Founder of the global empire, American Apparel, 41 year-old Canadian entrepreneur, Dov Charney faces the bitter bite of bankruptcy. Despite being infamous for his sexual liaisons with staff, including casually participating in oral sex with an employee in front of a female journalist, such behaviour is not the cause of his crumbling career. Auditor, Deloitte and Touche, having discovered “material weaknesses” in the company’s finances, dating back to August last year, was forced to resign last month.
American Apparel is renowned as a fashion maverick that went from rags to riches, currently with 279 shops globally and 15 in the UK, from the coolest locations of Covent Garden, to Oxford Street, to Shoreditch. Crowned label of the year by the Guardian in 2008 and Charney deemed one of the most influential people in the world according to the times, American Apparel has much to be proud of. To the naked eye, American Apparel appears to stand strong amidst the high-street giants, its brand apparently unscathed by its dark financial secrets as the ultimate go-to for a cotton basic is a simple requirement which never tires with the fashionista. However, Peter McCabe, planning director at global design consultancy Fitch, contests this. He feels “the brand has stood still. I see exactly the same things in the Oxford Street store today as I did when I walked into their flagship LA branch the week it launched.” And it is this thinking which apparently holds weight as we sadly see Dov Charney struggling to keep his impressive empire afloat.
