Share ownership:
American Apparel is a publicly traded company, having completed a merger with Endeavor Acquisition Corp. on December 12, 2007 (1). In January 2008, American Apparel announced it would be giving shares to employees.(2)

allegations of sexual harassment and union busting...

Markets: American Apparel owns stores in the USA, Canada, Mexico, UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea and Australia.

Activities: American Apparel is a clothing and accessories manufacturer, wholesaler, and retailer. It manufactures, designs and distributes its own lines for men, women children and dogs. It also retails vintage eyewear, books and magazines.

Producers: American Apparel states it 'uses a vertically integrated business model which minimizes the use of sub-contractors and offshore labor. Knitting, dyeing, sewing, photography, marketing, distribution, and design all happen in our facilities in Los Angeles' (3). At the end of 2007, American Apparel employed over 6,700 people and operated over 180 retail stores in 13 countries(4).

'All of the 4,000 or so workers involved in American Apparel's manufacturing process work in the same factory in downtown Los Angeles. But this is not because Mr Charney is opposed to outsourcing or globalisation. His motive, once again, is self-interest: it gives him control over every stage of production, and enables him to monitor the fickle fashion market and respond quickly to new trends. In any case, he cannot outsource anything, he says, because he lacks the necessary infrastructure-and he has no plans to set it up.(5) '

Standards It was not possible to find a code of conduct for American Apparel. According to their website, American Apparel workers earn more than the US minimum wage, have job stability and full-time work(6).

Monitoring and verification It was not possible to find information about monitoring and verification on the American Apparel website.

Reporting Some information about workers' wages, benefits and worker profiles can be found on the American Apparel website(7). It was not possible to find a comprehensive report about working conditions in garment manufacture showing how the company met or didn't meet labour standards.

Comments and questions Disappointingly, American Apparel did not respond to questions from the Clean Clothes Campaign.

Former employees have filed lawsuits for sexual harassment against American Apparel CEO, Dov Charney(8). Three suits were reported in January 2007 to have been settled before going to trial(9). One case was reported to be going to trial on February 19th 2008(10).

Behindthelabel.org an online magazine funded by UNITE HERE, reported union busting in the LA-based factory in September 2003(11). 'The incident was reported to the National Labor Relations Board for violations of Federal labor laws, and a no fault settlement was eventually reached with the NLRB. American Apparel now posts in their production facility a document agreeing not to conduct any anti-union activities. American Apparel's union status has not been reported since.'

There is no trade union in the factory. 'A recruiting drive three years ago by a garment workers' union failed, thanks either to a lack of interest on the part of the American Apparel workforce or intimidation from the company, depending whose version of recent history you choose to believe(12)'.