Date: 10. 14. 2010 RAKHI PAREKH STUDENT ID: 03154209 FSH630- Brand Makeover: Mid-term Project Brand history American Apparel is a sweatshop free vertically integrated manufacturer, distributor and retailer based in down town Los Angeles. This means that all of their products are designed , manufactured (knitting, dyeing, cutting and sewing), and marketed in their 800,000 sq foot property in downtown Los Angeles. This makes it the largest single garment factory in the United States. Vertical integration means that there are no gaps between design , production, marketing and shipment.
This ensures quality and quick response time to the ever changing trends of the fashion business. Timeline of the company: 2003: On October 13th, 2003, American Apparel opened its first store in Montreal, following it quickly with a store in New York City and Los Angeles, hiring 1300 people. 2006: 100 new stores across the world in five different countries. They also acquired the rights to an unrelated third party distributor and franchisor in order to own all of its retail stores under one company.
First major retailer to set up shop in Second Life (online virtual game) and sold almost 2,000 items . 2007: The company goes public and doubles its tore base to more than 280 in 20 countries 2008: Shares of the company touches $14 . That same year the guardian named American Apparel , label of the year. 2009: The founder Dov Charney was a finalist for Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world. Later this year the Los angles factory raided and they had to fire 1500 immigrant employees for invalid or suspect workers. 2010:
The company’s share drop down to as low as 75 cents and suffering losses at the rate of $30m per year. A female employee of the company files sexual harassment charges against the owner. Woody Allen files a suit against the company for using his images on a company billboard. Timeline for American Apparel Designs: http://girlsmediamystery. blogspot. com/2010/09/10-things-that-american-apparel-and. html Keeping up with the current trend of young professional look in the fashion business Amercian Apparel has evolved its designs from The hipster look to The preppy.
This will help the brand reach out to their target customer who has grown up from a college student to a working professional. Timeline of American apparel Advertising: http://www. americanapparel. net/gallery/investors/qt. html American Apparel uses real people in their advertising campaigns. Sometimes its the employees and even the founder himself is seen in a couple of campaign images. This approach set them apart when they started out in 2003. During that time most brands were focusing on fashion models in their advertising.
American Apparel real people approach struck chord with the youth that was comfortable with their bodies and their personality. 2010; In bed with Boss released on August 15 2010. ——————————————– [ 2 ]. http://americanapparel. net/contact/profile. html [ 3 ]. http://www. google. com/#q=american+apparel+timeline&hl=en&prmd=iv&tbs=tl:1&tbo=u&ei=9TKwTITqEY6osQP 46uzIDA&sa=X&oi=timeline_result&ct=title&resnum=11&sqi=2&ved=0CDcQ5wIwCg&fp=9f2370386c77b788 [ 4 ]. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/American_Apparel [ 5 ].
