The coolest cotton money can buy
I would like to request that Eric Watson, Chairman of Endeavor Acquisition Corp, urge Dov Charney CEO of American Apparel to implement a workers bill of rights to ensure a harassment free environment. Charney has long run his business the way he wants to, as it is fiscally and stylistically successful, it is difficult to make a case against the founders business practices. Yet, that does not mean they are without flaw.
As more consumers and investors learn of Charney’s disrespectful crude behavior they will lose respect for him and his company. This lack of respect will lead to a lack of desire to support AA. Eventually resulting in a decision to stop buying from the clothing giant.
“American Apparel is a unique company in the apparel manufacturing and retailing industry with a visionary leader, passionate employees and loyal customers. Its cutting-edge brand building efforts and vertically-integrated ‘made in downtown Los Angeles’ operation have created significant brand awareness and a ‘cult’ status worldwide,” said Eric Watson, Chairman of Endeavor Acquisition Corporation.
Watson summarizes the company pretty accurately, even using the word “cult” which is especially telling of how consumers see the AA brand. Cult is defined as an “interest as followed with exaggerated zeal” and refers to “a cohesive social group devoted to beliefs or practices that the surrounding culture considers outside the mainstream, with a notably positive or negative perception.”
In many ways the AA consumer operates as a cult member with Dov the eccentric leader, pointing at spandex, sexual openness, and the sweatshop-free clothing manufacturing practices as the cults driving force. Charney is known to alienate those that oppose him (i.e., his sexual practices in the workplace), and those that do buy into the brand are extremely loyal. Others that are not interested in AA clothes whether for fashion or moral purposes seem to view the company as a hipster fad that lacks a real sense of style (how can a cotton t-shirt be trendy?, they say) or a company that lacks the ability to sustain long term because it is ‘the latest thing’.
Anti American Apparel 