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)

Skipping 790 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

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 (fourteen 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 (fourteen years ago)

...and another shitty decade comes to a clothes.

― PappaWheelie V, Saturday, 31 July 2010 07:36 (fourteen years ago)

all too happy to see it go.

― Loverboy (Spinspin Sugah), Saturday, 31 July 2010 08:21 (fourteen years ago)

I did love their plain t shirts.

― Captain Ostensible (Scik Mouthy), Saturday, 31 July 2010 08:23 (fourteen years ago)

wonder if i can pick up some polo shirts on the cheap now

― titchyschneiderhouserules (s1ocki), Saturday, 31 July 2010 14:40 (fourteen years ago)

You'll be missed.

― krippendorf's trife (Whiney G. Weingarten), Saturday, 31 July 2010 14:53 (fourteen 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 (fourteen 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 (fourteen years ago)

hipster vultures

― titchyschneiderhouserules (s1ocki), Saturday, 31 July 2010 15:04 (fourteen 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 (fourteen years ago)

being regional manager of a large clothing chain is probably pretty good experience

― titchyschneiderhouserules (s1ocki), Saturday, 31 July 2010 16:52 (fourteen years ago)

The Claudine Ko article FWIW: http://www.claudineko.com/storiesamericanapparel.html

― Sundar, Saturday, 31 July 2010 17:13 (fourteen 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 (fourteen 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 (fourteen 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 (ten 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 (nine 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 (nine 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 (nine 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 (nine 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 (nine 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 (nine years ago)

ugh

― you throw darts like a lesser man and owe me cash (stevie), Thursday, 25 June 2015 09:53 (nine 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)

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