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Mourning the loss of American Apparel and your favorite V-neck tees, club skirts, and bodysuits? Not so fast — Dov Charney is determined to keep your closet flush with American-made cotton.
Which must be why he was outside American Apparel’s factory literally waving down employees to recruit them for his new company last week. Hundreds of employees lined up outside American Apparel’s Los Angeles factory to pick up their last checks on the heels of the company’s sale to Gildan, and its original — and controversial — founder was across the street saying “Come help me,” according to WWD.
Which means Charney’s new company, supposedly called That’s Los Angeles by Dov Charney, is truly on its way — and sounds even more like American Apparel 2.0 than before. Last February, Charney (who was, finally, officially fired from American Apparel in December 2014) announced he was launching a new T-shirt company. The plan: to make basics for both men and women, starting out with a wholesale printing business and manufacture locally in the United States.
Sound familiar?
Who knows if the new company will make the old hits, but Charney told the South China Morning Post today that they’re already getting to work in Los Angeles, and that manufacturing in the US is a priority. Notably, 2,400 American Apparel employees have already been laid off, with as many as 1,000 more to come, making American Apparel just one of several American retailers to dismiss thousands of employees recently, along with The Limited and Macy’s.
Yet Charney said to the South China Morning Post, “It’s highly efficient to make clothing here, but a lot of people don’t understand how to do it... American manufacturing is underrated.”
Whether you loved or loathed American Apparel, the local manufacturing was a good thing. Charney’s alleged sexual assault? Not so great. But the combination is surprisingly topical as we gear up to swear in the incoming President-elect.