actually exists no reasonable alternative, then that sort of validates their douchey existence.

― Philip Nunez, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 18:07 (sixteen years ago)

Sewing your own? (NB this wld be pretty ridic)

― fillibustar superstar! (Abbott), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 18:09 (sixteen years ago)

yeah people gotta have band shirts

― da croupier, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 18:10 (sixteen years ago)

i don't like AA but they do have really soft t-shirts in a lot of different colors. i mean i don't really like a lot of companies but many of them sell shit i use.

― call all destroyer, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 18:11 (sixteen years ago)

Hahaha, this is the danger of people as shameless as Charney -- if they turn something into a battle of moral intimidation and/or PR management, you cannot win, because you have shame, and they do not.

― nabisco, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 18:12 (sixteen years ago)

Sometimes I suspect that will soon become a common intergenerational battle, to be honest

― nabisco, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 18:13 (sixteen years ago)

i get pretty exhausted when thinking about attention-whore sociopaths

― fucken cumlord (omar little), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 18:16 (sixteen years ago)

"There's a huge stink in SF right now to keep them from putting a store on Valencia, all these local businesses that I am a fan of (Lost Weekend, Aquarius, ATA, etc.) are lobbying to block it."

I thought they did block it btw.

― Alex in SF, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 18:22 (sixteen years ago)

I hadn't heard, but if so great

― Pre-Beatles Yoko Ono (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 18:25 (sixteen years ago)

was thinking more where could a young hip band or corporation get their t-shirts sourced that isn't AA, but comparable to AA, and say they didn't want to go the
used t-shirt route.

http://www.nosweatapparel.com/ !!!!!

― guys i need to eliminate this business associate and im really nervous (Laurel), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 18:35 (sixteen years ago)

I once had a hipster friend tell me he was in the middle of serially bedding different AA girls. Pretty high on the Totem Poll of Sleaze imo.

― Cunga, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 18:39 (sixteen years ago)

i did all the aa girls already

― rip dom passantino 3/5/09 never forget (max), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 18:41 (sixteen years ago)

at once

― rip dom passantino 3/5/09 never forget (max), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 18:41 (sixteen years ago)

max, jacking off to a billboard on Houston St. doesn't count.

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 18:47 (sixteen years ago)

ya well if it did ive have slept with them all twice

― rip dom passantino 3/5/09 never forget (max), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 18:49 (sixteen years ago)

"http://www.nosweatapparel.com !!!"

wikipedia: "NSA counts Nobel Peace Prize recipient Jody Williams, Oscar-winning screenwriter J. Larner (The Candidate), and musician Billy Bragg among its customers."

― Philip Nunez, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 18:51 (sixteen years ago)

Gotta love the wheels-within-wheels of the AA argument: "Woody Allen's image is already worthless! That's why we needed him on our billboard to sell our clothes!"

― OK, fine, yes, I Goggled it (Pancakes Hackman), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 19:02 (sixteen years ago)

They didn't block AA, AA withdrew voluntarily. And was pretty classy about it.

x-post

― lucked up (lukas), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 19:14 (sixteen years ago)

even a stopped clock etc

― fucken cumlord (omar little), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 19:16 (sixteen years ago)

I think the Planning Commission voting 7-0 against AA counts as a 'block'

I should call up my buddy on the planning commission and thank him...

― Pre-Beatles Yoko Ono (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 19:20 (sixteen years ago)

AA should use those nude pix of soon-yi in their next campaign

― velko, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 19:24 (sixteen years ago)

haha i sort of assumed that was part of the strategy

― rip dom passantino 3/5/09 never forget (max), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 19:37 (sixteen years ago)

for us, by us

― Kerm, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 19:43 (sixteen years ago)

It's not a clear-cut sweatshop thing, but FUBU did a fair amount of immigrant outsourcing. They probably weren't treated poorly but I dunno if they provided for health care and stuff like that.

― Philip Nunez, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 19:52 (sixteen years ago)

I assume this is the classy bit that lukas was talking about, but yeah they were definitely BLOCKED.

― Alex in SF, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 20:23 (sixteen years ago)

Mr Slotnick said the company will illustrate the value of Allen's image by making the breakdown of Allen's relationship with actress Mia Farrow the focus of a trial scheduled to begin in federal court in Manhattan on May 18. Allen left Farrow for her adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn.
"Certainly, our belief is that after the various sex scandals that Woody Allen has been associated with, corporate America's desire to have Woody Allen endorse their product is not what he may believe it is."
One billboard featured a frame from "Annie Hall," a film that won Allen a best director Oscar. The image showed Allen dressed as a Hasidic Jew with a long beard and black hat and Yiddish text. The words "American Apparel" also were on the billboard.

it's one of those real life stories that's like an Onion story

― the pinefox, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 20:29 (sixteen years ago)

Is the thrust of that ad meant to be some kind of melting-pot thing? The best I can imagine is that they'd have various ads like that referencing various cultures and be like yeah, this is all American Apparel -- but then that seems somehow way too culturally earnest for their brand!

― nabisco, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 20:47 (sixteen years ago)

I'm wondering what the "yiddish text" was

― Pre-Beatles Yoko Ono (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 20:47 (sixteen years ago)

Plus also they just sell t-shirts and tube dresses and stuff, so ...

― nabisco, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 20:47 (sixteen years ago)

it seems like the dbaggy sleazo version of the whole "miles davis wore khakis" kind of shit the gap did years ago

― fucken cumlord (omar little), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 20:48 (sixteen years ago)

without the whole "(x) wore tube tops" stuff

― fucken cumlord (omar little), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 20:48 (sixteen years ago)

maybe they are selling novelty beards now too

― Pre-Beatles Yoko Ono (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 20:50 (sixteen years ago)

i think i read it has to do with charney's appreciation for / emulation of NY jewish schmata industry but again, a bit earnest there

― elmo argonaut, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 20:54 (sixteen years ago)

Maybe they are selling copies of Annie Hall?

― Alex in SF, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 20:54 (sixteen years ago)

i think i read it has to do with charney's appreciation for / emulation of NY jewish schmata industry but again, a bit earnest there

I remember looking/perving at the AA web site awhile back and noticed amongst the model slideshows a set consisting solely of stills of Woody from his 70s films (not just Annie Hall). IIRC the slideshow was called "Our Patron Saint" or "Our Hero" or something like that.

― The Wild Shirtless Lyrics of Mark Farner (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 16 April 2009 00:13 (sixteen years ago)

one month passes...

NEW YORK -- Woody Allen agreed Monday to a $5 million settlement in his lawsuit accusing a trendy clothing company of using an image parodying him as a rabbi without his permission.

Both sides announced the settlement -- to be paid by American Apparel's insurance company -- on the morning a trial was to start in federal court in Manhattan.

Reading from a statement outside court, Allen said he hoped the outcome "would discourage American Apparel or anyone else from ever trying such a thing again."

American Apparel president Dov Charney told reporters it wasn't his decision to settle. The company's insurance company "controlled the defense" in the case, he said.

"I'm not sorry of expressing myself," he said.

Allen, 72, sued the clothier last year for $10 million after the advertisements turned up on billboards in Hollywood and New York, and on a Web site. Using a frame from the film "Annie Hall," the ads depicted Allen as a Hasidic Jew -- long beard, side curls, black hat -- and featured Yiddish text meaning "the holy rebbe."

Court papers filed on Allen's behalf had described the actor-director as one of the most influential figures in the history of American film, and say he believes maintaining strict control over his image has been critical to his success.

The papers claimed Allen hasn't done commercials in the United States since 1960s, when he was a struggling standup comic. The billboards, he says, falsely implied he endorsed a clothing line known for its racy advertising -- a "blatant misappropriation and commercial use of Allen's image."

American Apparel lawyers have called the $10 million demand "outrageous," especially since the billboards were taken down after a week. They also have threatened to call Allen's former longtime companion, actress Mia Farrow, and his current wife, Soon-Yi Previn, as witnesses to show that his image has already been devalued by scandal. Previn is Farrow's adopted daughter.

Farrow starred in several of Allen's movies, including "Crimes and Misdemeanors." Their relationship ended in 1992, when she discovered he was having an affair with Previn, then 22.

On Monday, Allen blasted American Apparel, calling their First Amendment defense "sheer nonsense," and accusing of it of trying "to smear me."

Charney insisted there were no hard feelings, saying the billboards were misunderstood.

"We would never try to malign the dignity of Mr. Allen," he said. "I have respect for Mr. Allen. ... I hope to meet him on more friendly terms at a different point."

― velko, Monday, 18 May 2009 15:30 (sixteen years ago)

http://i39.tinypic.com/4jkmef.jpg

― ice cr?m, Monday, 18 May 2009 17:10 (sixteen years ago)

"I... I... I had to settle for less than $10 million, you see, I mean, I... I can't win from a company that big! They make shirts sexy people wear. I'm lots of things, but I'm not in the sexy people group. I've always hated sexy people, always smiling and trying to look sexy, and having sex. You see, I... I really had no choice here, no choice!"

― Gerard (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 18 May 2009 18:46 (sixteen years ago)

"I'm not sorry of expressing myself," he said.

what a douchebag

― High in Openness (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 18 May 2009 20:54 (sixteen years ago)

its kinda sad cause he obv luvs woody so much

― ice cr?m, Monday, 18 May 2009 21:09 (sixteen years ago)

he's got a woody for woody

― Mr. Que, Monday, 18 May 2009 21:12 (sixteen years ago)

when he/AA came up with this ad did they really think it wouldn't end up in court??

― ^defense is impregnable (will), Monday, 18 May 2009 21:14 (sixteen years ago)

woody should start casting AA models in his movies

― velko, Monday, 18 May 2009 21:34 (sixteen years ago)

one month passes...

Probe fingers 1,800 American Apparel workers

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – A U.S. federal probe has found that about a third of American Apparel's factory workers in the Los Angeles area had supplied suspect or invalid records and were not authorized to work in the United States.

The findings, from a January 2008 federal investigation, may deal a blow to the corporation's image as a proponent of immigration reform.

But the company said on Tuesday the potential loss of those 1,800 workers would have no significant impact on its results.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency found that some 1,600 current employees at American Apparel's Los Angeles factories appeared to have gained employment due to "suspect and not valid" eligibility documentation, the company said in a filing.

The probe also found that the employment eligibility of an additional 200 workers could not be verified due to discrepancies, it said.

American Apparel said it could not accurately assess the impact on its operations from losing the employees, but said it did not believe any such loss would have a materially adverse impact on financial results.

"The company believes that its current surplus levels of inventory and manufacturing capacity would mitigate the adverse impact of any disruption to its manufacturing activities that may potentially result from the loss of these employees," American Apparel said in the filing.

"ICE's notification provided no indication that the company knowingly or intentionally hired unauthorized aliens and no criminal charges have been filed against the Company or any current employees," it added.

The company, known for its colorful T-shirts and other basics worn by urban hipsters, has made immigration reform a central theme of its corporate message.

Chief Executive Dov Charney has called for the legalization of foreign workers, and the company has used "Legalize LA" as a slogan on billboards and T-shirts.

American Apparel's Los Angeles operations, which employ some 4,500 workers, churn out some 230,000 garments per day in an environment in which workers are paid above minimum wage, enjoy subsidized health care and meals, and take part in free English classes.

In the past, the company has let go of workers whose papers were proven false. Company executives say American Apparel diligently complies with the law, but have pointed out that papers can easily be faked.

― the sideburns are album-specific (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 1 July 2009 14:47 (sixteen years ago)

all factory workers are insured and therefore cannot be illegal
untrue on two counts:
#1) insurance is optional (not required) for AA employees
#2) "The law says Charney can't knowingly hire someone who's an illegal immigrant, but he says just try to figure out who's legal and who isn't."
"But the fact of it is, and I'll speak in general terms so no one gets in trouble, but the entire industrial area of Los Angeles is generally populated with blue collar workers that are falsely documented and, if the three of us wanted to go get some green cards, we could have them in two hours at Macarthur Park."
Dov Charney (5/14/04)
― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, January 10, 2005 1:28 PM (4 years ago)

― (*ﾟーﾟ)θ L(。･＿･)　　　°~ヾ(･ε･ *) (Steve Shasta), Wednesday, 1 July 2009 14:48 (sixteen years ago)

I thought Fred Armisen as Dov during an SNL Weekend Update was funny.

― Trip Maker, Wednesday, 1 July 2009 14:54 (sixteen years ago)

So what actually happened with the sexual harrassment lawsuits?

The couple of silk screened t-shirts I did, I did on AA shirts coz I liked the quality of their material, but reading this thread makes me feel really, really gross about them.

― Violent In Design (Masonic Boom), Wednesday, 1 July 2009 15:15 (sixteen years ago)

Dov Charney fingers 1,800 American Apparel workers

― Michael tapeworm much talent for the future (s1ocki), Wednesday, 1 July 2009 15:38 (sixteen years ago)

― zzz (deej), Saturday, 4 July 2009 22:37 (sixteen years ago)

two months pass...

http://www.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2009-09-03-american-apparel-illegals_N.htm?csp=34

Clothing company American Apparel said Thursday it is terminating 1,600 employees at its Los Angeles operations after a government investigation into workers' immigration status.

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 8 September 2009 15:14 (sixteen years ago)

six months pass...

lolz @ britishes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsE-rWC8Lg8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LmIEHaD6tg

― ☀ ☃ (am0n), Sunday, 4 April 2010 22:43 (fifteen years ago)

Probe fingers 1,800 American Apparel workers

About as many as Dov Charney fingered

― mh, Sunday, 4 April 2010 22:57 (fifteen years ago)

oh hell, that joke WAS made upthread, I just didn't see it

― mh, Sunday, 4 April 2010 22:57 (fifteen years ago)

one month passes...

tits up?

The business revealed it had slumped to an $18m (£12.4m) loss, was in grave danger on defaulting on a loan it took out last year and warned there was "no assurance" it could raise enough cash to keep going. The shares lost 42% of their value in response.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/may/23/american-apparel-retail-industry

i would actually be pretty sad if they went down.

― jed_, Monday, 24 May 2010 12:34 (fifteen years ago)

their tee shirts are great

― Worth waiting for the fannypunch at 4.02 (stevie), Monday, 24 May 2010 12:35 (fifteen years ago)

maybe they could move their manufacturing offshore

― Face Book (dyao), Monday, 24 May 2010 13:00 (fifteen years ago)

Is Am Appy the fabric of our alternative lives?
If Am Appy doesn’t ‘make it’, will that mean the mainstreamers have won?
What would u do if Am Appy ‘went under’?

― long time listener, first time balla (history mayne), Monday, 24 May 2010 13:03 (fifteen years ago)

it's pretty disheartening that no one is able to duplicate their business model minus the skeeviness. It's like the success of that company ran on skeeve.

― Philip Nunez, Monday, 24 May 2010 17:20 (fifteen years ago)

good riddance?

their quality is horrible, their "business model" is employing illegal immigrants rather than US citizens, they blocked their employees numerous attempts at unionizing.

― _▂▅▇█▓▒░◕‿‿◕░▒▓█▇▅▂_ (Steve Shasta), Monday, 24 May 2010 18:17 (fifteen years ago)

Will buy a few hoodies if they have liquidation blow out.

― Is it far? Is it far? Is it far? (Jon Lewis), Monday, 24 May 2010 18:26 (fifteen years ago)

I liked the feel of their t-shirts and polo shirts, but it seems like everyone is doing those now. Their quality control was awful though. And he seemed like a real scumbag.

― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Monday, 24 May 2010 18:28 (fifteen years ago)

Their press angle was originally that they made a fair, quality product that was simple. Really, when it comes down to it, there are much better t-shirts out there but they initially aimed at a market (plain Ts, selling to screenprinters) that is really dominated by shitty shirt quality to begin with. What they've become is somewhat of a different animal, but backed by that same "better than shitty" quality product and a lot of promotion.

― mh, Monday, 24 May 2010 18:30 (fifteen years ago)

Really, when it comes down to it, it's: outsourcing your production to countries with lower costs of living versus hiring illegal immigrants for domestic production because you don't have to pay them minimum wage.

Oh and also the fact that their factory became a regular raid point for the INS seems pretty lol.

― _▂▅▇█▓▒░◕‿‿◕░▒▓█▇▅▂_ (Steve Shasta), Monday, 24 May 2010 19:13 (fifteen years ago)

are margins that thin that they can't pay minimum wage?

― Philip Nunez, Monday, 24 May 2010 19:25 (fifteen years ago)

I'm assuming Steve knows of what he speaks here, given that this is his competition

― Here is a tasty coconut. Sorry for my earlier harshness. (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 24 May 2010 19:34 (fifteen years ago)

I thought they did pay minimum wage (maybe well above it actually according to early articles about the company). Where are you getting that, Steve? Not disputing the lame union busting thing though.

I also get what you're saying, Steve, but actually the first instance is lamer cuz most of those countries have zero protections for workers in those factories whereas even for illegals a semblance of such things exist here.

― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Monday, 24 May 2010 19:36 (fifteen years ago)

American Apparel "laid-off" almost 2,000 factory employees last year because they were unable to provide simple W-2 documentation for roughly 1/3 of their workforce.

Also, would love access to your data and research on how factories outside of the USA have zero protections for workers! off-board email would be great.

― _▂▅▇█▓▒░◕‿‿◕░▒▓█▇▅▂_ (Steve Shasta), Monday, 24 May 2010 20:03 (fifteen years ago)

hey c'mon we've all read No Logo

― Here is a tasty coconut. Sorry for my earlier harshness. (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 24 May 2010 20:04 (fifteen years ago)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_trade_zone

― Here is a tasty coconut. Sorry for my earlier harshness. (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 24 May 2010 20:06 (fifteen years ago)

"Also, would love access to your data and research on how factories outside of the USA have zero protections for workers! off-board email would be great."

What the fuck, Steve, are you Kathy Lee Gifford?

― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Monday, 24 May 2010 20:09 (fifteen years ago)

Yeah, and No Logo supposedly pushed a number of companies into having public ethics boards or review groups. From what I've heard, manufacturing abroad is far from ideal but it's a hell of a lot better for a number of brands. The entire idea that undocumented workers in the US are inherently being treated better at work than native workers in another country is kind of bullshit.

I don't even know if you could make the claim that quality of life is better in the US for a factory worker due to it being a first-world country. That's kind of irrelevant to the job, though.

― mh, Monday, 24 May 2010 20:12 (fifteen years ago)

i guess for a lot of people its a bit "better the devil you know" because w/ sweatshops in less affluent countries its not easy for a consumer to feel connected to the policies and regulations wrt production. Even if things are shitty at home, they seem shitty in a way that has perceivable limits.

― plax (ico), Monday, 24 May 2010 20:16 (fifteen years ago)

xp Heard from who exactly?

― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Monday, 24 May 2010 20:18 (fifteen years ago)

FWIW, I'm a big proponent of making factory jobs better and less exploitative of workers *everywhere*, instead of thinking that doing all your manufacturing inside the US is some magic bullet for labor issues. Really, you might just end up with exploited workers in the US, and higher unemployment in some free trade zone where people rely on their mediocre factory job to live.

― mh, Monday, 24 May 2010 20:18 (fifteen years ago)

hope they don't go down because basically i wear their t-shirts everyday.

― Thaksin Albert Shinawatra (jim in glasgow), Monday, 24 May 2010 20:19 (fifteen years ago)

if their quality is as good as claimed, won't you be able to wear those same t-shirts for a few years, or do they fall apart?

― mh, Monday, 24 May 2010 20:19 (fifteen years ago)

um they're t shirts?

― plax (ico), Monday, 24 May 2010 20:21 (fifteen years ago)

true, I guess I was just being pissy.

― mh, Monday, 24 May 2010 20:22 (fifteen years ago)

T-shirts (American Apparel or otherwise) usually last forever. It's sweaters that I tend to destroy (regardless of who makes em.)

― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Monday, 24 May 2010 20:26 (fifteen years ago)

What the fuck, Steve, are you Kathy Lee Gifford?

― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Monday, May 24, 2010 1:09 PM (18 minutes ago)

lol, are you rip van winkle?

― _▂▅▇█▓▒░◕‿‿◕░▒▓█▇▅▂_ (Steve Shasta), Monday, 24 May 2010 20:28 (fifteen years ago)

t-shirts last forever, but they look shitty after a while, all washed out. american apparel stuff isn't particularly good quality in general though; have had a few items with shitty stitching. the reason i like them is because the fit is good for me and they have a lot of different colours.

― Thaksin Albert Shinawatra (jim in glasgow), Monday, 24 May 2010 20:31 (fifteen years ago)

jim bursts out of his t shirt every night iirc

― django weingart (samosa gibreel), Monday, 24 May 2010 20:33 (fifteen years ago)

The entire idea that undocumented workers in the US are inherently being treated better at work than native workers in another country is kind of bullshit.
I don't even know if you could make the claim that quality of life is better in the US for a factory worker due to it being a first-world country. That's kind of irrelevant to the job, though.
― mh, Monday, May 24, 2010 1:12 PM (15 minutes ago)

BINGO. On average, "Made in the USA" is in the lower third tier of global quality standards. Honestly, look at every piece of clothing you're wearing and even better empty your pockets of your electronics and car keys and let's talk country of origin. I have seen a couple (okay, more than a couple) factories around the world, and most were unannounced visits (lol ymmv, not holding my breath on this) and compared to my share of domestic facilities (American Apparel included)... this is not 1983 anymore guys. Sell your Pontiac and buy a Datsun, you red commie bastards.

― _▂▅▇█▓▒░◕‿‿◕░▒▓█▇▅▂_ (Steve Shasta), Monday, 24 May 2010 20:39 (fifteen years ago)

or... just keep buying those dope pastel v-neck t-shirts and lame capri tights to support the next wave of AMERICAN workforce... the kind that doesn't document it's worker or wages to the Federal Government.

Going Rogue: Human Resources-style,
Steve Shasta
The Kathy Lee Gifford of ILX

― _▂▅▇█▓▒░◕‿‿◕░▒▓█▇▅▂_ (Steve Shasta), Monday, 24 May 2010 20:43 (fifteen years ago)

lame = lamé btw

― _▂▅▇█▓▒░◕‿‿◕░▒▓█▇▅▂_ (Steve Shasta), Monday, 24 May 2010 20:43 (fifteen years ago)

Six of one, half dozen of the other....

― salad dressing of doom (Laurel), Monday, 24 May 2010 20:44 (fifteen years ago)

lol!

― goole, Monday, 24 May 2010 20:44 (fifteen years ago)

I probably don't know this due to not being on ilx as much as others, but is it public knowledge where you work, Steve? I'm kind of interested, if you don't talk about it on here, feel free to send a private message.

― mh, Monday, 24 May 2010 20:45 (fifteen years ago)

steve shasta is a wakeboarder.

― Thaksin Albert Shinawatra (jim in glasgow), Monday, 24 May 2010 20:46 (fifteen years ago)

Shasta hand-sews high quality denim jeans

― Here is a tasty coconut. Sorry for my earlier harshness. (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 24 May 2010 20:47 (fifteen years ago)

"Made in the USA" is in the lower third tier of global quality standards

I'm assuming "quality" refers to product, and not labor standards...

― Here is a tasty coconut. Sorry for my earlier harshness. (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 24 May 2010 20:48 (fifteen years ago)

Gibson guitars made in USA are better than those made in Mexico, I'll vouch for that much

― Here is a tasty coconut. Sorry for my earlier harshness. (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 24 May 2010 20:54 (fifteen years ago)

Have never been into or knowingly seen an AA store, so the only AA clothing I have is band t-shirts, but man, you got some shitty band t-shirts before AA, now even yr small local bands/webcomics/whatever print shirts made of reasonably thick and non-scratchy cotton, not 2 sizes smaller than advertised, and which don't fade on the second wash or develop holes instantly

(off to read the rest of the thread abt their business practices, which I haven't paid particularly close attention to before since there isn't a physical shop of theirs around here)

― atoms breaking heart (a passing spacecadet), Monday, 24 May 2010 21:01 (fifteen years ago)

Steve this conversation is of interest to me; in my civilian identity I work for a design-y semi-high-end kitchen tools/housewares company & we make almost everything in China, with factories not owned or controlled by us. The trend in China manufacturing right now is toward constant labor shortages-- it's getting harder and harder to find ppl who want to work in a factory, which implies to me that more and more ppl no longer HAVE TO.

― Is it far? Is it far? Is it far? (Jon Lewis), Monday, 24 May 2010 21:12 (fifteen years ago)

"the kind that doesn't document it's worker or wages to the Federal Government"

A practice which our Federal Government BUSTED them for. Somehow I can't imagine the process works exactly the same way in Malaysia, but how can I argue with someone who has "SEEN the factories".

― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Monday, 24 May 2010 21:13 (fifteen years ago)

"Made in the USA" is in the lower third tier of global quality standards
I'm assuming "quality" refers to product, and not labor standards...
― Here is a tasty coconut. Sorry for my earlier harshness. (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, May 24, 2010 1:48 PM (13 minutes ago)

Yes, this has been the a major topic of dialogue for the past few decades and a good indicator of why American manufacturing is in a freefall decline.

The factors are three-fold:
(1) Weakening dollar
(2) Increasing CapEx (labor in this case) for American production
(3) Declining quality

Companies that remain loyal to domestic production are brought to the brink of extinction before gradually leveraging more and more production overseas (or get creative like AA and just start employing more and more illegals).

Meanwhile, still quite a few intelligent Americans (^^^scroll upthread^^^) are convinced that anything *gasp* outside of the lower 48 is automatically made by 5 year olds under watchful eye and whip of Lucifer himself, never once imagining that there are state of the art facilities and skilled laborers in the "third-world" that put our most advanced factories and treasured workforce to shame and guess what, they earn a fair-wage that surpasses even what AA pays their illegals!!! whoa.... wtf is going on?!??!!

I'm fairly certain that Taiwan is still considered "third world" and if you do NOT manufacture there, you are missing out on the most cutting edge manufacture technology available in the world. Your iphone or macbook that you're reading this on would agree (PC users will have to defer to Ghangzhou, PRChina of which I'm not as familiar with but has been fingered one of the highest growth markets for european sedans in the world for 2009... correlation?).

Gibson (hey, another American manufacturer that hit it's peak in terms of quality in the late 50s/early 60s that is on the verge of collapse... this will be a very familiar sounding story over the next decade fwiw) is celebrating 50 years of declining quality and is on the verge of being acquired (by Peavy lol?)...

― _▂▅▇█▓▒░◕‿‿◕░▒▓█▇▅▂_ (Steve Shasta), Monday, 24 May 2010 21:22 (fifteen years ago)

xpost Most of the large retail chains in the US, if you wanna sell stuff to them, require the factories you work with to pass social compliance audits where they investigate payroll practices, forced overtime, child labor, etc. So there is some policing of factories in China at least if we're talking about products sold in most big box stores.

― Is it far? Is it far? Is it far? (Jon Lewis), Monday, 24 May 2010 21:25 (fifteen years ago)

and is on the verge of being acquired (by Peavy lol?)...

okay that is lol

― Here is a tasty coconut. Sorry for my earlier harshness. (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 24 May 2010 21:29 (fifteen years ago)

Most of the large retail chains in the US, if you wanna sell stuff to them, require the factories you work with to pass social compliance audits where they investigate payroll practices, forced overtime, child labor, etc.

when did this practice become common?

― Here is a tasty coconut. Sorry for my earlier harshness. (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 24 May 2010 21:30 (fifteen years ago)

Wait so the people who make chips for your iPhone make wages that surpass what the people who t-shirts at AA make? Talk about comparing apples and wait that's a lousy pun. . .

― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Monday, 24 May 2010 21:32 (fifteen years ago)

I'm gonna say since I started in manufacturing, so maybe sometime in the last 6 years?

― Is it far? Is it far? Is it far? (Jon Lewis), Monday, 24 May 2010 21:32 (fifteen years ago)

xpost

― Is it far? Is it far? Is it far? (Jon Lewis), Monday, 24 May 2010 21:32 (fifteen years ago)

The only major complaint I've seen in recent years is that large brands will source their goods from shadier factories when they need a lot of branded merchandise quickly (Olympics, World Cup, etc.). Think of sneakers and shirts that have the final two teams of a series and so on.

xx-post Post-"No Logo", duh Shakey.

― mh, Monday, 24 May 2010 21:33 (fifteen years ago)

aren't peavys indestructible though? like a peavy t-shirt would last you several generations, negating whatever environmental/labor advantages someone else would have.

― Philip Nunez, Monday, 24 May 2010 21:36 (fifteen years ago)

I'm curious how much stuff has actually changed since No Logo/The Corporation actually. Not that I don't trust the Social Compliance Audits produced by Wal-Mart.

― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Monday, 24 May 2010 21:40 (fifteen years ago)

Seems to me the toxic material scares really drove the big increase in auditing. And since ppl were already auditing/investigating for toxic goods they might as well do more social compliance at the same time.

― Is it far? Is it far? Is it far? (Jon Lewis), Monday, 24 May 2010 21:44 (fifteen years ago)

there was an article in business week a year or less ago I think written by some dude who went undercover posing as a buyer for something (I think it was clothes, but it might have been some kind of plastic fabrication) and the gist of the article is things are still pretty sketchy, but so is my memory of the article.

― Philip Nunez, Monday, 24 May 2010 21:46 (fifteen years ago)

also, a lot of manufacturing is moving to vietnam, so the whole milton friedman cycle starts again.

― Philip Nunez, Monday, 24 May 2010 21:47 (fifteen years ago)

I wonder why the guardian article would go out of its way to say

[AA's] mainly Latino workforce is paid almost double the minimum wage and gets an array of other benefits.

I had assumed that they paid min wage or lower - else why would they go to all that union-busting effort?

― naglpuss (c sharp major), Monday, 24 May 2010 21:47 (fifteen years ago)

Mind you if you aren't paying payroll taxes you can get away with paying people minimum wage plus.

― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Monday, 24 May 2010 21:49 (fifteen years ago)

isn't the whole foods ceo a quasi-right wing anti-union nut, too? something is up with these 'wacky' entrepreneurs.

― Philip Nunez, Monday, 24 May 2010 21:49 (fifteen years ago)

He is.

― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Monday, 24 May 2010 21:49 (fifteen years ago)

I don't think he regularly exposes his genitals to his employees though.

― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Monday, 24 May 2010 21:49 (fifteen years ago)

isn't the urban outfitters dude some sort of total right wing fanny too?

― cozen, Monday, 24 May 2010 21:52 (fifteen years ago)

Philip was it this one?

Shopping for sweat: The human cost of a two-dollar T-shirt

― all yoga attacks are fire based (rogermexico.), Monday, 24 May 2010 21:52 (fifteen years ago)

it's the abercrombie guy that's a right wing fanny, i dunno about urban outfitters

― harbl, Monday, 24 May 2010 21:53 (fifteen years ago)

urbie outs guy is richard hayne, rick santorum supporter and homophobe

― cozen, Monday, 24 May 2010 21:54 (fifteen years ago)

oh ok, both!

― harbl, Monday, 24 May 2010 21:54 (fifteen years ago)

also Gibson hasn't made any guitars in Mexico afaik. that's Fender, and any difference in quality between the MIM stuff and the MIUSA stuff has more to do with the parts and materials spec'd than e.g. "craftsmanship"

also that Peavey buyout rumor has been floating since at least summer of 2009 so...

― all yoga attacks are fire based (rogermexico.), Monday, 24 May 2010 21:55 (fifteen years ago)

damn didn't know that about the UO dude. i can continue never ever going there ever.

john mackey is a huge big libertarian. he makes a big deal out of treating his employee base better than the average grocery titan -- some substance to the claim here, too -- but yeah, no friend of the union man, him.

― goole, Monday, 24 May 2010 21:55 (fifteen years ago)

I don't shop at any of these fucking places tbh

― Here is a tasty coconut. Sorry for my earlier harshness. (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 24 May 2010 21:55 (fifteen years ago)

(John Mackey, Whole Foods CEO)

― goole, Monday, 24 May 2010 21:56 (fifteen years ago)

also Gibson hasn't made any guitars in Mexico afaik.

right, sorry my Les Paul is made in Mexico but it's Epiphone, not Gibson

― Here is a tasty coconut. Sorry for my earlier harshness. (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 24 May 2010 21:57 (fifteen years ago)

there is nowhere to shop

― harbl, Monday, 24 May 2010 21:57 (fifteen years ago)

i read a funny back and forth btw Whole Foods' Mackey and some silicon valley dickhead who has a rep as the meanest asshole hired gun executive in the world or some shit, arguing about what social responsibility corporations had. pretty funny chilling shit. maybe it was linked on ilx?

― goole, Monday, 24 May 2010 21:59 (fifteen years ago)

nobody be shoppin'

― _▂▅▇█▓▒░◕‿‿◕░▒▓█▇▅▂_ (Steve Shasta), Monday, 24 May 2010 22:00 (fifteen years ago)

also, a lot of manufacturing is moving to vietnam, so the whole milton friedman cycle starts again.

Yes, China is getting too expensive. I thought ppl were positing India as the next land of Satanic Mills?

― Is it far? Is it far? Is it far? (Jon Lewis), Monday, 24 May 2010 22:01 (fifteen years ago)

here tis

http://reason.com/archives/2005/10/01/rethinking-the-social-responsi

― goole, Monday, 24 May 2010 22:02 (fifteen years ago)

right, sorry my Les Paul is made in Mexico but it's Epiphone, not Gibson

― Here is a tasty coconut. Sorry for my earlier harshness. (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, May 24, 2010

Really? Thought Epi was all asian production...

― all yoga attacks are fire based (rogermexico.), Monday, 24 May 2010 22:03 (fifteen years ago)

Would love to hear if there's a kinda affordable decent Les Paul imitation out there. The epi is not up to snuff, huh?

― Is it far? Is it far? Is it far? (Jon Lewis), Monday, 24 May 2010 22:07 (fifteen years ago)

"Shopping for sweat: The human cost of a two-dollar T-shirt"
yeah this is it! Thanks! I dont know how i confused businessweek for harpers!
I guess by the time labor conditions get decent it just becomes cheaper to move somewhere else.

I feel like the AA guy, douchebag that he is, managed to get people willing to pay a premium to treat labor better --
it's just disappointing no one else seems to have as much visible success doing so.

― Philip Nunez, Monday, 24 May 2010 22:08 (fifteen years ago)

Would love to hear if there's a kinda affordable decent Les Paul imitation out there. The epi is not up to snuff, huh?

my Epiphone Les Paul has served me well, it was just clear to me the Gibsons were better.

― Here is a tasty coconut. Sorry for my earlier harshness. (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 24 May 2010 22:13 (fifteen years ago)

fwiw I'm a big fan of the Gibson-authorized, Japanese-made "Orville" and "Orville by Gibson" LPs -- only available used now but there are usually at least a dozen on eBay at any given time

― all yoga attacks are fire based (rogermexico.), Monday, 24 May 2010 22:16 (fifteen years ago)

*checks ebay*

well... cheap compared to a real Les Paul at least!

― Is it far? Is it far? Is it far? (Jon Lewis), Monday, 24 May 2010 22:21 (fifteen years ago)

oh dang. prices are up.

― all yoga attacks are fire based (rogermexico.), Monday, 24 May 2010 22:45 (fifteen years ago)

I have a vague hope of making it up to rochester for my first ever visit to House Of Guitars this summer. Gonna look out for one of those for cheaper.

― Is it far? Is it far? Is it far? (Jon Lewis), Monday, 24 May 2010 22:53 (fifteen years ago)

House of Guitars may not be your place for cheaper but good luck!

― all yoga attacks are fire based (rogermexico.), Monday, 24 May 2010 22:58 (fifteen years ago)

I thought it was supposed to be kind of a semi-disorganized hoard in which deals could be found? No?

― Is it far? Is it far? Is it far? (Jon Lewis), Monday, 24 May 2010 23:00 (fifteen years ago)

semi-disorganized for sure. deals possibly but randomly and you're as likely to see something at 30% above what it usually sells for. no rhyme or reason. always worth a visit though!

― all yoga attacks are fire based (rogermexico.), Monday, 24 May 2010 23:14 (fifteen years ago)

anyway, enough with the thread derail -- sorry folks, i just like guitars and this would be a great discussion to have over on IMM

also this thread reminds me i need to put in an order with AA before they go under

― all yoga attacks are fire based (rogermexico.), Monday, 24 May 2010 23:18 (fifteen years ago)

aren't most of gibson's problems related to an insane ceo and terrible management practices, not some foundational issue with american manufacturing?

― call all destroyer, Monday, 24 May 2010 23:26 (fifteen years ago)

fwiw although iphones and macs are manufactured by a taiwanese company, the actual factories are located in China

― Face Book (dyao), Tuesday, 25 May 2010 06:54 (fifteen years ago)

Now now don't let facts get in the way of Steve's garment apologist screed.

― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 25 May 2010 12:36 (fifteen years ago)

;-)

― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 25 May 2010 12:38 (fifteen years ago)

i don't think taiwan is third world. idk if it's even "developing world"

― long time listener, first time balla (history mayne), Tuesday, 25 May 2010 14:48 (fifteen years ago)

I've been to Taiwan (granted, only visited major cities) but yeah it's very developed. haven't been to the countryside. iirc there's an ilxor who lives there right now.

China, on the other hand...

― Face Book (dyao), Tuesday, 25 May 2010 14:51 (fifteen years ago)

i am wearing AA t-shirt and hooded top today and enjoying this, ignorant of any AA badness.

― mdskltr (blueski), Tuesday, 25 May 2010 14:54 (fifteen years ago)

i put scare quotes around "third world" for a reason guys!

alex, still waiting on your data and research on which (if not all) factories outside the USA are safe to produce in... please get back 2 me asap kthx.

― _▂▅▇█▓▒░◕‿‿◕░▒▓█▇▅▂_ (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 25 May 2010 16:17 (fifteen years ago)

lol I don't recall saying anything about factories being unsafe. Unethical is another matter and I think the burden of proof is on the manufacturers (not on the consumers) to prove that the workers are not being exploited (or that they are actually doing something significant to prevent exploitation from occurring). Please don't rely on your "anecdotal evidence" or industry funded compliance reviews for your proofs.

― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 25 May 2010 16:32 (fifteen years ago)

Are there any reasons why garment production can't be largely automated (i.e. bypassing dodgy labor altogether)? Are robots that expensive, or are people too cheap?

― Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 25 May 2010 17:02 (fifteen years ago)

The latter.

― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 25 May 2010 17:03 (fifteen years ago)

ohh awesome, tell me more about where my data comes from too, that would be the icing of the patronizing cake imo...

― _▂▅▇█▓▒░◕‿‿◕░▒▓█▇▅▂_ (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 25 May 2010 17:13 (fifteen years ago)

no offence steve shasta but yr both indulging in something of a 'patronising cake' bake-off atm

― Worth waiting for the fannypunch at 4.02 (stevie), Tuesday, 25 May 2010 17:24 (fifteen years ago)

And the results are delicious!

― frozen cookie (Abbott), Tuesday, 25 May 2010 17:25 (fifteen years ago)

lol

― call all destroyer, Tuesday, 25 May 2010 17:25 (fifteen years ago)

proceeds go to AA illegal workers

― NUDE. MAYNE. (s1ocki), Tuesday, 25 May 2010 17:26 (fifteen years ago)

woo hoo!

― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 25 May 2010 17:28 (fifteen years ago)

Salted with tears

― Is it far? Is it far? Is it far? (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 25 May 2010 17:29 (fifteen years ago)

"ohh awesome, tell me more about where my data comes from too"

I just assumed you were pulling it out of your ass? Was that too patronizing of me?

― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 25 May 2010 17:30 (fifteen years ago)

i wouldn't expect anything more from you tbh!

― _▂▅▇█▓▒░◕‿‿◕░▒▓█▇▅▂_ (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 25 May 2010 17:42 (fifteen years ago)

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/catfight1211.jpg

― Here is a tasty coconut. Sorry for my earlier harshness. (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 25 May 2010 17:47 (fifteen years ago)

three weeks pass...

http://gawker.com/5564171/life-at-american-apparel-the-employees-speak

― jaymc, Tuesday, 15 June 2010 20:21 (fifteen years ago)

okay, now that this shit is public, i can let out a little more about the chronicles of ridic w/r/t this company...

### monthly "class photos" are where you take a group picture of the entire staff of a retail location (usually before opening on a saturday morning) with a digital camera, that jpg get collected and fwd'd by district managers to Dov's assistant who receives them printed out on high-gloss paper. Dov then spends the majority of business-related conference calls with his red pen circling the members of the staff who are "off-brand" (=ugly/not-AA style, take your pic) and then the DM has to fire those employees!

Note: this has nothing to do with my low opinion of their garment quality.

― _▂▅▇█▓▒░◕‿‿◕░▒▓█▇▅▂_ (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 15 June 2010 20:28 (fifteen years ago)

Ughhh.

― there are 6 different girls who are all 1 Megan Fox in this movie (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 15 June 2010 20:36 (fifteen years ago)

Not defending AA's actions, but Gawker really does have a weird vendetta against them.

― Join the Gothscene! Join for free! Gothscene.com (Whitey on the Moon), Tuesday, 15 June 2010 21:01 (fifteen years ago)

What's weird about it?

― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 15 June 2010 21:05 (fifteen years ago)

as an ugly/off-brand dude i like to annoy AA by wearing their garms

― mdskltr (blueski), Tuesday, 15 June 2010 21:08 (fifteen years ago)

What's weird about it?

^^^ this

I mean, totally deserving of this stuff getting out there.

― he's always been a bit of an anti-climb Max (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 15 June 2010 21:10 (fifteen years ago)

this is obviously a horrible policy but presumably means that if i start buying their t-shirts in store rather than online i can make pathetic chit-chat with attractive shop assistants.

― Lil' Lj & The World (jim in glasgow), Tuesday, 15 June 2010 21:11 (fifteen years ago)

which i always enjoy.

― Lil' Lj & The World (jim in glasgow), Tuesday, 15 June 2010 21:11 (fifteen years ago)

it's just that they're constantly doing pieces on AA, and you don't think this kind of crap goes on at other fashionable retail establishments?

― Join the Gothscene! Join for free! Gothscene.com (Whitey on the Moon), Tuesday, 15 June 2010 21:12 (fifteen years ago)

surprised by the 'no make-up' thing tho

― mdskltr (blueski), Tuesday, 15 June 2010 21:12 (fifteen years ago)

"it's just that they're constantly doing pieces on AA, and you don't think this kind of crap goes on at other fashionable retail establishments?"

No idea, but you go with what's leaked to you, ya know.

― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 15 June 2010 21:20 (fifteen years ago)

on the one hand, it's kinda lol but mostly sad

on the other hand, what's kinda lol but mostly sad is not the policy (hi dere equal opportunity Abercrombie greeters) but the clownish amateur implementation

like, if AA were more BigCorpy about it Gawker wouldn't be nearly as interested. picturing Our Beloved Founder personally red-penning the misfit toys is just... sigh.

― all yoga attacks are fire based (rogermexico.), Tuesday, 15 June 2010 21:23 (fifteen years ago)

^^^ agree, it's the stage setting that makes it especially painful.

― there are 6 different girls who are all 1 Megan Fox in this movie (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 15 June 2010 21:26 (fifteen years ago)

yeah, the fact that the fucking head of the company deals with that instead of just having all the managers of the stores be told "don't hire any uggos" sort of goes some way in explaining why they're in such financial doldrums.

― Lil' Lj & The World (jim in glasgow), Tuesday, 15 June 2010 21:26 (fifteen years ago)

apparently "Dov" and I have differing tastes 'cause i've seen plenty of "uggos" up in an american apparel

― used to bull's-eye Zach Wamps in my T-16 back home (will), Tuesday, 15 June 2010 21:29 (fifteen years ago)

"you don't think this kind of crap goes on at other fashionable retail establishments?"

AA originally positioned themselves at a brand that was noble and ethical... they were "above sweatshops"*, and (scan upthread) a lot of people bought into the sense that they were involved with a movement, a noble cause, a company that prided themselves on bucking the system.

looking back, it appears that AA was a worse offender than "other fashionable retail establishments"... lowering the bar to Hooters level terms of employment.

*working with the assumption that people still believed that all clothing was made overseas in sweatshops and that people wouldn't accept that sweatshops could exist in America staffed by roughly 30-40% illegal immigrants.

― _▂▅▇█▓▒░◕‿‿◕░▒▓█▇▅▂_ (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 15 June 2010 21:29 (fifteen years ago)

Also, personally not a fan of the "why is this a big deal, it happens everywhere" argument.

― he's always been a bit of an anti-climb Max (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 15 June 2010 21:31 (fifteen years ago)

i should note that they dropped their "sweatshop-free" slogan roughly 2-3 years into existence, trading it in for more of a LCD sleaze factor, and shock-tactic PR (Jane Magazine, etc.).

― _▂▅▇█▓▒░◕‿‿◕░▒▓█▇▅▂_ (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 15 June 2010 21:31 (fifteen years ago)

It bothered me when the maternity clothing store I worked for asked employees to wear makeup – and it bothers me that these guys have a no makeup policy.

― breaking that little dog's heart chakra (Abbott), Tuesday, 15 June 2010 21:32 (fifteen years ago)

"i should note that they dropped their "sweatshop-free" slogan roughly 2-3 years into existence"

Weren't they forced to drop that slogan by whoever hands that slogan out?

Although I just Googled Sweatshop Free and AA was the second result so maybe not. . .

― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 15 June 2010 21:34 (fifteen years ago)

From their website:

http://americanapparel.net/contact/ourworkers.html

"Clothing manufacturing is a very tough job, but we've always tried to do things differently. In the early days we talked about "sweatshop free" now we talk less, however we continue to provide the same benefits (and more) to our workers.

For us "sweatshop free" was never about criticizing other business models; it was about attempting something new. It comes down to this: not blindly outsourcing, but rather knowing the faces of our workers and providing them the opportunity to make a fair wage. "

― _▂▅▇█▓▒░◕‿‿◕░▒▓█▇▅▂_ (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 15 June 2010 21:38 (fifteen years ago)

I bought a stripey French-fisherman-y shirt there a few weeks back and the salesperson who sold it to me was a guy and not terribly attractive though he was wearing their clothes and those again ubiquitous Ray Bans so I take this all cum grano salis.

― If the US had a dictator we'd call him coach (Michael White), Tuesday, 15 June 2010 21:39 (fifteen years ago)

^^ agree -- based on various LA and SF locations conventional beauty is not the X factor here

― all yoga attacks are fire based (rogermexico.), Tuesday, 15 June 2010 21:41 (fifteen years ago)

knowing the faces of our workers, and rating them out of 10

― mdskltr (blueski), Tuesday, 15 June 2010 21:41 (fifteen years ago)

a douche rating a human face, forever

― goole, Tuesday, 15 June 2010 21:43 (fifteen years ago)

^^ A+ zings

Also, personally not a fan of the "why is this a big deal, it happens everywhere" argument.

― he's always been a bit of an anti-climb Max (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Okay, but you're not curious in the least about why Gawker is going after AA hard while more obvious offenders get a free pass? Hint: it's because AA is not a notably professional org.

I mean, file all of this under "yup, Dov is a creepy dude" or even "man these fuckin' guys just can't get out of their own way" but beyond that... well, again, kinda lol but mostly sad.

Just kinda embarrassed for them, really.

― all yoga attacks are fire based (rogermexico.), Tuesday, 15 June 2010 21:46 (fifteen years ago)

a douche rating a human face, forever

― goole, Tuesday, June 15, 2010 2:43 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

lol

― If the US had a dictator we'd call him coach (Michael White), Tuesday, 15 June 2010 21:47 (fifteen years ago)

I think its because AA has aligned themselves so closely with some sort of "indie" viewpoint (lets not get into what that even means, I assume you guys know what I'm getting at), so its more of a personal affront to Gawker than when some megacorp pulls the same thing.

― he's always been a bit of an anti-climb Max (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 15 June 2010 21:48 (fifteen years ago)

(literally everyone from this corporate fantasy land is a maximum age of 20)

So I imagine working at AA is something like "The Devil Wears Prada" meets "Logan's Run"

― Cunga, Tuesday, 15 June 2010 21:49 (fifteen years ago)

Honestly, the sceptic in me thinks that part of these leaks could be part of their "no such thing as bad publicity"... their sales/revenue are wayyy down, the stock price is in the toilet, there's rumors of them being acquired... maybe one last desperate move in the slow summer season?

― _▂▅▇█▓▒░◕‿‿◕░▒▓█▇▅▂_ (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 15 June 2010 21:51 (fifteen years ago)

If that was the case I think that there would be more of sensational angle to it "DOV MARKS PICS WITH RED PEN WHILE MASTURBATING ON CONFERENCE CALLS", right?

― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 15 June 2010 21:56 (fifteen years ago)

"there's rumors of them being acquired... "

If I had the money I would definitely buy this company for the purposes of inflicting a new kind of comedy terror on everyone. And social justice on the side.

― Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 15 June 2010 21:59 (fifteen years ago)

okay when I read the sentence "Don marks girls on a photo with red pen" I had a totally different idea than what was revealed...

this whole situation is pretty funny. t/s: AA vs. abercrombie & fitch

― an indie-rock microgenre (dyao), Wednesday, 16 June 2010 00:02 (fifteen years ago)

yeah i mean the rules go beyond just 'no uglies' into truly absurd brand/aesthetic slavery e.g. 'no fringe', as if a fringe isn't still a1 hottness

― mdskltr (blueski), Wednesday, 16 June 2010 00:11 (fifteen years ago)

two weeks pass...

A rare instance of civic pride on my part:

http://altreport.hipsterrunoff.com/2010/06/toronto-g20-protesters-break-windows-of-an-american-apparel-spray-store-with-feces.html

― Tonight I Dine on Turtle Soup (EDB), Friday, 2 July 2010 02:07 (fifteen years ago)

four weeks pass...

Bankrupcy looming. Don is courting buyers on the sly. Comp sales and elementary financials are being withheld from investors and the SEC, forcing auditor Deloitte to walk away!!! Stock price dropped 14% to $1.55. Bleakness.

― _▂▅▇█▓▒░◕‿‿◕░▒▓█▇▅▂_ (Steve Shasta), Saturday, 31 July 2010 07:34 (fifteen years ago)

...and another shitty decade comes to a clothes.

― PappaWheelie V, Saturday, 31 July 2010 07:36 (fifteen years ago)

all too happy to see it go.

― Loverboy (Spinspin Sugah), Saturday, 31 July 2010 08:21 (fifteen years ago)

I did love their plain t shirts.

― Captain Ostensible (Scik Mouthy), Saturday, 31 July 2010 08:23 (fifteen years ago)

wonder if i can pick up some polo shirts on the cheap now

― titchyschneiderhouserules (s1ocki), Saturday, 31 July 2010 14:40 (fifteen years ago)

You'll be missed.

― krippendorf's trife (Whiney G. Weingarten), Saturday, 31 July 2010 14:53 (fifteen years ago)

What are Vice and The Onion going to do with their back page now?

― krippendorf's trife (Whiney G. Weingarten), Saturday, 31 July 2010 14:54 (fifteen years ago)

wonder if i can pick up some polo shirts on the cheap now

― titchyschneiderhouserules (s1ocki), Saturday, July 31, 2010 10:40 AM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

was looking at those yesterday, getting a couple for like 15-20 each would rule

― call all destroyer, Saturday, 31 July 2010 14:54 (fifteen years ago)

hipster vultures

― titchyschneiderhouserules (s1ocki), Saturday, 31 July 2010 15:04 (fifteen years ago)

Nah, that's just bargain hunting. Vultures will be out to offer former regional managers "nude modeling" careers, since they actually have no other work experience at all.

― kenan, Saturday, 31 July 2010 15:42 (fifteen years ago)

being regional manager of a large clothing chain is probably pretty good experience

― titchyschneiderhouserules (s1ocki), Saturday, 31 July 2010 16:52 (fifteen years ago)

The Claudine Ko article FWIW: http://www.claudineko.com/storiesamericanapparel.html

― Sundar, Saturday, 31 July 2010 17:13 (fifteen years ago)

being regional manager of a large clothing chain is probably pretty good experience

That was my joke, though. Because the hiring and promotion policies were apparently based on nothing other than outward appearance. More specifically, on whether they gave Dov a stiffy. One of the many ways he ran the business into the ground.

― kenan, Saturday, 31 July 2010 17:15 (fifteen years ago)

The Claudine Ko article FWIW

"He says I seduced him when I told him I liked dirty stories."

This is an excellent article, and that's a killer lead sentence. The lady can write.

― kenan, Saturday, 31 July 2010 19:49 (fifteen years ago)

three months pass...

Good article on the tricky future of AA.

― Ballard, Dick (Eazy), Friday, 5 November 2010 15:07 (fourteen years ago)

some people thought i was dov charney for halloween

i was elliott gould for cryin out loud

― koyaani (s1ocki), Friday, 5 November 2010 15:09 (fourteen years ago)

cant believe they mistook dov charney for elliott gould.... jeez

― dayo, Friday, 5 November 2010 15:10 (fourteen years ago)

don't buy AA stuff if you want to dye it: their '100% cotton' label isn't exactly accurate, and the pieces on each garment are 7/10 times mixed-and-matched, so you end up with 2 or 3 different shades of the same colour on one piece.

― just1n3, Friday, 5 November 2010 15:11 (fourteen years ago)

Fun facts at the end of that Globe & Mail article: Dov Charney and Naomi Klein went to high school together.

― no place running the schools (Eazy), Friday, 5 November 2010 15:26 (fourteen years ago)

four months pass...

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/03/dov-charney-american-apparel-ceo-is-sued-by-four-women-alleging-sexual-harassment-.html

― pc-ness pump (lpz), Thursday, 24 March 2011 19:02 (fourteen years ago)

I was going to bump this thread a few weeks ago when I noticed that the AA store in the lonliest, most disused corridor of my local mall had been boarded over.

― i have a hot bagel waiting for me in my bed so ill say this: (kkvgz), Thursday, 24 March 2011 20:16 (fourteen years ago)

pro tip: dont go to a dudes house who admits to masturbating whilst being on the phone with you

― strongly recommend. unless you're a bitch (mayor jingleberries), Thursday, 24 March 2011 22:52 (fourteen years ago)

obligatory high-school mindset post: dude looks like he has a throbber in that picture

― Radical Adults Lick Based God Style (kelpolaris), Thursday, 24 March 2011 23:17 (fourteen years ago)

ten months pass...

http://img-cdn.mediaplex.com/0/8975/03609_pullovers_washington_160x600_2.jpg

still makes me giggle every time

― SELF DEPORTATION (Z S), Wednesday, 1 February 2012 23:03 (thirteen years ago)

would pull over

― J0rdan S., Wednesday, 1 February 2012 23:11 (thirteen years ago)

and frisk.

― nickn, Wednesday, 1 February 2012 23:20 (thirteen years ago)

one year passes...

http://store.americanapparel.net/product/?productId=2011spper

no seemingly feminist move from american apparel should go uninterrogated, but this (nsfw) t-shirt that's causing a bit of a storm seems like a good thing to exist.

― opie dead eyed piece of shit (Merdeyeux), Tuesday, 8 October 2013 21:32 (eleven years ago)

Why do I get the feeling Dov Charney personally 'inspects' every one of those that leaves that non-sweat shop they're so proud of?

― A Made Man In The Mellow Mafia (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 8 October 2013 21:43 (eleven years ago)

a giant leap forward for grody t-shirts

― et rottent land hvor nisser bor (chilli), Tuesday, 8 October 2013 21:57 (eleven years ago)

don't forget where you came from

― goole, Tuesday, 8 October 2013 21:58 (eleven years ago)

seemingly feminist move

― nakhchivan, Tuesday, 8 October 2013 22:00 (eleven years ago)

telling

― JEFF 22 (Matt P), Tuesday, 8 October 2013 22:18 (eleven years ago)

v-neck dov charney pedophile

― JEFF 22 (Matt P), Tuesday, 8 October 2013 22:19 (eleven years ago)

looks like a bloody clunge matt p m8

regards

― nakhchivan, Tuesday, 8 October 2013 22:25 (eleven years ago)

three months pass...

American Apparel Mannequins Now Sporting Full Bush

http://gothamist.com/2014/01/16/american_apparel_mannequin.php

― |$̲̅(̲̅ιοο̲̅)̲̅$̲̅| (gr8080), Thursday, 16 January 2014 19:11 (eleven years ago)

five months pass...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/18/american-apparel-ceo_n_5509936.html

Lol

― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Thursday, 19 June 2014 05:29 (eleven years ago)

three months pass...

they are closing 4 of their 13 stores in the UK. i imagine they will end up closing a further 6, at least, pretty soon.

― Acting Crazy (Instrumental) (jed_), Friday, 10 October 2014 16:02 (ten years ago)

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/oct/10/american-apparel-closing-uk-stores

― Acting Crazy (Instrumental) (jed_), Friday, 10 October 2014 16:02 (ten years ago)

I was going to bump this thread a few weeks ago when I noticed that the AA store in the lonliest, most disused corridor of my local mall had been boarded over.
― i have a hot bagel waiting for me in my bed so ill say this: (kkvgz), Thursday, March 24, 2011 4:16 PM (3 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I later realized this wasn't true. I had just wandered into the wrong part of the mall.

― how's life, Friday, 10 October 2014 16:29 (ten years ago)

eight months pass...

http://gawker.com/here-are-the-gross-horny-texts-dov-bad-daddy-charney-1713322622

Barf.

― how's life, Wednesday, 24 June 2015 10:36 (ten years ago)

AA has always been so overpriced in the UK, for what you get (basics)

― transparent play for gifs (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 24 June 2015 13:31 (ten years ago)

a friend-of-a-friend used to be an assistant to that dude or someone else high up in AA but there was no way I was going to ask about it

― Upright Mammal (mh), Wednesday, 24 June 2015 14:03 (ten years ago)

Mr. Charney began the meeting by shouting at the accounting staff, "You're all fucking me."

― ... (Eazy), Wednesday, 24 June 2015 17:33 (ten years ago)

AA has always been so overpriced in the UK, for what you get (basics)
― transparent play for gifs (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, June 24, 2015 8:31 AM (4 hours ago)

smdh would have thought you guys would have an English Apparel by now

― gr8080, Wednesday, 24 June 2015 18:29 (ten years ago)

http://pictures.depop.com/b0/721323/77069129.jpg

― there was a lot of beer and people doing sit ups, (laughs) (DJ Mencap), Wednesday, 24 June 2015 19:02 (ten years ago)

ugh

― you throw darts like a lesser man and owe me cash (stevie), Thursday, 25 June 2015 09:53 (ten years ago)

one year passes...

gildan wins

loool

― 龜, Tuesday, 10 January 2017 15:05 (eight years ago)

three years pass...

so dov charney apparently created a nearly identical enterprise: “los angeles apparel”

you’d think there would be some differences but.. looks like the exact same thing

― mh, Tuesday, 14 April 2020 17:08 (five years ago)

five years pass...

So far the most amusing (as opposed to horrible) thing in the new Netflix Trainweck episode is the montage music that is almost exactly but not quite MGMT’s “Kids.”

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 10 July 2025 03:30 (two months ago)

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