[news]American Apparel 1Q Loss Narrows On Margins, Online Sales Growth

May 10. 2011
From Wall Street Journal, online.wsj.com


DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

American Apparel Inc.'s (APP) first-quarter loss narrowed on expanding gross margins and rising online sales, as well as a larger income tax provision in the year-ago period, although same-store sales declined.

The casual clothing retailer, known for its risque marketing campaigns and colorful basic clothing, has struggled with liquidity woes and weak sales. Last month, the company managed to raise $14.9 million in rescue financing from a group of investors allowing it to meet obligations to its lenders.

On Tuesday, American Apparel said same-store sales in the latest quarter dropped 7.9%, although online sales grew 28%. The company said same-store sales were essentially flat so far in the current quarter, and it still expects to achieve growth on that basis for the full year.

"Our first quarter financial results demonstrate early signs of recovery," said Chairman and Chief Executive Dov Charney. He added the company's inventory was well positioned for American Apparel's key selling season, which runs from May through October.

For the latest quarter, American Apparel reported a loss of $20.7 million, or 28 cents a share, compared with a prior-year loss of $42.8 million, or 60 cents a share. Net sales dropped 4.7% to $116.1 million.

Gross margin widened to 55.1% from 50.4% due to improved production efficiency, which began in the second half of last year. And while yarn and fabric costs grew, American Apparel raised average unit retail prices to mitigate the increases.

Shares rose 2 cents, or 1.6% to $1.30 in after-hours trading Tuesday after closing up 4.9%, or 6 cents, to $1.28.

--By John Kell, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2480; john.kell@dowjones.com

ch7. Business Marketing

 A politically attractive sweat-shop-free business model and a superior product that was competitively priced helped Charney, CEO of American Apparel, carve out a niche market among T-shirt wholesalers. The company found particular success as a supplier of T-shirts to rock bands, who screen-printed their logos onto the shirts and sold them at concerts and online. American Apparel first became profitable in 2000, and the company nearly doubled its sales growth and employee force each year thereafter, eventually adding new products, such as tank tops and women’s underwear.
 For those business customers, American Apparel has the online store just for wholesale so customers can order online or download their latest print catalog, or receive up to 3 free print catalogs by mail.
 American Apparel’s business customers are mostly producers. American Apparel’s t-shirt line is widely sold by graphic designers to print their designs on it. Also music bands print their pictures and logos on the products. Colleges buy their product to print their logos on and sell those in their college souvenior shop.
 The company’s business products are component parts because their products usually are  just printed on and then get ready to be sold. At the same time, it can be processed materials used directly in manufacturing other products.
 According to the text book, MKTG 4, business buyers evaluate products and suppliers against three important criteria: quality, service, and price.
-Quality: By their business model, vertical integration, they are proud of the products made in the USA by highly skilled workers they consider their friends and family. Most of their customers insist that the quality is good and all their clothes fit really well and are worth the money. Their wholesale products come in more than 100 colors.
-Service: American Apparel offers 2-3days air delivery at ground rate in most states in the US. With discounted air, orders going to select East coast locations will arrive from their Los Angeles headquarters in just 2-3 days at no additional cost. There is no minimum order requirement. They also have a lot of flexibility when it comes to custom orders, including the ability to use custom patterns, stitching, colors, and fabrics. With each custom order, they will send the customers a sample before they start full production. They will not begin production until customers are completely satisfied with.
-Price: currently they can only give customers access to their wholesale price-list when customers have an account with them. However, customers can always call customer service and ask about their prospective cost.

ch.8 Segmenting and Targeting Markets

The fashion apparel retail market can be segmented using the following factors: geographic, demographic, and psychographic. 
American Apparel studied these factors to create segments.
 
1. Geographic segmentation
American Apparel’s retail stores are usually located in life style streets of local folk who look for the basics rather than the fancy midtown sites. also, the stores are located in college towns such as Gainesville, Fla., and East Lansing, Mich., home to the University of Florida and Michigan State University. It’s because of the company’s target market that is young urbanites who see themselves as unique instead of as part of a generic, main-stream fashion culture.
According to each place where the retail stores are located, American Apparel differs their merchandise mix. For example, in New York City, the merchandise of the shop in Columbia University area and the one in Tribeca is different. The store in Tiribeca, where there are many young married people who have a baby or babies, have much more baby products than in Columbia University.  

2. Demographic segmentation.
-Age: American Apparel mainly targets young adults of 20-35. they steer away from the under-18 age. also, they choose not to go after the popular 35-45 age bracket and people over the age of 45.
-Gender: female and male
-Income: related to the age of the target, the company knows many of this target market have entry-level jobs which means they are not making six-digit figures, but they are making less than $100,000 a year. Others are still in school and some may have started living their own lives . 
-Family Life Cycle: American Apparel targets people who are young single and young married or divorced with or without children. They focus on “young” adults because they are tend to invest in fashion.

3. Psychographic segmentation
-Personality: American Apparel targets young adults who see themselves as unique. they love to show their personality through fashion. They love to mix and match things to express their uniqueness. So American Apparel’s products which are basic but unique at the same time, apeal to them.
-Motives: as American Apparel’ is known for “Made in USA”, the company targets customers with motives that when they buy American Apparel’s product, they not only buy a hip clothing but also support to create jobs in USA.
-Lifestlyes: since the company focuses on young metropolitan adults as their target market, American Apparel produces comfortable and also fashionable items in reasonable prices. They have wide range of t-shirt lines for young adults who don’t dress up so much.

As i mentioned above, American Apparel targets,
“Young urbanites(20-35) who see themselves as unique instead of as part of a generic, main-stream fashion culture and who have disposable income.” 
The company uses concentrated targeting. For example, they advertise not only on the magazines and billboards but also on the fashion blogs that their target market can easily see. Also, their unique and eye-catching advertisements apeal to their target market. However, it may be “too unique” because a large amount of the public does not dress in the ways seen in their ads.

Fashion bloggers and enthusiasts love American Apparel

Many bloggers and fashion lovers love to wear American Apparel in their own way.
Here's the pictures of them. Enjoy!

Name: Girl photographed by Vanessa Jackman
From: Paris
Blog Link: Vanessa Jackman
Wearing: Women's Blazer,
Chiffon Oversized Button-Up,
Velvet Full Woven Skirt
and Velvet Tassel Loafer

Name: Valentina
From: London
Blog Link: Wayne Tippetts
Wearing: Chiffon Double-Layered Full Length Skirt

Name: Annabu
From: Germany
Blog Link: Bu The Right Thing
Wearing: Chiffon T-Shirt Dress

Name: Shini
From: London
Blog Link: Park & Cube
Wearing: Chiffon Oversized Button-Up


 

Name: Victoria
From: Barcelona
Blog Link: David Gomez
Wearing: Le New Big Tee-Unisex
and Chiffon Full Length Skirt

Name: Chloe
From: Barcelona
Blog Link: David Gomez
Wearing: Chiffon Double-Layered Shirred Waist Skirt
and California Fleece Cape

[news] American Apparel Secures $14.9M From Rescue Financiers

April 26, 2011, 11:47 A.M. ET
By DREW FITZGERALD

American Apparel Inc. said it raised $14.9 million in rescue financing from a group of investors led by Canadian financier Michael Serruya and private-equity firm Delavaco Capital Corp., allowing the casual clothing retailer to meet obligations to its lenders for the time being.

Shares slid 11 cents, or 7%, to $1.47 in recent trading after a halt was lifted on the stock. They have dropped 54% over the past 12 months.

Liquidity problems have dogged American Apparel for most of the past year amid declining sales. The company first warned in May that it could fall out of compliance with its debt covenants before it narrowly averted a default.

Under the deal, the company will sell about 15.8 million shares of common stock at 90 cents a share to a group of private investors led by Serruya, the former chief executive of Canada's CoolBrands International Inc. The investors also can buy an additional 27.4 million shares at the same price within 180 days, subject to certain adjustments. The price represents a 43% discount to Monday's close. The company had about 73.8 million shares outstanding at the end of last year.

Meanwhile, American Apparel Chairman and Chief Executive Dov Charney will buy 800,000 more shares at the same price with the option to buy about 1.6 million more shares.

"We believe in the American Apparel brand and we believe in Dov Charney," Mr. Serruya said. "We are convinced that with adequate resources, Dov and his experienced management team will lead American Apparel to new heights."

Media reports had speculated the latest rescue amount could have been as low as under $10 million or as much as $43 million.

After Tuesday's financing, the retailer would still need to raise another $5 million to $10 million to survive, based on estimates The Wall Street Journal reported last week. The company hopes that an improving economy may limit any need for additional funds.

The company is still discussing amendments to its credit agreements with lenders Bank of America Corp. and Lion Capital. The Bank of America amendment is expected to increase American Apparel's minimum excess availability requirement to $12.5 million from $7.5 million, while the Lion amendment will likely expand Lion's anti-dilution protections with respect to its warrants. The amendments also are expected to waive the requirement that the year-end audit for fiscal year 2010 be provided without a "going concern" or similar qualification.

At the end of February, American Apparel had $5.3 million in cash, down from $7.7 million at the end of December, according to regulatory filings. The company recently warned it may not have sufficient liquidity to sustain operations and to continue as a going concern.

From The Wall Street Journal, online.wsj.com

ch.11 Developing and Managing Products

 American Apparel adds and upgrades new products frequently. There are tons of new products for women in retail stores and online store recently.

For categories of new products, American Apparel's new products are included in new product lines and mostly addition to existing product lines. 
-New product lines : In April 2011, American Apparel launched its first line of jeans. The first styles in the American Apparel Jeans line 'Made in USA Jeans' will be constructed of a 14 ounce denim made of 100% cotton. The company has named Georges Atlan, director of denim to oversee the launch. Atlan launched Guess Jeans with Georges Marciano back in 1980, and has over 30 years of product development, factory management, and running his own businesses. The jeans are available in standard sizing, in a full size run in two washes. They can be found online and in American Apparel stores now. The launch began with a high-waist, tapered leg blue jean for women, and a high-waist, cuffed jean short for women. The company has plans for additional washes and more styles, including a men's heavy-weight denim jean.

-Addition to existing product lines: because of their wide product mixes and many product lines, they      add new products in new fabrics or new colors very frequently. In 2011, they expanded a lot of 'not-so-basic' items. For example, in  the dress line, they added chiffon A-line maxi dresses in 5 colors, the siren dresses in 2 colors, and cross back knit dresses in 3 colors for s/s to name a few.

In doing so, they intend to make customers visit the stores many times because customers are aware of American Apparel's frequent updating and know there will be something new in. Also, American Apparel tries not to loose customers' interests in their stores. As a customer myself, I visit American Apparel stores a lot to just check out their new product.

What's New

  American Apparel has started to offer more deals- you can earn a stamp for every basic you buy from American Apparel. If you earn 10 stamps, you'll get $15 to spend on whatever you like.

ch.15 Integrated Marketing Communications

  -American Apparel's promotional strategy
American Apparel is well known for its "provocative" advertisement. They create real images of real people, not models, who are mostly their employees. But, it has been controversial because of its images. The images in their ads are amateur-porn-style. "Sex sells." Besides that, American Apparel has been doing advertising and campaign called "Legalize LA” and "Legalize Gay" to express their political point of view. Also, they advertise their business model "vertical integration” using the phrase "manufacture with pride in the USA". 
In order to increase sales, American Apparel mostly focuses on displays. Their retail stores are decorated with unique posed mannequins and each item are displayed according to the colors. They display new items in front of the main door to captivate customers’ attention. They started offering, "Buy three, Get one free" on a few items like socks, underwear, and shirts. In online store, American Apparel suggests visitors to register for e-mail updates and send them 10% promo code for online purchase. They also offer free-shipping service for customers who buy over $75.
   - Explaining American Apparel's denim Advertising with communication process.
American Apparel has launched its first line of jeans last week. Dov Charney, CEO and founder of American Apparel, said, "Jeans are an iconic, essential part of the modern wardrobe, just like the t-shirt. No one does basics like American Apparel. We've mastered the basic t-shirt, now we're getting excited about jeans," The company aims to add a new denim basic to women's wardrobes. And they emphasize that the jeans are made in USA not like other competitors. Thus, American Apparel launched a new campaign of the denim line "J E A N S". In order to encode their message to the receivers, American Apparel uses just the word "jeans" in a simple font and "manufactured with pride in the USA". That's all. Also, they use simple images of a girl wearing a pair of jeans and a white t-shirts in a white room. The ads just stress the jeans simply. 

Then, for transmission of the message, American Apparel uses various forms of mass media, such as Twitter, Facebook, their website, blogs and magazines and their retail stores itself. When people receiver the message of American Apparel's new jeans advertising, people can easily find that it's basic yet still very American Apparel-ious.
Sometimes, there is miscommunication of promotional messages with consumers. American Apparel' advertising has been controversial because of their sexual images. For example, one ad in the enormous billboard in downtown Manhattan was very criticized by people. In the ads, there is a young-looking girl, shirtless but in tights, bent over with her legs spread, and it was written " GEE, I WONDER WHY WOMEN GET RAPED" across the front of it. It was a hot potato that women who saw it felt very offensive.

In addition to ch.10

 American Apparel has been in demand because of their quality and fit. Their shirts,  jerseys, sweatshirts, t-shirts, pants, socks etc. have no logo, marks, insignias or anything on, but people could find that it's American Apparel product easily. Their products are high quality, fitted, modern, practical and sexy at the same time. Moreover the brand's motto Vertical Integration, "sweatshop free", gets people's attention. Their concept (or motto) grabs customers: For them, purchasing a product in American Apparel means quality and stylish shopping and at the same time supporting "sweatshop free conditions".

[new item review] visiting American Apparel store in Soho

I visited the American Apparel store in Tribeca to check out new denim line that has been launched lately, but the staff told me that only a few store in Soho, NYU, and lower east side have new denim line so I went to the store in Soho. The Soho AA store (429 Broadway New York, NY) displayed the show window with their new denim line.

When I went to the inside, I could find one denim shorts and two denim pants in two colors immediately because I focused on finding them.  But, people might not find them easily because it was not that outstanding. I picked up two denim pants and tried them on.

( I couldn't take a picture that i was wearing..) They were quite tight for me because it's a skinny jean or maybe I gained weight. It was very high-waist so I could tell you it's so American Apparel-y. The American Apparel's new denim line contains their unique style that can be found in their other pants. If you look for a denim in 80's style, check out AA's  new denim line. It's $80, but you know they were made in USA;) I will buy one.

Ch.10 Product Concepts

 
  American Apparel provides heterogeneous shopping products. They have very wide product mixes because there are tons of product lines, such as, jeans, t-shirts, dresses, bodysuits, skirts, leggings, pants, under wears, outwears, stockings, shoes, eye wears, nails etc.. so you can find everything from head to toes. Also, their product line depth is a great number of items. For example, the t-shirts line includes v-neck t-shirts, round neck t-shirts, not-so-basic t-shirts, short sleeve, print t-shirts, see thru, long, short....to name a few..
  American Apparel often modifies the style of their product items by adding more colors, fabrics, and details. For example, they upgraded their tight(skinny) pants, one of their steady selling items, by adding trendy colors in the season and zippers on the side of the pants. Recently, American Apparel launched denim line to extend their product line and be more competitive. Their denim line will attract customers who satisfied with American Apparel's pants or expect American Apparel-version in the denim.
 The brand name 'American Apparel' is very simple and strong, and tells what they make and sell. it identifies the company's products which are literally American apparel made in America. They have no brand mark but their unique ads contributes to have the strong image with their brand name itself.
  American Apparel's packaging is also simple and clean. Their shopping bags are made of vinyl and printed the names of the cities where their retail stores are located ,and of course the brand name.  the printed letters are all white and same font.
 

[News] Exclusive: American Apparel Launches Denim Amidst Rumors of Bankruptcy

By Leah Chernikoff Monday, Apr 4, 2011 / 4:23 PM

American Apparel has dominated the headlines recently for all the wrong reasons: former employees alleging that the label’s founder, Dov Charney, sexually harassed them; the company recently reported a net loss of $86.3 million for 2010; today’s WWD reports that “a looming April 30 deadline that could cut off its ability to borrow from banks and cover daily operating costs, which could potentially trigger a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.” In spite of all that–and perhaps in some part because of the troubles the label is facing–American Apparel is launching denim.
“Jeans are an iconic, essential part of the modern wardrobe, just like the t-shirt,” Charney said in a press release announcing the launch. “No one does basics like American Apparel. We’ve mastered the basic t-shirt, now we’re getting excited about jeans.”
American Apparel’s denim line has been in development for a year and will be in store tomorrow (and trickling into a few stories today). The line launches with two styles for women–a high-waist tapered leg blue jean and a high-waist cuffed jean short–and plans to roll out a heavy-weight untreated men’s jean for back to school. The jeans will be produced in American Apparel’s LA factory, using 100% cotton 14 ounce denim which is thicker–i.e. made to be broken in. The jeans will retail for $80, and the sewing and dying process to complete a single pair of jeans uses more than 40 fair wage workers.
American Apparel has tapped denim vet Georges Atlan to be the director of denim production. Atlan’s indigo resume includes launching Guess jeans with Georges Marciano in 1980 and he’s worked with most major denim brands including Levi’s, Seven, Rock & Republic, Joe’s jeans, and Calvin Klein to name a few.
So can denim put American Apparel back on track? That remains to be seen. It’s undeniable that the company’s in financial hot water right now. But as for filing for Chapter 11, Charney told WWD today “In my opinion, there’s no chance of that. That’s not an option we are going to explore…We have a variety of options. We could do a private placement of stock. Or we could use the resources we have. We do $10 million a week in sales.” When Reuters asked Charney why his company might file for Chapter 11 he responded, “”Why don’t you speak with a legal expert and he’ll tell you why…we have to put it as a risk factor if it’s in the realm of possibility, even if it’s 1 in 1,000.” Chapter 11 or not, American Apparel’s brand is strong, their basics can’t be beat (we imagine their denim will fit right into their stable of staples) and they’re probably not going anywhere anytime soon.

From Fashionista.com

chap.18 Sales Promotion and Personal Selling

American Apparel used not to go on sale because they thought they could control the inventory. However, due to their financially losses these days, they starts promoting Groupon sale coupon and going on sale as tools for consumer sales promotion. Also, in their online store, they suggest people who visit their online store to sign up for e-mail update and then send them 10% off promo code for online purchase. Once customers signed up for e-mail update, they receive exclusive offers, invites to sales and updates on American Apparel's latest styles. For their loyal customers, American Apparel invites them to the company's surprising sample sale. In order to grab brand switchers and price buyers, they offer bonus pack such as 'buy three, get on free' for socks and underwear and markdown last season's items. To grab competitor’s customers, they use eye-catching displays in their retail stores, which are their strongest advantages. Their mannequins are worn their products in various ways that show how to wear and posing unique posture. Their displays catches people who pass by and make them buy the products. American Apparel focuses on point-of-purchase promotion, such as, putting television monitors in the stores showing how to wear the product in many ways. In online store, they don't charge shipping fees for customers who purchase over $75.

ch.17 Advertising and Public Relations

  Unlike their peers, American Apparel has been doing provocative and somehow controversial advertising. It helps them to set up unique character in the fashion world and become successful world wide. Like their products, they produce everything about advertisment in L.A. They don't need any help of ad agencies, retouchers, makeup artists or stylists. American Apparel's ads represent their authentic images and carry socially relevant messages that the company concerns. Interestingly, their models for ads are not 'models'; they are grils and boys next door. By appointing fans, friends and employees from around world as models, American Apparel has gained familiar image to come closer to young people. Their iconic ads show the diversity, individuality and independent spirit that the company was founded on. They display their ads on famous fashion blogs and magazines, such as thesartorialist.com, streetpeeper.com, Paper magazines and so on, whereas they don't do TV commercials. American Apparel's slogan 'Made in USA' emphasises vertical integration that is the company's business model. 
 They support to legalize 1.8 million undocumented adult Latino immigrants in L.A and other places so that they express their concerns in ads with the slogan 'Legalize L.A'.

 

images from thesartorialist.com ,streetpeeper.com

 

In addition to ch.15

American apparel's retail is specialty store format that merchandises basic clothing for urban young adults. They Specialize in basic cotton knitwear such as T-shirts and underwear, but in recent years it has expanded to include leggings, leotards, tank tops, dresses, pants, denim, nail polish, bedding and accessories for men, women, children, babies and dogs. They also have vintage clothing line called CaliSelect. Their retail stores are mostly located in low-lent places but high traffic locations like Houston, Little Tokyo, New Orleans and college towns. The decor of their stores is inspired from 1970's and 1980's mood stressing various colors and designs. They suggest many styling ways by displays of show windows and photos of the models in the store. Their window displays are eye-catching.

Ch.15 Retailing

American Apparel was one of the fastest retailers in the United States. They started with three company stores in Los Angeles, Montreal, and New York in 2003. As of 2008 the company has more than 200 stores worldwide and continues retail growth with new stores in the United States, Israel, Italy, Japan, South Korea, the Netherlands, Switzerland, China, Germany, Austria, Canada, France, Sweden, Spain, Mexico, United Kingdom, Ireland, Brazil, and Australia.

American Apparel retail stores are marketed and designed individually rather than homogeneously. For example, American Apparel in Tribeca had different features than the other American Apparel stores. The store in Tribeca has separate section called “babies and toddlers”. Because Tribeca deals with more parents, American Apparel in Tribeca tried to customize their shop with more products of babies.

American Apparel tried to avoid high rent areas and in-mall locations. They tried to renewal lower-rent with high traffic locations. 

[something to read]Ad Alert: Social Media Sites Drive Teen Purchases

Ad Alert: Social Media Sites Drive Teen Purchases
by Wayne Friedman, Friday, March 4, 2011, 1:28 PM

In the digital world, this may be a no-brainer: Now, virtually all U.S. teens are using the Internet, far outpacing the total U.S. population. More importantly, many are counting on social media to influence their purchasing decisions -- a key factor in future advertising budgets and campaigns.

By the end of 2011, eMarketer says 96% of American teens ages 12 to 17 will use the Web at least monthly, much higher than the 74% penetration for the total U.S. population. Teens will inch up to 97% in the coming years through 2015, then remain at that level. Overall Internet usage among all population groups will climb more rapidly, rising to a 79% penetration by 2015.

Social networks are a major factor in growth. More than four in five teens -- 80% -- will use social networks this year. That compares to 64% of all Internet users.

Just considering Facebook, nearly three-quarters of teens will use the giant social media platform at least once a month this year. This compares with over 50% who used the site daily in 2010.

Another survey, from Ipsos Public Affairs, says 70% of teens use Facebook weekly. More research from Roiworld and OTX says that as of last June 2010, 69% of 13- to-17-year-olds have a Facebook profile.

All this social activity is increasingly critical to retailers. More than 4 million teen girls purchased items online in 2010, up from 3.4 million in 2009 -- a 52.6% gain.

"Peer influence is the key driver in teen girl shopping behavior," stated Tobi Elkin, eMarketer writer/analyst. "While they are price-conscious and driven by a great deal, teen girls weigh these factors against the all-important consideration of whether peers will approve of their purchases."

From Media Daily News (www.mediapost.com)

Ch.6 Consumer Decision Making

First of all, who are American Apparel's consumers? They are 20 to 32-year old male and female in major urban market with disposable income and enjoy wearing clothes.
When a season changes, people want to have new clothes and t-shirts will come up on mind at first because it's easy to buy and wear.(Need Recognition) So, they decide to go shopping. Young adults,who are 20-32 years old, know many brands and stores to buy a t-shirt. But, whenever they look at fashion or music blogs, American Apparel's ad campaigns are easily seen. Also, in famous shopping spots, such as Soho in New York, American Apparel stores are located. People have seen cerebities and fashion people wearing American Ampparel's products. (Information Search) They may consider other brands to find a cheaper t-shirt. But in American Apparel, you can find well-fit t-shirts in various colors and designs which are proudly made in USA unlike other brands. (Evaluation of Alternatives) People can purchase American Apparel t-shirts in more than 285 retail stores in 20 countries and even online -www.americanapparelstore.com (Purchase) American Apparel costumers are satisfied that they bought a good quality t-shirt and also support vertically integrated business which creates good jobs in U.S.A.(Post-Purchase Behavior)

[News] American Apparel Pitches Up at SXSW

American Apparel pitches up at SXSW
March 7th, 2011 by brand-m

South by Southwest has inked a deal with American Apparel to make the brand the first major clothing company to establish a retail presence during SXSW Music. AA will pitch up at the Style X exhibition aimed at showcasing emerging talent in the fashion industry on 18-19 March.

“South by Southwest has always been a unique place for musicians, filmmakers, bloggers and web developers – it makes perfect sense that brands both established and emerging should join in,” said Joah Spearman, Style X co-founder and executive producer. “Having brands like American Apparel… demonstrates that not only does style deserve a seat at the SXSW table, but also that SXSW will continue to command more and more attention from the fashion world.”

TIGI Haircare is the official haircare provider for the Style X runway shows which will include musicians, many of whom are official SXSW Music performers, as the runway models.

Frank’s Chop Shop, a popular full-service barbershop in Lower East Side, New York City, will provide a gifting suite and a relaxed environment for musicians to get a clean, old-fashioned straight razor shave before stepping onto the runway at Style X.

Go Try It On, the New York-based tech startup, is serving as the official casting call partner for Style X with a dedicated website for musicians to submit their most stylish photos and have the chance to win a spot as a model in one of the runway shows.

Tags : brands, concerts, fashion, live music, marketing, music, retail, sxsw

Developing a Global Vision

American Apparel's "Made in Downtown LA" slogan has made brand awareness of itself and it shows significant international diversity in retail sales. American Apparel has over 260stores worldwide in 19 countries. They exported sales of more than $200 million in 2008. Their major markets worldwide are London and Paris, and Asian market is also growing fast.

But, here is a question; is it really possible that their factories in Los Angeles can handle the supply for almost a thousand shops worldwide? don't they need mass textile production somewhere in Asia?

American Apparel's CEO, Dov Charney , kinda answered . He is eventually going to open a factory in China, but he's not going to change his ethical business mind; he's going to pay a US-dollar minimum wage to their workers in China. Well, for real?...

The Marketing Environment

 American Apparel focuses on young metropolitan adults (20-32) in major urban markets with disposable income as their target market. They think their customer are not influenced by broader economic trends because they does not have a mortgage, drive a car.
 In 2009, when economy officially was in recession, American Apparel knew that consumption patterns would possibly change; people would purchase more thoughtfully. American Apparel was not afraid of it because they were well-positioned for consumer economic environment in 2009 and beyond.
- Most of their products are versatile basics which are hardly affected by fast trends.
-Their products have good value for money ; quality clothing stays long.
- Their business model , vertical Integration, brings them easy inventory control so that they don't have to   worry about sales lost to stock outs during other companies are taking care of stocked goods by having dumping sales.

Ethics and Social Responsibility

'American Apparel is vertically integrated.'
To American Apparel, Vertical Integration has many meanings.

First, it means 'Made in USA'.
 They employs over 7,500 people at their LA-area factories alone. Their income makes the local economy better through their spending and taxes. Also, keeping their factories local makes them to create good jobs that support families and communities.

Second, Sustaninability.
  Vertical integration brings them to reduces the company's footprint because they don't have to ship thousands of miles from third party vendors. They have organic line called "Sustainable Edition" that they buy organic cottons from the Cleaner Cotton Initiative in California. In addtion, they lend bikes to employees to use them when they commute.

Third, charity- corporate resposibility

• In January 2010, American Apparel allocated and donated over 80,000 garments to support Haiti Relief. 20,000 pieces went to Fashion Delivers, 20,000 pieces to Operation USA, 15,000 pairs of socks went to Soles4Souls, among many others.
• In May 2010, they donated roughly 15,000 pieces to Soles4Souls for the victims of the Nashville floods that caused over $1B in damages. As a Tennessee based charity, they were first relief group on the scene.

American Apparel's ad campaign

American Apparel's competitive strength

Since their garment factories are located in Southern California, American Apparel can response to the market fast. They can get the products that are selling in stores right away.
Also, it makes them easier to keep high quality and inventory control- no markdown and less sales lost to stock outs.

American Apparel makes basic items which have no logos on and less graphics so that they don't have to Forecast fashion trends. Instead they make various color range that brings them a strong brand image.

When I think about American Apparel besides their clothing, their unique advertisement campaign comes up my mind. They don't use models for ads, but familiar images of employees and friends from around the world. It allows them to convey diversity and differ from other luxury brands.

In addition to the mission statement

American Apparel's main theme, "Made in Downtown LA", has contributed to distinctive brand recognition and cult status worldwide.

American Apparel uses a vertically integrated business model which creates good jobs in USA. Knitting, dyeing, sewing, photography, marketing, distribution, and design all happen in the facilities in Los Angeles.

my mission statement

As an early adapter, I would like to introduce American Apparel as a role model company.

American Apparel is famous for a unique advertising and product branding.

Familiar images of employees and friends from around the world—not models—allow them to express the diversity.

American Apparel has a special product branding method.  Most products are basics that are not easily influenced by trends. Also, they are flexible in product feedbacks because all facilities are located in downtown L.A.

about American Apparel

'American Apparel is an industrial revolution'


 American Apparel is a leading basics for young adults with both
wholesale and retail division globally. The company is a vertically
integrated manufacturer, distributor and retailer, based in downtown
L.A, California. Everything of American Apparel, which includes
design, manufacturing, marketing, accounting, retail and distribution,
happens in their facilities in L.A. Also, they operate the largest
garment factory in the U.S. The company is known for cutting-edge
advertising and product branding ; they have been awarded as Retailer
of the year at the 2008 Michael Awards, Label of the year (2008) by
The Guardian, and Marketer of the year at the LA Fashion Awards.