Preview

American Apparel: Vertically Integrated in Downtown L.A. - Paper

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
934 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
American Apparel: Vertically Integrated in Downtown L.A. - Paper
American Apparel: Vertically Integrated in Downtown L.A.
American Apparel is a clothing manufacturer in the United States. The company is vertically integrated clothing manufacturer, wholesaler, and retailer who also perform its own design, advertising, and marketing. American Apparel was founded in 1997, by Canadian Dov Charney (Grant, 2010). Dov had a fascination with American culture and the T-shirts. He started to experiment with screen printing, importing and other parts related to the apparel business Dov then started his business by exporting T-shirt to Canada in a U-Haul .The main competitor are T-shirt Giants Hanes and Fruit of the Loom (Grant, 2010). The clothing sector is vertically de‐integrated to include: designs, textile manufacture, clothing manufacture, distribution are undertaken by specialist firms.
Synopsis of the Case
Founded in 1997, in Los Angeles, California, American Apparel took pride itself by operating as “Sweatshop Free” manufacturing facility. In 2007, American Apparel employed more than 5,000 workers and operated 155 retail locations across 11 countries (Grant, 2010). American Apparel was a wholesaler and retailer of garments and T-Shirts. Their headquarters and manufacturing facilities were located in the former 1917 Southern Pacific Railroad depot in downtown Los Angeles (American Apparel, 2012). American Apparel centralized all stages of production in its factor to include designing, cutting, sewing, distributing, photography, and marketing (American Apparel, 2012). With these strong core competencies that made American Apparel stand out from their competitors.

Relevant Factual Information about the Problem or Decision the Organization Faced American Apparel ran into many risk factors such as finances and growth which included the ability to gauge fashion trends to consumer preference while still being able to be highly competitive (American Apparel, 2012). Global economic condition also had a great affect in

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Wet Seal Analysis

    • 3205 Words
    • 13 Pages

    Personal income and fashion trends drive demand for clothing. The profitability of individual companies depends heavily on effective merchandising and marketing. Large companies offer wide selections of clothing and have advantages in purchasing, distribution, and marketing. Small stores compete by offering unique merchandise, targeting a specific demographic, providing superior customer service, or serving a local market. The industry is concentrated: the 50 largest companies account for about 65 percent of industry revenue. Competition for the clothing store industry includes department stores, discount stores, and Internet and catalog retailers.…

    • 3205 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    American Apparel has built a fast growing empire on some of the most risqué, porn-influenced ads ever seen in mainstream media. Usage of the porn-influenced ads are in hopes of saving the company from financial troubles. Everyone knows that American Apparel ads are sexy. They usually feature coy, semi-dressed women lounging on a bed or sofa. Although this is a good way to catch the eye of consumers, they also lead to many problems with too much nudity exposure, which becomes may offensive to some of the public. American Apparel’s usage of high sex appeal will generally attract attention from the public, and the more attention towards the brand the more likely the brand will sell.…

    • 781 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Kohl's Competitors

    • 341 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Demand in retail clothing industry is tied to personal income and consumer spending which is a main driver for department store sales. The recent recession put a dent in sales for department stores located in developed markets…

    • 341 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Founded in 1977, American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE: AEO) is a retailer that designs and develops fashionable girls’ and boys’ apparel and accessories. The company’s target audience is boys and girls between the ages of 15 and 25 years old. The target audience seeks trendy and fashionable apparel product that meets a high standard of quality at an affordable price point. As of the most recent fiscal year, ended January 30, 2010, American Eagle held 1,103 retail stores in total, operating under the “American Eagle”, “Aerie”, and “Martin+Osa” brand names respectively. In addition to the retail stores, American Eagle also operates an online store in which customers can ship product from all AEO brand names direct to their home or to a specified retail store. The various brand names used by AEO are segregated by the intended target market. For example “Aerie” is the brand name, which supplies underwear and fragrance products to the female market whereas Martin+Osa is the brand name which supplies apparel for men aged 25+. The main operating name “American Eagle Outfitters” is the brand name most of the retail stores operates under which supplies apparel and accessories to boys and girls age 15-25.…

    • 1218 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Gap Case Analysis

    • 2921 Words
    • 12 Pages

    * Keeping up with latest trends and being able to quickly create new product lines are key to top performance in the U.S. family clothing Industry…

    • 2921 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    American Eagle Outfitters’ main categories like denims, knit-tops, shorts and colors have been successful. The success was provided by an increase in the variety of products, alteration and addition of designs such as new heritage fits, new washes, colors, prints and designs. The retailer has well-defined apparel true to the current trends.…

    • 1150 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Growing population staying in shape – leading to new consumers. External Environment *See note section for more details  Societal Environment  Growing buyer preference for the apparel that is differentiated from the rest – current economic situation reveals consumer spending decreasing due to product selection and pricing. External Environment cont……

    • 1071 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    American Eagle Outfitters

    • 1752 Words
    • 8 Pages

    American Eagle Outfitters is a fairly new company but they are doing extremely well because they have a clear grasp of who their target market is. They posses a fresh new hip look with great quality clothing at a reasonable price for consumers (http://www.prism.gatech.edu/~gte201w/aeostrat.html). This is one of the main reasons why teenagers and young adults are so attracted to the company. American Eagle is aiming to appeal not only to the targeted 20 year old but also consumers between the ages of 16 and 34 years old. This will widen the gap between their major competitors because they are trying to appeal to more segments than just one. American Eagle seeks to be assessable, fashion orientated, and has a strong value proposition, which has allowed the company to thrive and take shares from competitors over the past five years. Not only is their clothing line very comfortable, bold and fresh, the store layout and atmosphere is also major key factors in American Eagle's success over the recent years. AE also has a strong competitive advantage because of their short lead times and their ability to position themselves in high-visibility, high-profile locations in key markets. American Eagle's cycle time is about five months from design to delivery, versus…

    • 1752 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Debts are about to payback finally. American Apparel is suffered from damage or brand image…

    • 449 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    distributes an array of chic products through its five retail brands: Urban Outfitters, Anthropology, Free People, Terrain, and BHLDN. Since the company originated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1970, it has grown to operate over 400 various locations worldwide (URBN et. al. 2012, 1). The retail empire is popular amongst a vast amount of ages, ranging from trendy to luxurious, designer products. Although the company has drawn in billions of dollars with its increasing high consumer demand, issues arose in 2009 because firms within the company began denying collective bargaining rights amongst its workers (Beck, et. al. 2005,…

    • 1669 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Lesner, L. C. and Killingbeck, D. (2006). Abercrombie & Fitch and their Contribution to the…

    • 3281 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Swot Analysis Of Lululemon

    • 1660 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Economic Just like other apparel companies, most of Lululemon’s products are manufactured in foreign countries, which allows the company to have cost advantages. This, however, makes a company vulnerable to economic factors from abroad. For example, higher wages or R&D costs in manufacturing countries like China can easily weaken Lululemon’s cost efficiency. Also, economic recessions, in Eurozone, for instance, can be of great impact on Lululemon since its products are relatively high in price and not so rigid in demand, customer will more likely to be more price sensitive during slow economy. Income level in countries is a factor worth considering since the price of Lululemon is positioned as…

    • 1660 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Sweatshops Violations

    • 91 Words
    • 1 Page

    Typically, large retailers don’t produce their own clothing. Instead, they hire manufacturers who enter into contracts with small factories. Because there are often a lot of these factories, they can be hard to monitor, and retailers often ignore the way the workers in those factories are treated. While not all small factories violate workers’ rights, some of them, known as sweatshops, have infamously poor working conditions.…

    • 91 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The direct competitor of the American Eagle Outfitters company is Abercrombie and Fitch. This brand also offers the same type of clothes and accessories as AEO. In fact, these two companies have presented some arguments because of its similarities. A&F’s first store was incorporated in Delaware in 1996. This brand offers knit tops, woven shirts, graphic t-shirts, fleece, sweaters, jeans, woven pants, shorts, outerwear, dresses, intimates and swimwear; and personal care products and accessories for men, women and kids under the Abercrombie & Fitch, Abercrombie kids, Hollister and Gilly Hicks brands. Since its creation, the company has expanded its operations to North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. As of January 28, 2017, the Company…

    • 132 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dov Charney

    • 453 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Dov didn’t start out at the top of the fashion; he didn’t have his own shop that many loved that also employed thousands of people in North American. He started at the bottom working his way up to being the famous designer that he is today. Dov has always thought that T-shirts were, without a doubt, an American heritage product. He learnt many things about clothing and t-shirts when he went to South Carolina from Olin Hardy, Sap Cannon, Billy and Van Moree and Steve Gwaltney. It was in South Carolina that he became a T-shirt expert.…

    • 453 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays