I can’t say I ever really cared that American Apparel produces their clothes in the US of A. It’s been an afterthought when I go in there. I shop at American Apparel because their clothes actually fit. Do you know how hard it is to find waist 28 jeans (humblebrag)? Or to find a slim shirt that can hide cover my malnourished and deformed body? Urban Outfitters tries, but they’re a bunch of try-hard douchenozzles.
I thought America’s job was to produce brainless television shows and reality tv stars. (Really all we have left is the entertainment industry. Long live Arnold Schwarzenegger!) Don’t get me wrong, I think I’m very pro-American Apparel’s America Is Awesome policy. I’m also very pro-American Apparel’s Gay Marriage is Awesome policy. I also may be pro-American Apparel’s sexual-harassment-is-okay-when-kept-secret-and-done-by-the-CEO policy (just because Dov Charney LOOKS like a creeper and ACTS like a creeper doesn’t make him a creeper…until proven in a court of law without hush money).
Now, the skeptics among us *could* blame Dov Charney for creating this conundrum. His company has shown losses for about 2 years straight. He expanded too quickly, assuming that there were enough nimble-framed Hipsters throughout the world with disposable incomes to afford the comparably lavish clothes that American Apparel sells. (Although if a store can flourish in Burlington, Vermont, maybe Charney just got a little ahead of himself.) I don’t blame Creeper Charney.* I don’t blame China or Taiwan.
I blame you, the consumer, for not buying into the American Apparel brand. You weren’t loyal enough. You didn’t spend enough of your paychecks there. You didn’t continue to shop there once you learned high school kids love that place. You. You. You. Not me. You.
If ever a post will win me friends, it is this one.
* Also, in case you were curious, Google image searching for ‘American Apparel’ will bring up a lot of images that would get you murdered in a lot of Middle Eastern countries.
Abbaa Joe
06/05/2012
If American Apparel goes overseas it will have to open a “Foreign Apparel” division.
That is my idea and they better not steal it.
Al
06/07/2012
===buy== clothing off the rack? What’s next, that you’ll select your desired haircut from a menu, then let the robot do it to you?
honestly….. fitting and sewing clothes is fairly simple stuff. Girl Scouts can learn it. I did learn it, and I do it. Not to mention that I bake better cookies than they do.
Then again, I’m not a cool hipster, like you.