American Apparel clothes

peppermintsquare · Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 162 Location: austin

If you are like me and enjoy the sweatshop free quality clothing of American Apparel, get yourself over to Let's Get Dressed. They sell American Apparel clothes cheap (cheaper than American Apparel's online store anyway) and the more you buy, the lower your shipping costs.

Current coupon for 10% off = JULY10

No, I am not an ad for them. I just received an email with the coupon code and I happen to be wearing one of my AA shirts today and I love it. It's so super soft (sheer jersey 3/4 sleeve boat neck, in case you're wondering). Plus I think I am trying to balance out a bit of the negativity on the boards today.
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kungfugirl · Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 22 Location: Seattle

I just ordered my first American Apparel clothes two weeks ago and really love the t-shirts. Just a warning that their underwear runs REALLY tiny, at least the pair I bought. I'm normally a small, but these barely covered half of my ass. Maybe that's the style these days, I don't know. But I wear the shirts almost every day.

Thanks for the link!

notsosupergirl · Joined: 08 Jul 2004 Posts: 28 Location: eastern pa

did anyone read the Jane article with the head of American Apparel? please tell me someone else read it. it was the most disgusting piece of filth i have ever read in my life, and i am sorry i bought that subscription for $2.50 on ebay. luckily it was my last issue.

anyway, i JUST (like 15 min ago) read an article in The Nation having to do more with SweatX, which closed, but it mentioned AA, who may not be as 'for the workers' as they want you to think, because they very agressively shot down union efforts recently.

amelia · Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2004 9:55 pm Post subject:

I missed the Jane article. Well, I miss most Jane articles cause I hate Jane. :-)

What was disgusting about it? Crappy writing or a crappy subject?

kungfugirl · Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 22 Location: Seattle

Yeah, I read that article, and it WAS really disgusting! According to Jane, the guy who owns AA is a creepy cult-like figure who sleeps with the girls who work for him and masturbated in front of the journalist during their interview. He said 'dirty old men are in.' What the fuck? I actually feel really guilty about having ordered from them after I read it, but I'm not a very conscientious consumer.

moon_lemming · Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 625 Location: virginia

peppermintsquare · Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 162 Location: austin

Wow. Because I stopped reading Jane a few years back, I had no idea. I just looked up some info on the article and while, yes, it's disgusting, I can't say I will not purchase their clothing again.

I have weird loyalties and my primary ethical concern lies with animals. In fact, I bought a couple of JCrew camisoles the other day because they were on sale and so soft. The softness compares to what I like about AA clothes. So... the next time I buy AA clothing, I will think about Dov Charney's ickiness but I am sure I will still buy the clothes.

atomic · Joined: 19 Jun 2004 Posts: 74 Location: los angeles

Ok, that biz about the owner is pretty nasty, but OH MY GOD such awesome basic yummy stuff. And so cheap from letsgetdressed!

Thank you for the link. I have a feeling I'm going to be on that website all day...

xuli · Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2004 1:39 pm Post subject:

Pulling her head out of the sand long enough to admit something really embarrassing ... I didn't even know what American Apparel was until I read this thread! I honestly thought when I saw this poll that it was about those people who wear American flags on their tee shirts and such.

I never should have let my subscription to the Nation lapse. I can read it at the library, but I never do.

anmeikitty · Joined: 13 May 2004 Posts: 21

Well it makes sense that the head of the company we would be into young girls...look at the sizing chart for those clothes! An XL is equivalent to a 12-14. In a country where more than half the people are fat, that is not XL.
I'm serious, check out their sizing chart on the website. It's absurd. They state that a M (which equates to size 2-4) will fit approx. 80 percent of women. Um yeah, in crazy upside down skeleton land or ya know, junior high. And I'm sick of their Lolita-esque billboards everywhere and the snotty teenagers that work at their stores.

If they were so worker friendly, they would let their people unionize. And pay more than $8 an hour for their retail and office jobs. On the website you can read some workers comments and some of them sound like they were written for them ("...foster an environment..." uh huh) of course they are all glowing praise for AA. Kinda reminds me of the Wal-Mart commercial where they build a store in the hood and all the workers are like Wal-Mart is so wonderful and this job is so great, when we all know that isn't true. It just makes me suspcious when companies feel the need to advertise how happy their employees are.

I guess the point is that we don't have many shoppign choices and should pick the lesser of two evils, I guess. They should stop patting themselves on the back though becuase they aren't all that progressive of a company. I would buy from AA, even though they are flawed, if only they had things that fit me. I'm a size 12, so you think that wouldn't be so terribly difficult but it is. Even their XL is too small.

Athos · Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 446 Location: San Francisco

i guess the jane article is in the current issue - i'll have to go to the bookstore to read it! and anmeikitty - where did you see that they pay their workers $8/hour? the pr stuff i've seen says average of $12/hour, up to $18.

here's a student article from columbia about the UNITE thing.
http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/studentwork/cns/2004
-03-01/501.asp

anmeikitty · Joined: 13 May 2004 Posts: 21

kungfugirl · Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 22 Location: Seattle

If I recall correctly, I think they mentioned in Jane that the workers make $8 an hour, too.

As for sizing, they mentioned in the article that one of the great things about the website was that the models were 'average women,' not skinny models. Maybe by Jane Magazine standards, but they still look small and model-like to me.

peppermintsquare · Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 162 Location: austin

Not to defend AA sizing, but...

Yes, their underwear are small. However, I am a 10-12 in skirts/pants and a M-L in shirts with big old DD boobies. Their M/OS sizing fits me fine, but I only have shirts in the sheer jersey fabric. I don't know about the other fabrics.

As for the models, I have read a lot of complaints about their use of models. But I have an AA catalog that I picked up from the Green Festival last year and that catalog has models of all sizes. Very chubby men, older gray-haired women with saggy boobs, all types of bodies. Yes, they still lean towards the skinny models when you look at their website, but they have all kinds of bodies in the print catalog (at least the one I have).

As for pay, something that I read earlier today said, "at least minimum wage". I imagine that for their factory workers, it's pretty much minimum wage and not much more. Apparently they also offer limited healthcare and English language classes for those who want them.

I am not trying to praise them but I just wanted to add my $0.02 for what that is worth. :P
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kungfugirl · Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 22 Location: Seattle

The smaller shirts fit me fine, too. I just can't believe how TINY that underwear was! My 4 year old nephew wouldn't fit into them. Ok, I'm exaggerating, but I'm small and these were hilariously revealing.

Regardless of the sleazy owner, I'll continue to buy from them because, honestly, I really love their t-shirts. One more word of warning - the boat neck t-shirt with 3/4 length sleeves is very see through. I didn't know this (my house is a little dark) until I saw our 4th of July photos.