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Satya has
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On their website, American Apparel presents a short documentary profiling founder and CEO Dov Charney as a flighty, fun and hip business owner. He appears to have a jovial relationship with his staff, and knows all the right things to say—sweatshop-free, worker benefits, advanced technology and (some) sustainable, organic cotton. American Apparel also touts their downtown LA warehouse—the largest sewn garment facility in the country—as a one-stop shop for everything but the cotton picking and spinning. And with 97 percent of all apparel sold in the U.S. being made outside of the U.S., it is quite impressive. It’s hard to shake a stick at a company claiming to pay the highest wages in the garment industry, $12 per hour on average, plus paid time off, affordable healthcare, company-subsidized lunches, bus passes, free ESL classes, on-site masseuses, proper lighting and ventilation and even a bicycle lending program. Plus American Apparel is the only apparel manufacturer of its size committed to recycling all of its scraps. So what’s the problem? Recently defunct Clamor Magazine published in their Fall 2006 issue an exposé questioning the ethics of American Apparel. The gist of the piece was that while the sexy clothes appeal to the rich niche target market of liberal progressives…what’s really behind the hype? The feature cleverly and pointedly exposes the anti-union stance of, and sexual harassment allegations against, founder and CEO Dov Charney. While American Apparel has always been the place I’ve wanted my t-shirts to come from, questioning their standards and contrived intentions now plagues me. Sewn Shut I sighed as the seam on the inside right armpit of my newly purchased sea foam green, Sheer Rib Long Sleeve Turtleneck—American Apparel’s RSAS306—began to separate. Aside from actually being fashionable, fitting well, and available in pleasing colors devoid of obnoxious words, phrases or worse, brand names, the clothing is surprisingly poorly made. Charney boasts his technology manufactures the best product, but with the amount of cash he is sitting on, even after paying employees their phenomenal wages, one would think the clothing would stay together while worn. Or that perhaps the garments would be preshrunk to some degree, so that first washing doesn’t transform it into your little sister’s midriff top. The predictability of the fabric and quality of sewing is simply sub par. American Apparel has acclaimed name brand popularity worldwide and raked in $275 million in the last year. Plus they recently merged with Endeavor Acquisition Corporation, with plans of going public and expanding overseas. Having paid over $30 for my t-shirt… am I wrong to expect more? Whose Voice? American Apparel claims their year-round employment and job security has “virtually no turnover.” But why stop with the elimination of sweatshops? Why not let the workers unionize and have a say in their company? Perhaps Charney’s history has something to do with it. According to the Clamor feature, originally, American Apparel was conceived not with talk of sweatshops, or fair business practices in mind, but rather sex. “Dov had never shown any interest up to this time in the sweatshop issue whatsoever,” says Adam Neiman, CEO of No Sweat Apparel, American Apparel’s biggest anti-sweatshop and pro-union competitor. “It was all about sex—sexy tees, sexy tees, sexy tees.” Neiman suggests Charney only hopped on the sweatshop bandwagon when he realized that another t-shirt outfitter, the late SweatX, was opening right next door. “He saw a threat from SweatX, so all of the sudden he realized that here was press—lots of it—so he played that angle,” says Neiman. Charney simply knows the shtick, as he boasts that workers in other countries would be getting only two dollars a day or even a week. Who would complain about AA’s work environment? Selling Sex Reading Charney’s vivid commentary in Clamor’s exposé regarding his amateur, soft-core porn ads was disconcerting. And worse was learning of worker allegations against Charney and the slew of sexual harassment charges. Essentially, three former employees are suing Charney for sexual harassment. According to these women, Charney refrained from sexual coercion, but created a wholly intolerable, intimidating atmosphere with unnecessary “libidinous testosterone.” To add to Charney’s atypical work ethic is his uninhibited “business and pleasure” attitude. Charney claims the criticism stems from what he refers to as a “new wave of feminism and sexual control,” and that his “hyper-sexualized workplace reflects the liberated spirit of youth culture.” But that just doesn’t sit right. While clearly there is a market desiring Charney’s hip and relatively affordable clothing, does this justify sexploitation? What to do? Keely Savoie of Clamor words it well, “the American Apparel demographic of low-wageworker-defending (but high-wage-earning), guilt ridden lefties who want nothing more than to assuage their own angst-ridden middle-class anxiety about having succeeded in the capitalist world by consuming with conscience (and the more conscience, the better: sweat-free, fair-trade, organic, vegan, and sustainable)—ate it up.” Sadly, Satya did too. We have been printing our t-shirts on American Apparel and until recently have felt good about our decision. While American Apparel is undoubtedly a huge leader in alternative garments, we abhor the sexual harassment cases against Dov Charney, the sexploitation of women to sell garments and anti-union stances. As Dez Williams of Clamor puts it, “In light of [Charney’s] status as self-professed masturbatory exhibitionist and equal-opportunity employee fondler, I would have serious reservations about shaking American Apparel senior partner Dov Charney’s hand. His seemingly strong sociopolitical message has taken a back seat to tales of union busting and sexual harassment.” How do we justify supporting Dov Charney’s capitalization on our progressive demand? I say thanks American Apparel for painting a pretty picture, but how am I supposed to wear my hypersexualized, un-unionized, armpit-less RSAS306 without a second thought? Why settle for the bottom line? |
