American Apparel reports same store profit

Lifestyle retailer American Apparel on Monday stated it secured first-quarter profit on improved same-store sales The company, which is being acquired by Endeavor Acquisition Corp., reported a profit of $1.5 million compared with a loss of $518,000 in the year-ago period. Revenue for the quarter climbed 24 percent to $73.5 million from $59.3 million in the prior year. Same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, are a key measure of retailer performance, because they measure growth at existing stores rather than from newly opened ones.

Retail sales surged 61 percent to $38.2 million versus $23.8 million in the previous year. Wholesale sales were virtually flat at $35.3 million. American Apparel, operates more than 150 stores in 12 countries, and has been under close scrunity for its controversial imaging, which tends to feature teenagers and young adults provocatively photographed in their bedrooms.

www.americanapparel.net
11 June 2007

American Apparel a marketing genius?

Even by the standards of today's sex-as-marketing culture, American Apparel's ads stand out. Their images intentionally resembling 1970s porn, with men and women appearing incredibly young or perhaps caught by surprise in the privacy of a bedroom, the ads seem to offer a subversive alternative to the usual plastic, airbrushed hot-babe ad – while still selling sex - and of course t-shirts. But the strangest visual disorientation comes in the advertisement's upper left-hand corner where a sober font reads: “American Apparel: Vertically Integrated Manufacturing.”

“Vertical integration” is an economic term referring to a business that encompasses all aspects of producing and selling a product; and in today's globalised economy, companies that both self-manufacture and retail are increasingly rare. Presumably, to most hip consumers who are not economists these words on American Apparel's billboard are just another anachronism in an already edgy ad. But American Apparel is adamant about communicating their economic structure (“Made in Downtown LA”) that competitors such as Hanes or Levi's aren't able to share.

There aren't many other clothing company mixing trashy sex and manufacturing information in its ads. Like everything else about its business, American Apparel's marketing showcases the bizarre contradictions of postmodern consumer capitalism. The company possesses a downtown textile factory straight out of the '40s, a sexploitation ad campaign from the '70s, and a marketing strategy so sophisticated it almost seems to come from the future.

Everything about American Apparel is geared to appeal to the ideal trend-starting shoppers Dov Charney, the company's founder, calls “young metropolitan adults” – including the company's sweatshop-free manufacturing ethic. The widespread misgivings by left-leaning young people that everyday commodities like coffee, clothing, and oil are inextricably linked with global exploitation has created a huge potential consumer market among the very “early adopters” all marketers love to pander to. Like the current RED campaign, American Apparel has hit a niche market with a message about its business ethics – and it is profiting immensely from its approach.

www.americanapparel.net
25 October 2006

American Apparel Comes To London

American apparel is one of those intriguing brands that you can't help but like. It's also one that you'll be hearing a lot more about since its stores are popping up quicker than you can say 'fitted tee.' European fans flocking to AA's many Stateside outlets will rejoice in the news of its expansion on this side of the pond.

American Apparel has now just added its 19th international outlet on London's Carnaby Street, offering womens and menswear, baby and childrenswear. The impassioned, high-energy founder of American apparel, Dov Charney, started creating quality, American-made t-shirts in 1997.

Originally a wholesale business, Charney soon found the company was garnering more attention for being sweatshop- and logo-free, and for offering unheard-of wages and perks to staff. It's the social conscience of the brand that's generating the most buzz, and a loyal following seems to be an added bonus.

www.americanapparel.net
2 November 2004