Farewell to American Apparel

We’re all somewhat familiar with American Apparel: 1989 LA founded, minimalist aesthetic. No one noticed as the company stopped making profit and filed for bankruptcy at the end of 2015. Now its 110 stores are closing and everyone is stunned.

After seeing the initial twitter message about the closing store and reading articles describing how it “couldn’t keep up with styles in stores such as Forever 21” I couldn’t help but feel that this was absolutely dumb. The answer was simple: they should change their demographic (aka make their clothes less expensive) to become more accessible and acquire a larger audience. No one wanted to pay extravagant fees for their signature “basic essential” type pieces. In fact, my opinion was in stone as I ventured to the Boca Town Centre to pay my respects to the store on its way out. I walked in to find red sale signs everywhere. A shopper’s paradise and the telltale sign of the store’s demise, it was beautiful and sad all at the same time.

I figured I needed something to remember the store by, and if there was ever a time I could afford their clothing, this was it. Of course most of the clothing in my size is close to gone by now as the whole store is now 25-50% off depending. I tried on a few items and left with one outfit (more on my outfit later) with a final discount of 70% off and a receipt marked FINAL SALE.

a couple things I tried on

When I first entered the store, I realized that I had forgotten one key detail: American Apparel is US run and sweatshop free. With any knowledge of manufacturing labor in other countries, it’s clear that US production is more expensive. Work is often exported because third-world countries are willing to work for a dollar a week to make our products, keeping the costs low and profits high whereas workers here make decent wages and therefore prices are higher to generate profit.

American Apparel supported a great cause- generating American economy rather than exporting capital for production and neglecting the inhumane nature of sweatshops. They were revolutionary really but I don’t think America was just quite ready to financially support it.

My only hope is that other companies are not discouraged from following in its footsteps in future. Perhaps technology is the answer; with new machinery, manufacturing requires less and less human labor, decreasing costs of production and allowing for lower costs of final products. This doesn’t take into consideration the effects of robot takeover of the workforce, (this would require an entire series of posts and lots of speculation) but the idea is that US production is possible to sustain with the right tools driving down the costs.

For now, I pay my final respects to American Apparel, a company of the future. RIP American Apparel 1989-2017.

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