American Apparel: Apparently Exploitative Afterall

I have at least 2 dozen t-shirts, skirts, etc., made by American Apparel, hanging in my closet.   I like the way they fit.  I love it that the workers receive a living wage.  Plus, they are a progressive company, right?  They make a sustainable cotton tee, they don't use sweatshop labor...  I have to admit, I was a little disappointed to learn the company was anti-union, but I figured, you can't win 'em all, right?

Then I got this e-mail from a friend:

From: Moira Beery
Sent: Mon 7/11/2005 4:25 PM
To: Andrea Misako Azuma; Amanda Leigh Shaffer
Subject: Fwd: NYTimes.com: His Way Meets a Highway Called Court

Here is an article about American Apparel CEO being sued for harassment. Surprise surprise.
-Moira

Among other things, the article stated that:

There  is no question that Dov Charney is an unconventional chief executive.  

As the founder of American Apparel, the T-shirt and casual wear chain sometimes called an alternative Gap, Mr. Charney decorates stores with covers of Penthouse and Oui magazines from the 70’s, admits in interviews to engaging in sexual relationships with women who work for him, and once exposed himself for an ad in a gay magazine, all in the name of personal freedom.

According to some former employees, however, sex is used for more than selling clothes at American Apparel. In two separate sexual harassment lawsuits, three plaintiffs who worked on American Apparel’s administrative and sales staffs charge that they endured sexual misconduct and innuendo and an environment in which women did not feel safe.

Among the allegations: using crude language and gestures, conducting job interviews in his underwear, ordering the hiring of women in whom he had a sexual interest and giving one of the plaintiffs a vibrator. * 

Following are our reactions to the article.

--- Amanda Shaffer wrote:

THANK YOU for sending this Moira! I've had a hard time with American Apparel ever since their "Girls of American Apparel" calendar came out. I wrote the company a long and thoughtful e-mail expressing my objections to their sexual objectification of women, something that seems to run counter to their philosophy of "respect" that they claim they have for their workers. I have written letters of complaint to many companies in the past, and even the huge mega giants at least send me a form letter back. I never got ANY sort of response from American Apparel. That really annoyed me. Anyway, this article was pretty validating!

Thanks,
Amanda

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--- Andrea Misako Azuma wrote:

thanks for sharing. where's a gal to shop for affordable, conscious(raising), knock-em dead clothing? i guess such a thing doesn't yet exist. too bad i don't sew :)

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--- Beth Azuma wrote:

andrea,
funny that you should send this right after i was in my first ever american apparel store in chicago on sunday.  while there we were commenting on their sexualized ad campaign (reminiscent of ambercrombie ads/drunken college girls on spring break).  one has to wonder if any socially responsible companies actually exist.
thanks for the update,
love, beth

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--- Moira Beery wrote:

It’s so frustrating that a company which I would love to throw my support behind has this kind of behavior. I wish we didn’t have to pick our battles as consumers but there doesn’t seem to be any one catch-all place. Too bad I’m a lousy seamstress!

Moira

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--- Amanda Shaffer wrote:

No kidding. I have a sewing machine...I just don't know how to use it!

Of course, it might not be THAT hard not to shop there. Mike and I went in to the Echo Park store last weekend to look for a t-shirt for his vintage Styxx glitter iron-on (nerd) and we both felt like we weren't cool enough to be shopping there and ended up leaving empty handed!

I think it's going to be pretty hard to avoid American Apparel (my cousin sent me a shirt for Christmas that had been designed by an independent artist in London and it was printed on an American Apparel shirt) but I think the negative publicity can sometimes be an effective way to get the company to change...at least a little...I hope...

>-Amanda

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According to the American Apparel website,

While apparel is a universal necessity that transcends almost all cultural and socioeconomic boundaries, most garments are made in exploitative settings. We hope to break this paradigm.

American Apparel may be trying to break one exploitative paradigm, but they sure aren't doing anything to change the paradigm that validates the sexual exploitation of women (and men) to sell a product.   

As for whether or not to shop at American Apparel...I can't say I have that warm fuzzy feeling when I wear their clothes anymore.  I registered for a sewing class--we'll see how that goes.

*If you don't have a NYT subscription to read the article in its entirety, here are some other articles to check out:
American Apparel's Wrinkles
Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing