American Apparel Controversy: Dov Charney

They closed 122 stores in 2014 and plan on closing another 50 to 75 in 2015. The annual report does say they plan on opening a number of new store in 2015 but does not give a number. They also say they are planning on renovation store but again list no number as to how many. They have invested in technology to improve their supply chain and productivity. It also implies they will be cutting hours for employs to save

The well-known retailer has grown to nearly 1,100 stores and boasts a workforce of more than 116,000 full and part-time employees (Strand, 1998). JCP

On May 30, 2000 The Calvin Klein family filed a lawsuit against Warnaco Group Inc for eighteen counts of trademark infringement, trademark dilution and intentional misrepresentation. Nearly a month later Warnaco answered with a counter suit, denying the major allegations and justifying the dilution to falling within the scope of the two parities licensing agreement. The case study brings forth information regarding fashion retailing, distribution practices and even the licensing practices expected within the marketplace, however as a reader one should keep in mind that during the millennium “licensing

One strategy ModCloth could undertake would be to align their brand with Jet.com and away from WalMart. WalMart owned e-commerce site Jet.com has a selection of fashion merchandise on its website that is within the same price range as ModCloth, as well recognized brands who are not associated with WalMart. Theory and Calvin Klein are available on the site and have not received backlash by consumers through this association with WalMart.(2) To keep current customers ModCloth should not allow their brand to be sold in WalMart stores or on WalMart.com. While Jet.com is owned by WalMart it doesn’t have the same image of employee mistreatment or environmental damage. A Google search of “Jet.com scandal” had a top result of a link to Jet.com for

1971 to over 800 stores located in 46 states and Puerto Rico. This industry is

open 125 more that year (Ortega 205). Wal-Mart stores do over $67 billion dollars in

Can we license something like blue jeans or even a collar? That would be rather impractical for the fashion industry, seeing that this is where creativity is urged. The fashion industry is largely unshackled of the same copyright laws, licenses and guidelines that grip the film and music industry. However, trademarks are the only aspect that is protected in the fashion industry. As a result, this lack of intellectual protection (IP) for fashion has directly led to its huge success. Blakely expands on this point by indicating four advantages of how the lack of copyright protection has helped the fashion flourish. First, this concept has enabled the “Democratization of fashion”. This states that we have a greater variety of fashion aspects to choose from. The second advantage is that fashion trends are now being established faster in the world. Since knock-offs are being produced faster, designers are trying to stay ahead of the game by producing more complex products. In fact, Stuart Weitzman, a shoe designer,

The research of the external environment for American Apparel should have notes about each one of these factors political, economic, social, and technological. These factors will have influence over the

How many licks does it take to get to the center of a lollipop? How many times can a company get away with offending the public? These questions have a lot more in common than someone might think. Everyone knows that the clever owl that asks us the lollipop questions, gets impatient with counting and then simply provides us with the answer of the ‘world may never know’. Similarly, the amount of times Urban Outfitters has offending the public or will in the future without receiving any punishment is too large to count, therefore we give the same impassive answer that ‘the world may never know’. In the United States of America, we are lucky enough to have freedom of speech and expression. However good or bad, we have the right to say or wear what we want without punishment. Though it is common sense that companies that sell merchandise are held to higher standards. Unfortunately some do not understand this unspoken rule, not only that but they abuse this right. The argument lies primarily with Urban Outfitters who has produced a multitude of clothing items that offend the wider public! Businesses should not be permitted to produce merchandise that offends the public because it hurts many people(s), encourages a negative mindset, and is used purely for publicity.

American Apparel, is an American multi-national clothing manufacturer, distributor and retailer since 1988based in Los Angeles, California. Dov Charney, a Canadian business man was a founder and former CEO of the company. He was involved in nearly every part of the business process from design and manufacturing to marketing. The Ernst & Young named Charney Entrepreneur of the Year in 2004. He was also termed "Man of the Year" by various fashion

With Hamlet’s references to melting his skin off and comparisons to Greek characters, one might assume that the man was crazy well before he ever spoke to the ghost of his father. The utter gloom and hate that permeates throughout the land of Denmark causes more than one character to go insane in Shakespeare’s novel, Hamlet. Several revenge plots, misunderstandings, over-the-top actions, and manipulated thoughts lead the various characters in the story to descend into different levels of madness. The main protagonist, Hamlet Jr., seems to suffer the most from the situation that unfolds, but he is not the only personification of crazy that appears throughout the book. Ophelia eventually goes mad due to Hamlet’s strange actions, Laertes falls

From 2002 to 2005, Walgreens reported a compounded annual growth rate of 10.1%, growing to $42.2 billion in total revenues. This strong revenue growth was primary driven by organic expansion through new store openings. Since 2002, Walgreens has added 1070 net new stores (22% increase) while CVS has added 1,384 net new stores (25% increase), of which 86%, or 1200 of CVS' store additions, were due to the 2004 acquisition of Eckerd. As a result, although CVS reported an impressive 21% increase in sales from 2004 to 2005 compared to Walgreens 12.5% (a decline from 15.3% in 2003 to 2004), it was primarily due to CVS experiencing the full effect of the mid-2004 acquisition of the 1200 Eckerd stores. Table 3 shows the year-over-year comparison of Walgreens total revenues to CVS'.

According to Keyton, organizational culture is "the set of artifacts, values, and assumptions that emerges from the interactions of organizational members" (Keyton, 2014, p. 550). Over the past few years, past and potential employees of the clothing brand Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) have taken to the media to explain the negative organizational culture that exists within the company. The management values and company policies that create this “image-obsessed culture” have led to multiple human rights lawsuits, which has damaged the reputation of Abercrombie & Fitch globally (Benson, 2013).

This program saw 400 stores close and lead to over $100 million in benefits. The company will also close over 300 stores in the next few years, further helping to alleviate unnecessary costs.

Typically, these factories are located outside of the United States, and with cheap and readily available labor, the knockoff designs can be created in a matter of hours and shipped to stores months before the original version. These companies are able to replicate the original designs almost perfectly, and for much less money, as well. In turn, chain retailers like Bloomingdale’s, Urban Outfitters, and Forever 21 then purchase hundreds of these clothes and promptly sell them to consumers way before the original designs even have a chance to make their debut (Wilson). The biggest problem with this is that fashion design is an art form in itself, and with duplicates, the creative and original credit of the designers are lost. American consumers can no longer tell what garments in a store are original and which have been duplicated (“Stop Fashion Design Piracy”). From a moral perspective, this is essentially burying the recognition that independent designers deserve for their work.