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