American Apparel Lays Off 180 Employees

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

The New York Times reports that American Apparel is in the process of laying off 180 employees, or about 1.8% of the retailer's workforce, by Friday. For the most part, the layoffs are affecting people who work in manufacturing.

New CEO Paula Schneider declined to confirm or deny additional rounds of layoffs, but did emphasize that the cuts weren't primarily the result of American Apparel's financial problems. Instead, she said that the move was a necessary part of American Apparel's ongoing reinvention strategy. "It's very challenging to go down this route," Schneider said. "But we have to conduct business differently in order to survive and to thrive."