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If it’s a day ending in -y (or some other worn out cliche), someone must be angry at American Apparel!
Well, actually, this time American Apparel is actually angry at someone. According to a press release from the magazine he’s angry at. Erhm. Turns out AA is upset about an upcoming parody spread and article from Clamor magazine. It’s some of the same stuff you may have heard before: Several sexual harassment claims have been made against AA founder and CEO Dov Charney, some weird shtick about how Charney isn’t really all that progressive, Alternative Apparel’s stuff is more comfortable, etc., etc. There’s also a series of AA parody ads which are, uh, allegedly funny.
Basically, Clamor wants a little publicity, and I’m more than willing to give it to them, if only to to note: If this magazine is being threatened with a lawsuit, then, man, what’s going to happen to the South Philly Tap Room?
The 10-page spread is here. The full release from Clamor is after the jump.
American Apparel Issues Ultimatum to Clamor Magazine
Toledo, OH — In response to advance previews of Clamor Magazine’s forthcoming special section on American Apparel, the Los Angeles-based clothing company has issued a letter of demands from its Media Relations office.
Cynthia Semon, Media Relations Director at American Apparel, sent an email to Clamor Politics co-editor (and editor of the American Apparel section) Mariana Ruiz and Clamor co-founder Jen Angel, citing inaccuracies and accusing Clamor of shoddy and amateur journalism. Ms. Semon demanded, “if the article is not immediately removed online, along with a retraction and an [sic] public apology posted online and published appropriately, we will be forced to seek legal action in light of such gross, blatant, negligent and irresponsible journalism.”
“We have issued a correction of unintended factual inaccuracies,” stated Angel, “However, we have no intention of retracting the stories or the issue in which they appear. Apart from the correction we have made, we stand by those stories as they appear.” The correction is noted below.
“We’re publishing articles here that are critical of American Apparel’s business practices and challenge the credibility of their carefully crafted ‘progressive’ identity, and they’re not happy about that,” said Clamor co-founder Jason Kucsma. “That a social justice magazine with a yearly operating budget of less than $150 thousand is being issued an ultimatum by a company that turned $250 million in profit last year seems a little incongruous to me.”
Three articles, one photo essay featuring a former American Apparel employee, and a series of parody American Apparel ads make up a 10-page section analyzing American Apparel’s business model, sexual harassment claims made against founder and CEO Dov Charney, and the co-opting of progressive values to hype an otherwise less-than progressive workplace.
The Fall 2006 issue in which the special section appears is scheduled for a newsstand release of September 1, 2006.
*Advance Correction:
In this Fall 2006 issue, we incorrectly reported that Mary Nelson, a store manager at American Apparel, had withdrawn her sexual harassment suit against CEO Dov Charney. It has come to our attention that the suit by Mary Nelson, a sales manager, is still pending, and that an unnamed store manager withdrew her suit against the company.
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After nearly 6 months of work and hundreds of hours of interviews and research, Knowmore.org is releasing its special report on American Apparel, LLC.
When Knowmore’s American Apparel entry came to the attention of CEO Dov Charney, he called to challenge our representation of his company, and demanded we take a closer look. He also offered us unprecedented access to his factory, workers, and management, which we accepted and engaged.
The result is this report; which represents the most complete Knowmore.org entry to date, and the most comprehensive look at Charney’s controversial company ever published.
That South Philly Taproom Ad was the single best Ad of the year.