Corporate Information Includes: Vertical Integration, Political Activism, Corporate Responsibility, International Operations, and Corporate Segments.
Vertical Integration
"Vertical integration is not only smart for our company, but for our community, our local and regional economy, our environment, and, in turn, our customers."
In the past decades, outsourcing to third party countries has become the standard. American Apparel has kept it local. They are vertically integrated, and operate the largest apparel manufacturing facility in North America, right in Downtown LA. Although vertical integration has not always been the easy route for American Apparel, they continue to stick to their vision. American Apparel employs more than 5,000 people in their LA area manufacturing facilities, one of the largest apparel manufacturing employers in the country. American Apparel keeps Californians, keeps Americans, working, and in doing so contributes millions of dollars annually to the State and country's tax base, as well as the local economies in which our employees live. |
Political Activism
Legalize Gay
American Apparel believes that sexuality should be celebrated, not condemned. When California voters passed Prop 8 in 2008, we let our community know we would support whatever stand they wanted to take. American Apparel believes in freedom, expression and equality, things that are inherently condemned in the prohibition of gay marriage. After printing a few hundred Legalize Gay t-shirts for a rally near our factory in downtown Los Angeles, the company received thousands of requests from people all over the world who asked for us to expand it. Legalize LA "At American Apparel, we've always felt strongly about the subject of immigration. Even as early as 2003, we were running ads and putting up billboards calling for reform. Today this issue is more contentious than ever and we feel the time is ripe for individuals, companies, and communities to speak out honestly about it." |
Corporate Responsibility
Environmental Initiatives
From recycling, to innovative and creative reuse, to sourcing, to renewable energy and transportation, American Apparel strives to leave as little of a footprint on this earth as possible. Ecolocially sound materials and solar panels fill the outside and inside of the downtown LA factory. Encouraging employees to bike to work and take public transport helps keep the impact on the environment at a minimum.
Organic Products
American Apparel joined the Cleaner Cotton Campaign by buying 30,000 pounds of Cleaner Cotton (also known as B.A.S.I.C. cotton) to incorporate into our non-organic line. The Cleaner Cotton Campaign, led by the Sustainable Cotton Project, was created to offer farmers profitable strategies for reducing chemical use in cotton cultivation. The program also avoids the use of genetically modified seeds. In 2007, the California Environmental Protection Agency reported that 2,000 acres of Cleaner Cotton were grown, preventing 7,000 pounds of chemicals from infiltrating our environment.
From recycling, to innovative and creative reuse, to sourcing, to renewable energy and transportation, American Apparel strives to leave as little of a footprint on this earth as possible. Ecolocially sound materials and solar panels fill the outside and inside of the downtown LA factory. Encouraging employees to bike to work and take public transport helps keep the impact on the environment at a minimum.
Organic Products
American Apparel joined the Cleaner Cotton Campaign by buying 30,000 pounds of Cleaner Cotton (also known as B.A.S.I.C. cotton) to incorporate into our non-organic line. The Cleaner Cotton Campaign, led by the Sustainable Cotton Project, was created to offer farmers profitable strategies for reducing chemical use in cotton cultivation. The program also avoids the use of genetically modified seeds. In 2007, the California Environmental Protection Agency reported that 2,000 acres of Cleaner Cotton were grown, preventing 7,000 pounds of chemicals from infiltrating our environment.
International Operations
|
Rapidly Growing Global Business
American Apparel operates largest garment factory in the U.S. They are vertically integrated, eliminating the use of sewing subcontractors and offshore labor. Their first retail store opened in 2003, and now have over 260 stores worldwide in 20 countries. |
Distribution:
Retail
American Apparel retail operations consisted of 248 retail stores in 20 countries. Their retail operations principally target young adults aged 18 to 35 via the unique assortment of fashionable clothing, accessories and compelling in-store experience. The product offerings include basic apparel and accessories for men and women, as well as apparel for children. Stores average approximately 2,500-3,000 square feet of selling space. The stores are primarily located in large metropolitan areas, emerging neighborhoods, and select university communities. |
Wholesale
To serve American Apparel's wholesale customers, they operate a call center out of the Los Angeles headquarters. The call center is staffed with approximately 50 customer service representatives initiating sales calls, answering incoming phone calls, emails and faxes, and assisting customers in placing orders, checking stock levels, looking for price quotes or requesting adjustments. During the second half of 2012, they moved one of the call centers from Neuss, Germany to Montreal, Canada. |
E-Commerce
American Apparel currently has 12 different online stores in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, Switzerland, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, Singapore and Hong Kong. Online operations for American Apparel began in 2004. All online stores can be accessed at www.americanapparel.com. |
Corporate Segments
American Apparel reports the following four operating segments: U.S. Wholesale, U.S. Retail, Canada, and International. American Apparel believes this method of segment reporting reflects both the way the business segments are managed and the way the performance of each segment is evaluated. The U.S. Wholesale segment consists of the wholesale operations of sales of undecorated apparel products to distributors and third party screen printers in the United States, as well as the online consumer sales to U.S. customers. The U.S. Retail segment consists of the retail store operations in the United States, which were comprised of 139 retail stores as of December 31, 2013 . The Canada segment consists of the retail, wholesale and online consumer operations in Canada. As of December 31, 2013 , the retail operations in the Canada segment were comprised of 32 retail stores. The International segment consists of the retail, wholesale and online consumer operations outside of the United States, and Canada. As of December 31, 2013 , the retail operations in the International segment were comprised of 77 retail stores in the following 18 countries: the United Kingdom, Ireland, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Israel, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, and China.