Brand Overview
American Apperel is a clothing manufacturer based in Los Angeles, CA. Associated with progressive business practices, promoted extensively by the company's PR department and by founder Dov Charney, the company has made "sweatshop free" production and "vertically-integrated manufacturing" key slogans in its marketing campaigns and general corporate rhetoric. The brand's visually provocative advertising campaigns, which feature and are photographed AA employees, have also drawn much attention--both positive and negative--from its core market.
Brand History
Amaerican Apparel was founded in 1988 by Dov Charney. Although the company produced clothing in Mexican sweatshops early on, all opperations were moved to Los Angeles by 2000, and the brand began to position itself as a progressive corporation. AA employees earn an average of $13 per hour and receive benefits--including healthcare, paid sick and vacation days, company-subsidized lunches, ESL training--not often associated with factory workign conditions.
In 2003, the company began to shift its rhetorical model from "sweatshop free" to "vertically-integrated." The shift highlighted the company's insistence upon designing, producing, and retailing items of clothing at a single site. The model would allow the company to expedite the process of bringing an item of clothing to market while still keeping emphasis on the original values of made-in-the-US production.
A fortune 500 company, American Apparel exceded $124 million in revenue for 2004. The company has opened retail locations througout the United States, Canada, and western Europe, as well as a handful of stores in Mexico, Korea, Israel.
Recent Collections
In this section, give a brief overview of relevant themes in a given
collection of new products. Then, upload images of as many new
products as you would like. The more complete your set of images is,
the better idea others will have of the product line.
External Links
Official American Apparel Website
Category
Owner: "johnnyb" Last edited on October 23, 2006 1:45 pm by "johnnyb"
