American Apparel, the clothing company synonymous with Made in LA, may be relocating out of the U.S. altogether. A Canadian company called Gildan Activewear wants to buy American Apparel. The move would mean 3500 southern California workers would be laid off, and production would relocate to Central America and the Caribbean.
Press Play got an unusual response to an interview about this during today’s broadcast, when founder and former CEO of American Apparel Dov Charney called KCRW wanting to know if he could join the segment.
Essentially, Charney wanted to defend his tenure at American Apparel, saying that the company was profitable before he was fired by his own board in 2014. Since then, he blames “a lack of imagination” and greed for the company’s troubles. Charney says it’s possible to make clothing in Los Angeles while paying workers at least $15 an hour and still run a profitable company. He also claims that’s exactly what he’s going to prove with his new venture, Los Angeles Apparel. He says he’s hired between 60 and 70 workers so far and it will be a sort of American Apparel 2.0. For updates, check out this site.
Listen to Press Play’s interview with California Apparel News’ reporter Deborah Belgum below:
(Photo: Dov Charney/Flickr/CC)