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Dov Charney would like you to know that he is still kicking around. He spent a day in Toronto with a writer for the magazine Flaunt, and in the resulting 6,000-word piece he comes across as alternately petulant, clever, impassioned, self-absorbed, and utterly unaware of his own encroaching irrelevance. More »
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A tipster tells us that the book world is buzzing about a major book deal made today. Apparently American Apparel's director of marketing got a half a million dollars as an advance for a book called Confessions. Our confidant writes, More »
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As you may recall, American Apparel celebrated adding plus-size clothing to their stores by announcing a search for "booty-ful" models. The winner was supposed to be a woman who needs "a little extra wiggle room" and has a "fresh face and curvaceous bod." Nancy Upton entered the contest, submitting photographs of herself eating chicken and bathing in ranch dressing. Her bio: "I'm a size 12. I just can't stop eating." More »
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The investors that saved American Apparel from bankruptcy four months ago are selling their stock in the company. A consortium of investors bought $15 million worth of American Apparel shares at 90 cents a pop back in March is looking to sell those shares now that AA is trading at around 97 cents; the investors also have warrants to buy up to another $30 million worth of shares at the original 90 cent price over the next six months. Sounds like they're looking to make a quick buck, but are still not sure of the company's long-term prospects. [LATimes] More »
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There are probably any number of reasons why this Manchester American Apparel store had its windows smashed during the civil unrest that has been roiling in the U.K. but none of the rioters appear to have stolen any clothes. Maybe the police showed up just in the nick of time. Maybe everyone had just finished looting a Diesel store, and everyone had their hands full with jeans and stuff already. Maybe a specially-trained American Apparel SWAT team burst out from their hiding places in the stockroom at the first sound of tinkling glass, wearing Unisex Flex Terry Headbands and brandishing exploding bottles of nail polish. Maybe an ice-cream truck pulled over a block away and started giving all the rioters free ice cream, creating a diversion that distracted each and every would-be looter! The obvious explanation — that American Apparel clothes are so early-90s-high-waisted-tapered-leg-pastel-preppy-U-G-L-Y that even thieves won't touch them — simply can't be it. More »
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American Apparel finally had a quarter where the company's financial results weren't a total disaster. Same-store sales, a key measure of retail health, didn't plummet. They didn't rise, either, but they didn't fall! This is the first time that's happened since the month of January, 2009. And the company, which had a measly $5 million in cash on hand earlier this year when it was forced to seek emergency financing to avoid bankruptcy, actually turned a modest $3.7 million profit. Mazel tov. [BusinessWire] More »
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American Apparel released its earnings report for the first three months of 2011 yesterday. It will probably come as no surprise to you that the numbers are...bad. More »
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CEO Dov Charney has reported a lowered stake of 45.6 percent in the company, after a recent stake sale to a group of private investors. More »
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Dov Charney's company came within a polyester-wrapped serger thread of bankruptcy last week, when a coalition of Canadian investors threw American Apparel a $43 million lifeline. But all that hasn't dented Charney's famously vivid sense of destiny. "People didn't believe in Amazon for many years, but it ended up changing the way Americans shop," Charney says in a new interview. "People didn't believe in Apple — they thought it was a fringe computer company. But it ended up changing the way people listen to music, and changing what daily life feels like worldwide." Stand by while American Apparel changes the world, or at least your relationship with thong underwear, folks. [NYPost] More »
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A coalition of Canadian investors has rescued American Apparel from bankruptcy. Time to break out the celebration cocaine! More »
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Without a new influx of cash, t-shirt-and-neon-thong-bodysuit purveyor American Apparel is facing bankruptcy. The company — which lost $86.3 million last year, and finished the month of February with just $5.3 million in cash on hand — has warned that its Chapter 11 filing may come as soon as April 30. But hark! On the horizon — could it be? A man with $10 million to give to Dov Charney: More »
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Dov Charney is Lenny Bruce. Dov Charney is Martin Luther King, Jr. Dov Charney is Duddy Kravitz. Dov Charney is Hugh Hefner in the '70s. Dov Charney is a punching-bag of the politically correct left and a victim of the religious right. Dov Charney is, according to his dad, "not great at tact." Dov Charney is, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the founder of a company that discriminates against "women, as a class, on the basis of their female gender, by subjecting them to sexual harassment." More »
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As American Apparel is on the verge of collapse, this picture — from 1987 — is full of foreshadowing. Dov Charney and the words DEAD END. Yes. DEAD END! The CEO of American Apparel wasn't always a creepy employer doing allegedly creepy things in the workplace. He was once a creepy student at a tony boarding school (Choate) doing allegedly creepy things in dorm rooms, and we've got inside information. More »
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With April 30 — the date by which American Apparel warned it might have to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy, if it does not find additional sources of cash — fast approaching, times are getting desperate. Company founder Dov Charney is talking to the press about "social McCarthyism." The stock price is 81 cents, still well below the minimum $1 per share value the New York Stock Exchange requires listed companies to maintain, meaning that delisting is a concern (again). Rumors are flying about a possible sale — and about Charney's potential replacement. What's the latest? More »
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Talk radio host Jay Severin has been fired after saying on-air not only that he had slept with his interns, but that they were lucky to bed him. However, his firing may ultimately have been about ratings. More »
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American Apparel is in quite the pickle: its sales have now been in steep decline for over two years, it lost $86 million last year, owes over $140 million to various banks, and it warned that Chapter 11 bankruptcy and liquidation was a looming possibility in an SEC filing on Thursday. The company has around $5 million cash on hand, otherwise known in retail as no fucking money. If it cannot find new financing by April 30, bankruptcy is likely. "Without an additional injection of cash, the company is done. Somebody has to write a check," says one New York investment banker. But Dov Charney, naturally, is having none of this. When asked about the prospect of bankruptcy — which, again, his own company admitted just days ago was a likelihood in the event that no new sources of cash materialize in the next three weeks — Charney said, "In my opinion, there's no chance of that. That's not an option we are going to explore. We have a variety of options. We could do a private placement of stock. Or we could use the resources we have. We do $10 million a week in sales." Lion Capital, American Apparel's chief lender, seems more sanguine about the prospect of Chapter 11. "If they do file, I feel okay. I believe the brand has a lot of value, and it's more than what they owe me," says Lion founding partner Lyndon Lea. [WWD] More »
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Last week, a series of texts and emails cast doubt on some of Irene Morales's accusations against Dov Charney. And now American Apparel hopes a sexy photo shoot will discredit second Charney accuser Kimbra Lo. More »
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This morning on Today, former American Apparel employee Kimbra Lo discussed her alleged sexual assault by CEO Dov Charney, and warned other women who work for the company to "beware." "This man's a monster," Lo said. "He's incredibly manipulative, and I just hope that he stops." Lo has come forward just two weeks after another former employee, 20-year-old Irene Morales, slapped Charney with a $260 million lawsuit. Now Charney's lawyer alleges that Morales "stalked" Charney for years and sent him emails that "graphically detail promised sex acts in exchange for money, clothes and a computer." Morales may have been as young as 17 when she supposedly sent these salacious emails. A lawyer for Morales counters that there is no way to verify the emails, and notes: "However, it is not unusual for victims of sexual harassment or assault to grow so demoralized that they feel the only value they offer is as a sexual object." More »
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American Apparel just missed another financial filing deadline, and for the last period for which the company has made results available, the numbers are not good: during the first nine months of 2010, American Apparel lost $67 million, and same-store sales fell a whopping 14%. (Same-store sales have now been falling at the troubled chain for over two years.) Dov Charney, naturally, still believes his company can be saved. "If we can increase top-line sales by 10 percent at our own stores, that will translate to over $20 million in EBITDA," he said, referring to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. (Increasing EBITDA is a key provision of the heavily indebted company's loan covenants; every time American Apparel falls out of compliance, its interest rates get jacked up and its lenders get to call more shots.) See! A hypothetical 10% jump in sales would solve all Dov's problems! "Staff's job is to get some gelt into those stores." Oh, Dov. "In the words of that old Yiddish proverb: ‘Get me an order. Everything else will take care of itself.'" [WWD] More »
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Lawyers for American Apparel founder Dov Charney have argued successfully that former employee Irene Morales' lawsuit cannot proceed — at least temporarily. Charney's legal team convinced judge Bert Runyan that a hearing is needed to determine whether Morales is bound by an agreement she signed, in which she essentially promised never to sue the company for any reason. Until Runyan rules on that issue, her case cannot move forward. More »
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Now that Dov Charney's being sued — or, as he believes, extorted — for sexual assault (to the tune of $260 million), let's take a look at his past pervitudes, meltdowns, questionable management practices, and brushes with the law. More »
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A 20-year-old woman — who was just 17 when she started working at American Apparel's Chelsea store — is suing CEO Dov Charney for $260 million, alleging that he forced her to have sex with him over a period of eight months. More »
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Asked and answered: "Now that he owns less than 5 percent of the company's shares, [Burkle] does not have to publicly report his holdings and might have sold out entirely." At press time, American Apparel was trading at $1.06. More »
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Ex-Bill Clinton B.F.F., improbable modelizer, and owner of the private jet known as "Air Fuck One" Ron Burkle bought $6 million worth of American Apparel shares last summer. Then the stock price pretty much plummeted. Now he's reducing his stake. More »
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American Apparel's new ad takes a different approach. More »
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American Apparel's auditors resigned abruptly this summer, after announcing they had no confidence in the company's accounting structures or the reliability of its results. Now the ex-auditors have written to the SEC to dispute aspects of American Apparel's latest filing. More »
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• Katy Perry, shot by Alexi Lubomirski for the subscriber cover of the new Harper's Bazaar, looks gorgeous, if a bit crusty-lipped. She also looks a lot like Jean Patchett on the iconic Erwin Blumenfeld Vogue cover from January, 1950. [JustJared]

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• American Apparel is struggling along. But in addition to its other problems, it is facing a "cash crunch." Dov Charney is reluctant to sell to more outside investors, however, because he wants to hold onto his 53% majority stake. [NYPost]

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As American Apparel flirted with bankruptcy, suffered declining sales, got sued by Woody Allen, lost many of its workers following an immigration raid, and defended yet more sexual-harassment lawsuits, Dov Charney's performance was apparently so stellar he deserved a bonus. More »
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• Another reason to avoid Wal-Mart the Friday after Thanksgiving: Justin Bieber's foray into perfume, a unisex scent called My World, will be launching to much teenaged squealing. Bieber said over IM (natch) that he personally picked out the fragrance. [WWD]

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American Apparel posted some handy Halloween costume ideas recently — but we hear that the company left out a bunch it had already styled and shot. Well. We have all the costumes that American Apparel didn't want you to see. More »
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After we noted that American Apparel is still experiencing pretty serious problems, spokeslawyer Peter Schey wrote in to set us straight on some stuff. And to say that "Abercrombie and Finch" totally had to pay a much bigger immigration fine! More »
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American Apparel wasn't kidding about that new management stuff: it just hired a brand-new acting president. He is Tom Casey, who was Blockbuster's executive vice president and CFO until just before Blockbuster, um, went bankrupt. This should work out great! More »
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American Apparel's main lender has agreed to cut the company a break. That just leaves a Department of Justice investigation, an accounting scandal, an SEC investigation, avoiding delisting, late quarterly filings, plummeting sales, and overall un-profitability on the to-do list! More »
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American Apparel held an open model call at a New York store last night. I went along with videographer Woodrow Jang to ask the hopefuls what they felt qualified them to model thong leotards. And whether they'd sleep with Dov. More »
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American Apparel founder Dov "Pants-optional" Charney has been repeatedly sued for sexual harassment and he masturbated in front of a reporter. One wonders what their lenders think of this. Well, turns out they're into eating sushi off naked chicks' bodies. More »
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• Apparently, the last thing Lindsay Lohan did before she went to jail was wrangle a commitment out of Blackbook to publish her ramblings about fashion, personal style, and that feeling you get when you're cutting up a Gucci dress. Herewith:

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This is not an ad for American Apparel. Nor is this. Or this. Or this, either. None of the posts that comprise our coverage of the struggling t-shirt company and its pants-optional C.E.O. is an ad. Critique depends upon quotation. More »
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• American Apparel has received yet another delisting warning from the New York Stock Exchange. The troubled company has been late filing its first two quarterly reports, and recently had its auditors quit. Its stock is currently trading at 0.71 [WWD]

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• Crystal Renn is in an ad for Chanel's downtown New York store, which is reopening this fall. She poses alongside Lagerfeld boytoy Baptiste Giabiconi, whom she calls "the most gorgeous man I have ever seen, hands down."

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