AmAppInc history

In 1990, with a $10,000 loan from his father, he packed his bags and landed in South Carolina, where he transitioned from importing T-shirts to manufacturing them, learning the ins and outs of the trade.

In 2000 American Apparel moved into its current factory in downtown Los Angeles where it continued to grow primarily as a wholesale business, selling blank T-shirts to screenprinters, uniform companies and fashion brands.

TeamX, a company located in the same downtown Los Angeles neighborhood as American Apparel's headquarters, launched a sweatshop-free clothing brand called SweatX in 2002.

Baker, Linda. "The Goal: 'Sweatshop Free.' The Problem: Defining It." New York Times, December 14, 2003.

In 2004 Adbusters unveiled its Blackspot shoes, an "anti-brand" that was intended as part of a campaign to "unswoosh" Nike (a reference to Nike's logo, the swoosh) and "give birth to a new kind of cool in the sneaker industry," according to a Blackspot mission statement.

Dodero, Camille. "Trying Ethics On for Size: Worker-Friendly Clothing Companies Look to Break the Sweatshop Mold." Boston Phoenix, March 4-10, 2005.

In fact, in 2006 a nearly $280M stock deal set the company up to open retail stores overseas for the first time.

The company promotes labor policies that exclude use of clothing manufactured in sweatshops. It is also one of the few clothing companies exporting "Made in the USA" goods and in 2007 sold about $125 million of domestically manufactured clothing outside of America.

American Apparel continued to see increased sales and even managed to post a higher gross margin in 2009 than the year prior — a remarkable achievement in a time when the market was struggling with a weakened global economy.

In 2010, the company ran into serious financial issues, with auditors for the company resigning after declaring that it may not be able to provide reliable information.

In April 2011, American Apparel confirmed that it had secured $14.9 million in financing from a group of Canadian investors.

In April 2013, American Apparel issued a private offering of $206 million in senior secured notes.

In December 2014, American Apparel announced the official termination of CEO Dov Charney and the promotion of fashion executive Paula Schneider to that position.

Yet, despite Schneider’s best efforts, American Apparel officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Fall 2015.

In January 2016, the company rejected a $300 million takeover bid from Hagan Capital Group and Silver Creek, two investment firms aligned with Dov Charney.