Dov Charney

Charney was interviewed in March 2020 by a number of media outlets, speaking about his desire to turn Los Angeles Apparel into a medical equipment manufacturer during the pandemic. Focusing on sewing face masks and medical gowns, Los Angeles Apparel began manufacturing at the facility in South Central. Charney told the New York Times that he aimed to create 300,000 masks and 50,000 gowns each week.

With Charney's connections in the United States fashion industry, the company grew quickly to over 350 staff during the second year of operation. During an interview with Bloomberg, he drew comparisons to the growth he experienced with American Apparel calling it the equivalent of "year eight". Charney expected the fashion line to grow to $20 million in revenue by 2018.

In 2016, American Apparel board dismissed a $300 million offer from Hagan Group that pushed for Charney's comeback.

In 2016, Charney founded Los Angeles Apparel. Following the launch, his new apparel company was frequently compared to American Apparel, with a number of reporters stating the similarities between the strategies of the two companies. He opened Los Angeles Apparel's first factory in South Central Los Angeles, with aims of replicating the successes he experienced in the 1990s with supplying wholesale clothing. The strategy was similar to that he deployed while expanding American Apparel. This included manufacturing all the garments on US soil to keep lead times low and offer better completion times than overseas competitors.

In December 2014, Charney was terminated as a Chief Executive Officer after months of suspension. He was replaced by Paula Schneider, president of ESP Group Ltd, company of brands like English Laundry, on 5 January 2015. In December 2014, Charney told Bloomberg Businessweek he was down to his last $100,000 and that he was sleeping on a friend's couch in Manhattan. Following his suspension as CEO in the summer of 2014, Charney teamed up with the Standard General hedge fund to buy stocks of the company to attempt a takeover.

Additionally, on 7 May 2015, Charney sued Standard General (the hedge fund that took control of American Apparel following his 2014 ouster) for $30 million, claiming that Standard General's public statements that the investigation of Charney was "independent and carried out by a third party" was allegedly untrue, and as such was defamatory and an intentional interference with economic relations and prospective economic relations. In the same lawsuit, Charney claims the investigation of himself was a "sham" and he said American Apparel's board, controlled by Standard General, sacked him because he would not drop his fight to regain control of the retailer and accept the settlement that was offered to him (an alleged multimillion-dollar consulting—employment contract) and because he refused to release his claims as a shareholder against both the company and the investment firm.

On 12 May 2015, Charney sued American Apparel and Colleen Brown for a 20 million dollar defamation claim relating to a written statement Brown made to employees whereby she stated Charney had signed a contract whereby he agreed in writing that "he would never come back to American Apparel", which Charney claims he never signed.

On 18 May 2015, American Apparel sued Charney, accusing him of running a "scorched earth campaign" as he tried to regain control of the company. Connected to that same litigation, on 1 June 2015, the company obtained a temporary restraining order in Delaware Chancery Court preventing Charney from criticizing the company or seeking the removal of board members through 16 July 2015, the date of American Apparel's 2015 annual shareholder's meeting.

On 19 June 2015, Charney sued American Apparel and a former board member, David Danziger, alleging that Danziger interfered with Charney's economic interests when in late June 2014, he spoke to the company's second largest shareholder in an alleged attempt to block Charney's effort to gain shareholder support so he could take back control of his company. When the board realized that Charney was collaborating with the company's second largest shareholder, Five T to take control of the company and the board itself, Charney claims board member, David Danziger contacted Five T and told them that Charney was involved in acts which were criminal in nature, thereby preventing Charney from obtaining Roth's support.

On 24 June 2015, Charney sued American Apparel, the former CFO, John Luttrell, former board members David Danzinger, Robert Greene, Marvin Igelman, William Mauer and Allan Mayer. Among other things, Charney claimed the various defendants participated in a scheme to trick Charney into diluting his ownership stake in the company in early 2014 in an effort to sell the company in spite of his objections.

During its routine meetings in March 2014, American Apparel's board learned that an arbitrator hearing one of the sexual harassment cases against Charney and the company had reached a decision in the case. While ruling that the main harassment claim had not been proven, the arbitrator found against the company and Charney on a defamation claim, awarding $700,000 for that to Irene Morales, saying that Charney had failed to prevent a subordinate from posting naked pictures of her online. Up until then, the board had steadfastly maintained that all the allegations against Charney, most of which were likewise settled in confidential arbitration proceedings, were not factually sufficient to constitute misconduct requiring disciplinary action.

They also had strong financial reasons for replacing him. AA had posted losses in all but one of the previous 17 quarters, including $106 million during the preceding year, and the company had become a penny stock. Its financial options were limited—Charney's own portion of the company had been diluted from 45% to 27% during one effort to raise cash, which made it easier for the board to take him on. Some lenders refused to deal with the company at all while Charney was in charge, and those that did charged dearly; the interest rate on one of its major loans was 20%.

American Apparel publicly suspended Charney on 18 June 2014, stating that they would terminate him for cause in 30 days. The company's board claimed at the time that it had "new information" which led it to finally fire Charney. New co-chairman Allan Mayer said: "We have heard for years allegations and rumors in newspaper stories that were not sufficient to take action. But what came to our attention was not allegations and rumors but established fact." He declined to elaborate at that time. The board had just begun an investigation into how Charney responded to a 2011 lawsuit by a former employee who claimed he had held her against her will as a "sex slave", a suit settled in arbitration.

Charney is founder and former CEO of American Apparel, but formally went by the title of "Senior Partner". He infused his personal progressive politics into the company brand paying factory workers between US$13–18 per hour, offering low-cost, full-family healthcare for employees and taking a company position on immigration reform. American Apparel's "vertical integration" eliminated the use of sewing sub-contractors and offshore labour. In 2006, Media Magazine recognized American Apparel in its "Top 10 Socially Responsible Companies." Charney claims to not have done this for moral reasons but because it was a better business strategy. Charney is considered a retail and manufacturing visionary.

In an interview with Vice.tv, Charney spoke out against the poor treatment of fashion workers in developing countries and refers to the practices as "slave labor" and "death trap manufacturing". Charney proposed a "Global Garment Workers Minimum Wage" and discussed in detail many of the inner workings of the modern fast fashion industry practices that creates dangerous factory conditions and disasters like the 2013 Savar building collapse on May 13, which had the death toll of 1,127 and 2,500 injured people who were rescued from the building alive.

American Apparel had the opportunity to enhance information systems to improve planning, purchasing, and allocation for wholesale and retail. The Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system included two phases. Phase 1, completed by the end of the first quarter in 2008, reduced raw materials inventory, increased responsiveness to demand, provided better customer forecasting, and improved supply chain visibility. Phase II included order entry and warehouse and fulfilment logistics. The company also implemented a data warehouse, which led to enhanced analytics and KPIs. Other technology included in-house pilot projects, which improved out of stock positions at retail, enhanced floor replenishment, and improved supply chains.

Charney is known for his fashion sense, which is geared towards "young metropolitan adults." The "fit" of a shirt is something he often stresses. He was named Man of the Year by both the Fashion Industry Guild and Apparel Magazine for his design work. In 2008, The Guardian named American Apparel "Label of the Year".

In November 2008, after the passing of Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriages in California, Dov Charney and American Apparel created "Legalize Gay" T-shirts to hand out to protesters at rallies. The positive reaction led American Apparel to sell the same shirts in stores and online.

Under Charney, American Apparel implemented "team manufacturing" as opposed to the progressive bundle system of apparel manufacturing. After its implementation, garment production tripled and required a less than 20% staff increase. He formed the company as a domestic vertically-integrated manufacturer, making him the largest manufacturer still producing garments in America. Because of its vertically integrated and domestic manufacturing model, American Apparel's gross margins are actually significantly higher than other basic apparel brands. By utilizing a vertically integrated business model (based on speed-to market), Charney was able to focus merchandise for year-round styles, minimizing risk and providing consistent operating results. According to the company, its blended margins are roughly 70% (while GAP averages about 30% and luxury brands like Prada are between 65 and 70%). American Apparel controlled a significant portion of the value chain to ensure quality, speed to market, and a consistent brand positioning. In December 2007 the company purchased an additional dye house to add to production capacity.

In December 2006, American Apparel entered into a reverse merger agreement valued at $360 million with the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Endeavor Acquisition as a way of taking the company public. As a result of the agreement, Charney was named President and Chief Executive Officer of the publicly-traded company known as American Apparel, Inc. He remained the majority shareholder, and employees of American Apparel were given stock in the company valued at $39 million.

The company is also known for its simple and provocative ads featuring women, including employees. The subjects are rarely professional models, and often chosen personally by Charney from local hangouts and stores. He shoots many of the advertisements himself. His advertising has been criticized for featuring young, even teenage, models in sexually provocative poses. However, it has also been lauded for honesty and lack of airbrushing. In 2005, Charney won the "Marketing Excellence Award" in the LA Fashion Awards.

Legalize LA was an immigration reform campaign conceived by Charney and promoted by American Apparel beginning in 2004. The campaign featured billboards and full-page ads in national publications as well as t-shirts sold in retail locations emblazoned with the words "Legalize LA." Proceeds from the sale of the shirts were donated to immigration reform advocacy groups. The campaign called for the overhaul of immigration laws so as to create a legal path for undocumented workers to gain citizenship in the United States.

In 2004, Claudine Ko of Jane magazine published an essay narrating that he began masturbating in front of her while she was interviewing him. The article's publication brought extensive press to the company and Charney, who later responded that he believed that the acts had been done consensually, in private and outside the article's bounds.

Initially, American Apparel was a wholesale brand that sold into the imprintable market, but in 2003 it expanded into the retail market. Its first stores were in Montreal, New York City and Los Angeles. By 2005, the company had over $200M in revenue. Retail operations have grown to include 260+ retail stores. In 2008, Charney was named Retailer of the Year at the Michael Awards, a fashion industry mainstay. The award has previously gone to Calvin Klein and Oscar de la Renta. By 2007, the total revenue of the company was valued $276 million. At that point there were 182 retail stores worldwide.

Charney won a variety of awards because of his business efforts with American Apparel. GQ honoured him in their "Men of the Year" issue in 2003. In 2004, he was awarded the prestigious "Entrepreneur of the Year" award by Ernst & Young. In 2006, he was included in Los Angeles Times Magazine' s list of the "100 Most Powerful People in Southern California." He was also included in Details Magazine' s "50 Most Powerful People."

Charney has been the subject of several sexual harassment lawsuits, at least five since the mid-2000s, all of which were settled, dismissed, or remanded to private arbitration. A 2008 sexual harassment case against Charney ended with the victim being awarded USD 1.3 million and agreeing to an arbitration with a pre-determined result favourable to Charney and American Apparel.

In 1987, he enrolled at Tufts University. While at Tufts, he continued to operate his business, but dropped out by 1990 to pursue the apparel business full-time. He borrowed $10,000 from his father and moved to South Carolina to transition from importing T-shirts to manufacturing them. In 1996, Charney's company restructured when it was unable to cover its debt and filed for bankruptcy reorganization under Chapter 11. On 4 July 1997, he went to Los Angeles. By 2003, Charney had opened his first retail store and employed over 1,300 people.

In 1991, Charney began making basic T-shirts under the American Apparel brand. The initial T-shirts were made of simple 18-single jersey and were positioned to compete with the Hanes Beefy-T. The primary objective was to sell garments to screen printers and wholesale clothiers in the United States and Canada. In 1997, as his design, the 'Classic Girl', built momentum, Charney moved manufacturing to Los Angeles. In 2000, American Apparel moved into an 74,000 m (800,000 sq ft) factory located in downtown Los Angeles. The company knit, dyed, cut, sewed, photographed, marketed, distributed, and designed garments there, and eventually met the capacity to produce over 1 million t-shirts per week. He also opened over 180 retail locations in a total of 13 countries: United States, Canada, England, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland. There were also full distribution facilities in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and Düsseldorf, Germany. For two years in a row American Apparel was recognized in Inc. Magazine's "Top 500" issue as one of the fasting-growing private companies.

Charney was born in Montreal, Quebec. His father, Morris Charney, is an architect, and his mother, Sylvia Safdie, an artist. Charney is a nephew of architect Moshe Safdie. He attended Choate Rosemary Hall, a private boarding school in Connecticut and St. George's School of Montreal. Charney grew up with, and was influenced heavily by, the culture of Montreal and his Jewish heritage. As a teenager, Charney was an admirer of American-made products. As a teen, he became disillusioned with Quebec nationalism, which he felt was widespread during the 1980s.

Dov Charney (born 31 January 1969) is a Canadian businessman. He is best known for founding American Apparel, where he served as the CEO from 1989 until 2014. He later founded Los Angeles Apparel, a vertically-integrated apparel manufacturer. He is also a vocal advocate for immigration reform in the United States through the Legalize LA campaign, which was championed by American Apparel.