The rise and fall of American Apparel

[Liberal_in_LA]

The rise and fall of American Apparel
The ethical clothing firm founded by controversial CEO Dov Charney is facing bankruptcy

It wasn't having oral sex with an employee in front of a female journalist that now threatens to undo Dov Charney, founder of American Apparel. Nor was it simulating oral sex with another female member of staff whom he had ordered to pretend to masturbate in front of him. The 41-year-old's professional and personal reputation isn't even on the line because at least three female employees have filed sexual harassment lawsuits against him (all the cases were settled before reaching trial); nor because he walks through his factory in his underpants and conducts meetings wearing just a thong – or a sock. The sock is not, one should add, worn on his foot.

Instead, the fashion empire of this maverick Canadian entrepreneur – who apparently relishes his reputation as a pervert and a libertine – has gone from being the coolest company on the block when it arrived in Britain in 2004 to the brink of bankruptcy because its auditor, Deloitte & Touche, resigned last month after discovering "material weaknesses" in the financial controls of the clothing company dating back to last year.

For the exhibitionist Charney, whose excesses are the stuff of fashion-industry legend, to be finally humbled by accounts that are more street corner than Wall Street is, some might think, a bit like Al Capone finally being brought to book over tax evasion. But whatever the catalyst, it has led to the unravelling of an empire. It is a rags to riches – and back to rags again – story that has the fashion world in its thrall.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/aug/25/rise-fall-american-apparel

[Hannah Bell]

1. "ethical"?

[Liberal_in_LA]

4. I know. There were charges that they favored white employees

and of course, all the charges of improprieties against the founder.

[msongs]

2. maybe it was their advertising clothes models who all looked terminally anorexic? nt

[zonkers]

3. LIke him or hate him, his advertising was stylistically sophisticated and ahead of the curve.

[Hannah Bell]

6. bfd.

[Lightning Count]

7. The same phrase could be used on Roman Polanski. nt

[Artie Bucco]

5. Heh

I imagine looking like a serial killer doesn't help either.