Recommendation: American Apparel
rackoo recommends…
American Apparel
a genderplay-friendly clothing store
a genderplay-friendly clothing store
American Apparel has the best genderqueer clothing of any chain. All of their clothing is either unisex or “women’s,” but that’s just a recommendation of course. They show most of their clothing on both female and male models, and a lot of their models are very androgynous.
This (above) is my favorite marketing video from any company EVER. It’s titled “unisexy.”
Update: Some readers have expressed disagreement with this recommendation. See the comments on this post for the discussion.
Posted by Kate on June 11th, 2009 at 04:00 pm
Category: recommendations, stores 11 comments »
June 12th, 2009 at 4:07 am |
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/01/17/american…
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_2…
http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jan/17/local/me-…
I'd rather not support a sexist CEO who hides behind his fair labor policies in order to promote a workplace attitude that exploits female employees. In fact, I'd even say that their wonderfully androgynous clothing is a flimsy mask for enforcing sexist and (this may go without saying) abusively binary attitudes and actions.
It is a shame, because their clothing is quite nice, but I would hope that people can find their own self-expression without buying from this company.
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June 12th, 2009 at 4:19 am |
I hate the way American Apparel markets and their founder is scum.
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June 12th, 2009 at 4:31 am |
yeah, unfortunately shopping there makes anyone with hips or body fat feel like a fat fucking pig. and maybe it's just me, but the rapey-porn vibe of their ads doesn't really do it for me.
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June 12th, 2009 at 3:45 pm |
Well, consider me educated. Thank you, guys.
I've updated the post so that new folks looking at it are nudged to check out the comments for more discussion. Seems like this is stuff that more people may want to know.
Thanks,
Sarah
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June 12th, 2009 at 4:38 pm |
I get that one wouldn't want to support the guy, but give credit where credit is due. He may be scummy, but he also runs an admirable company in terms of labor practices. I think we can simultaneously condemn his habits and applaud his company.
I've worked in the fashion industry-it sucks. Our employees were routinely taken advantage of, even though the workshop was based in New York. The owner of the company was the one *not telling* her employees that they were eligible for overtime pay for their 60+ hour weeks.
and I like their ad campaign. I think it's very effective at attracting its target market- young, middle class urbanites. I can't wear the clothes either (too curvy) but I appreciate the androgyny.
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sarahdopp replied:
June 12th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
Thanks, Alaina. :)
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June 12th, 2009 at 6:42 pm |
I've heard better things about Alternative Apparel (http://www.alternativeapparel.com/).
The only thing that fits me at American Apparel are their tshirts.
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June 13th, 2009 at 2:45 pm |
I really love the aesthetic of American Apparel and am lucky enough to have a body type that fits into their clothes, but shopping there is a) expensive, and b) makes me feel kind of terrible because the CEO is such a scumbag, like other commenters have pointed out.
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June 14th, 2009 at 3:08 pm |
who cares about the ceo? it's just clothes. just because someone is sexist doesnt mean i shouldn't buy their products.
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June 15th, 2009 at 3:05 am |
why shouldn't we boycott them because their CEO is sexist? And moreso, because they out disgusting misogynistic ads out on a daily basis, hell, billboards even…that's a huge enough reason for me to boycott them…why put your dollars to work to support and propagate sexism?
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July 16th, 2009 at 5:18 am |
uhh, nothing's misogynistic about american apparel ads. He has nearly-nude, provocative shots of males too. Everyone seems to always ignore the issue of sexuality in males, but it's suddenly "demeaning to women" when female sexuality is shown in the media. I think it's actually kind of sexist to take issue with it for that reason and ignore the fact that boys are displayed sexually in his ads, too.
I don't care how much of a scumbag he is. That's his personal life, and while I may not agree with it, I don't think I should boycott his store. I don't see him as sexist, but I do think that if anyone has a problem with being asked for sex by their employer, they should simply not work there since it's pretty apparent by now that that's the way they run things.
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