American Aparrel: Apparently Not

After another quarter of reported losses, clothing company American Apparel, announced that they would begin closing all of their stores and laying off the workers in their LA factory.

Known for its raunchy and sometimes risqué advertisements, the company started twenty eight years ago and has since built an empire with hundreds of stores and thousands of employees. It started out in a factory in downtown LA, with founder Dov Charney

on a mission to build an ethical company that produces its goods in the U.S. under fair conditions and wages.

The American Apparel name is mostly known for its Made in America mindset, but the name is arguably tarnished by its borderline pornogrpahic advertising campaigns.

There were also other legal issues, including a lawsuit from Woody Allen for improper use of his image on a billboard. The company was sued for 5 million dollars and it was later revealed that he sued because the picture was old and he had a pimple at the time. CEO Charney has also been involved in multiple lawsuits revolving around his treatment of his employees.

The company filed for bankruptcy once back in 2015,and then once more in 2016, reporting that no profit had been made since 2009. In 2010, they were reported to be 86 million dollars in debt.

Despite all of these issues, the American Apparel has received a lot of support from disenfranchised groups that support the company’s stances on equality and speaking out and for issues that their ethics support.

One campaign that the company pushed for was Legalize LA, which was a campaign that pushed citizenship for the illegal workers in the country.

Another famous campaign was Legalize Gay, which started in 2008 after California banned same sex marriages. Their clothing reflects many of their views, with their slogans printed across a wide range of clothing.

A truly unique company in a sea of off-shoring, monstrous conglomerates, American Apparel is finally going belly-up as their time is now ending.