American Apparel
American Apparel was founded by Dov Charney, a Canadian person in1989 in business which is known as American Apparel Inc. it is an online-only retailer store operations based in Los Angeles, California. Founded by Canadian businessman Dov Charney, it was a vertically integrated company that ranked as one of the largest apparel manufacturers and marketers within North America in the year of 1997, for some temporary time period it had its manufacturing in South Carolina, the company moved to Los Angeles later on. Charney began to sub-contract sewing with Sam Lim who, at the time, had a shop with 50 workers under the Interstate. Months later the two became partners. In 2000 American Apparel moved into its current factory in downtown Los Angeles where it continued to grow primarily as a wholesale business, selling blank T-shirts to screen printers, uniform companies, and fashion brands. After losing money for six consecutive years, from 2010-2015, American Apparel filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. on October 5, 2015, in the. It was reported that the brand then agreed to a plan with its creditors to convert $200 million of debt into equity.
Controversies
American Apparel has come under fire over the years for their provocative and overtly sexual advertisements, mostly under the direction of the fired founder Dov Charney. As the troubled clothing company files for bankruptcy, take a look back at the controversial ads that caused a stir. American Apparel designs, creates and prints its own advertisements. The company is known for its provocative and controversial advertising campaigns, which is largely are the inspirations of the companies’ CEO Dov Charney. American Apparel’s advertising ‘telegraphs the brand’ from person to person. The sexually charged advertising has been criticized but has also been lauded for honesty and lack of airbrushing. Depending on a person’s mindset. Many of their models in the advertising are recruited by Charney himself, and his colleagues on the street, or company stores; others are selected after sending their photos directly to the company website. They used some of the pornographic actors and glamour models their ads, like Lauren Phoenix, Charlotte Stokely, Sasha Grey, Eugenia Diyordiychuk, and many more. Some of its ads, which feature nudity or sexual themes, were been banned by various advertising authorities, in 2009 one of its add was published in a magazine the ok UK, came into resulting in its ban over there. American Apparel once again in the highest form came under fire in the year of 2014, with its ad for mini-skirts, which featured a model bending over so that her undergarments were prominently exposed, of course intentionally, and some of the other adds were more than just ads, leaning towards a pornography magazine, The UK Advertising Standards Authority criticized the ad for being “voyeuristic” and “vulnerable”.
Most controversial moments
Although we can say that maximum of them adds were controversial, the most controversial clothing campaign was said to be, back to School which was labeled as “pornographic” for showing a schoolgirl in a mini skirt leaning over intentionally to show and her undergarments– it was quickly banned by The Advertising Standards Authority for “sexualizing schoolgirls”.
Earlier the same year the brand caused a stir when an advertisement featured a topless model with the words over her chest stating “Made in Bangladesh” across her pixelated bare chest. They weren’t referring to the jeans she was wearing, but instead to the Bangladeshi merchandiser in order to highlight the company’s fair labor practices. In 2012 American Apparel had an ad banned for “sexualizing minors” – it featured a teen girl wearing nothing but white tights. And the list can go on and on. But not all their controversial ads have involved apparently sexual imagery. They include the brand’s lingerie campaign featuring a 63-year-old model in underwear and an ad introducing a Hasidic male model to coincide with Rosh Hashanah. American Apparel has been subject to seven public sexual harassment lawsuits, though to date, they have all been dismissed, thrown out, remanded to arbitration, or in one case, settled but with “no monetary liability to the company.” In one prominent case, the company was sued by four ex-models for sexual harassment—including one separately named plaintiff who sued the company for $250 million—in a lawsuit that involved mutual nude photographs, sexual text messages, and requests for money.
New CEO
American Apparel has fired controversial founder Dov Charney was terminated as the CEO and hired its first female chief executive to run the retailer known for its hyper-sexualized image. However, he had come under intense scrutiny following a string of sexual harassment lawsuits brought forward by former employees – all of which were either settled or dismissed. Charney himself admitted he had intimate relationships with employees, but insisted they were consensual. In better news of their brand, American Apparel’s new CEO was Paula Schneider in January that year to replace founder Dov Charney who was fired in December. She revealed plans to tone down the brand’s sexualized imagery, telling Bloomberg: “It doesn’t have to be overtly sexual. There’s a way to tell our story where it’s not offensive.” But she failed to do so.
