Brand World: American Apparel

American Apparel is a Los Angeles based clothing manufacturer, distributor and retailer in the USA. It is a vertically integrated clothing manufacturer, wholesaler and a retailer that also performs its own design, advertising and marketing. It is best known for making basic and solid-color cotton knitwear such as t-shirts and underwear, but in recent years it has expanded to leggings, leotards, tank tops, vintage clothing, dresses, pants, denim, nail polish, bedding and accessories for men, women, children, babies and dogs in various prints and colors.

Some story:

American Apparel was founded in 1989 by canadian Dov Charney, who had a long history with t-shirts and a fascination with American culture. It was during Charney´s freshman year at Tufts University that the company took on the name "American Apparel" and began to experiment with screenprinting, importation and other parts of the apparel business.

American Apparel designs, creates and prints its own advertisements. The company is known for its provocative and controversial ads campaigns, which is largely the inspiration of tge company CEO Dov Charney. The sexually charged ads has been criticized, but also been lauded for honesty and lack of airbrushing.

Their images often display subjects with their blemishes, imperfections and asymmetrical features higlighted and attached with brief, personal descriptions. Many models in American Apparel´s advertising are recruited by Charney and his colleagues on the street, or company stores and others are selected after sending their photos directly to the company website.
The company has also used pornographic actors in some of its ads including Lauren Phoenix, Charlotte Stokely, Sasha Grey and Faye Reagan. Some of the company´s other ads, which feature nudity or sexual themes have been banned by various advertising authorities.