Dov Charney (born January 31, 1969) is a Canadian entrepreneur and clothing manufacturer.
He is the founder of
American Apparel
American Apparel Inc. is an online-only retailer and former brick-and-mortar stores operator based in Los Angeles, California. Founded by Canadian businessman Dov Charney in 1989, it was a vertically integrated company that ranked as one of the l ...
, which was one of the largest garment manufacturers in the United States until its bankruptcy in 2015. Charney subsequently founded
Los Angeles Apparel
Los Angeles Apparel is a manufacturer, designer and distributor of clothing based in South-Central Los Angeles. The company was founded in 2016 by Dov Charney, the founder of American Apparel. Los Angeles Apparel is a vertically integrated manuf ...
.
Early life
Charney was born in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
, Quebec on January 31, 1969.
His father is an architect, and his mother is an artist.
[''Jewish Journal'', Unfashionable Crisis, 29 July 2005]
Charney is a nephew of architect
Moshe Safdie
Moshe Safdie ( he, משה ספדיה; born July 14, 1938) is an architect, urban planner, educator, theorist, and author, with Israeli, Canadian, and American citizenship. He is known for incorporating principles of socially responsible desi ...
.
Charney is dyslexic and was diagnosed with
ADD
Addition (usually signified by the plus symbol ) is one of the four basic operations of arithmetic, the other three being subtraction, multiplication and division. The addition of two whole numbers results in the total amount or '' sum'' of ...
in kindergarten.
He attended
Choate Rosemary Hall
Choate Rosemary Hall (often known as Choate; ) is a private, co-educational, college-preparatory boarding school in Wallingford, Connecticut, United States. Choate is currently ranked as the second best boarding school and third best private high ...
, a private boarding school in
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
and
St. George's School of Montreal
St. George's School of Montreal is an independent school in Montreal, Quebec, Canada founded in 1930. It consists of two campuses: the elementary school campus in Westmount, Quebec, and the high school campus in Montreal just 15 minutes' walk fro ...
. According to Charney, he was heavily influenced by both Montreal culture and his own
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
heritage.
While attending high school in the United States, Charney began importing Hanes
Hanes (founded in 1900) and Hanes Her Way (founded in 1985) is a brand of clothing.
History
Hanes was founded in 1900 by John Wesley Hanes (one of Winston-Salem's wealthiest and most influential business men) at Winston, North Carolina under th ...
and Fruit of the Loom
Fruit of the Loom is an American company that manufactures clothing, particularly casual wear and underwear. The company's world headquarters is in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Since 2002 it has been a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway.
Products manu ...
t-shirts from the U.S. to his friends in Canada. In an interview with Vice
A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character tra ...
, he described smuggling the shirts on Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
trains from New York to Montreal.
American Apparel
Charney began selling t-shirts under the American Apparel name in 1989. In 1990, he dropped out of Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...
, borrowed $10,000 from his parents and established American Apparel in South Carolina. Over the next several years, he spent time learning about manufacturing and wholesale before moving to Los Angeles in the mid-'90s. The company focused on crafting high-quality basics. By 1997, Charney had moved all manufacturing into a factory located in downtown Los Angeles.
American Apparel products were marketed towards "young metropolitan adults." The basic, logo-free branding appealed to younger consumers wary of corporate branding. Rather than compete with mass-market companies like Fruit of the Loom
Fruit of the Loom is an American company that manufactures clothing, particularly casual wear and underwear. The company's world headquarters is in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Since 2002 it has been a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway.
Products manu ...
, American Apparel flourished in its "high-end niche by leveraging product quality, hip design, and the appeal of its anti-sweatshop politics."
The company had about $12 million in sales by 2001. In 2003, Charney opened the first store in L.A.'s Echo Park
Echo Park is a neighborhood in the east-central region of Los Angeles, California. Located to the northwest of Downtown, it is bordered by Silver Lake to the west and Chinatown to the east. The culturally diverse neighborhood has become known fo ...
neighborhood, followed by one each in New York and Montreal. Within two years, the company had expanded to Europe and opened 65 new stores. By 2006, there were 140 total stores.
In 2009, it expanded to 281 total retail locations, making it "the fastest retail roll-out in American history." In 2014, the company reported record sales of $634 million dollars.
Ad campaigns
American Apparel under Charney's leadership was known for its simple and provocative ads, which rarely used professional models and whom were often chosen personally by Charney from local hangouts and stores. He shot many of the advertisements himself and was criticized for featuring models in sexually provocative poses. However, the campaigns were also lauded for honesty and lack of airbrushing.
In 2012, the company made headlines when it debuted an ad campaign featuring mature model Jacky O'Shaughnessy. The photos generated considerable buzz and were generally well-received.
American Apparel again stirred controversy in 2014 when they displayed mannequins with pubic hair in the window of their Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets.
Traditionally an im ...
store. Regarding the use of the mannequins, the company told Elle Magazine
''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society and lifestyle. The title means "she" or "her" in French. ''Elle'' is considered the wo ...
:
"American Apparel is a company that celebrates natural beauty, and the Lower East Side Valentine's Day window continues that celebration. We created it to invite passerbys to explore the idea of what is 'sexy' and consider their comfort with the natural female form. This is the same idea behind our advertisements, which avoid many of the photoshopped and airbrushed standards of the fashion industry. So far we have received positive feedback from those that have commented, and we're looking forward to hearing more points of view."
Activism
Under Charney's leadership, American Apparel took a leading role in the promotion of a number of prominent social causes.
Legalize LA
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.
Legalize Gay
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-shirt
A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt), or tee, is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a ''crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shirts are general ...
s to hand out to protesters at rallies. The positive reaction led American Apparel to sell the same shirts in stores and online.
Factory conditions
In an interview with Vice.tv
Vice Media Group LLC is an American-Canadian digital media and broadcasting company. , the Vice Media Group included five main business areas: VICE.com (digital content); VICE STUDIOS (film and TV production) VICE TV (also known as VICELAND); ...
, 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
Fast fashion is a term used to describe the clothing industry's business model of replicating recent catwalk trends and High fashion, high-fashion designs, mass production, mass-producing them at a low cost, and bringing them to retail stores qui ...
industry practices that creates dangerous factory conditions and disasters like the 2013 Savar building collapse
The 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse (also referred to as the 2013 Savar building collapse or the Collapse of Rana Plaza) was a structural failure that occurred on 24 April 2013 in the Savar Upazila of Dhaka District, Bangladesh, where an eig ...
on May 13, which had the death toll of 1,127 and 2,500 injured people who were rescued from the building alive.
Dismissal
American Apparel publicly suspended Charney on 18 June 2014, stating that they would terminate him for cause in 30 days. The termination letter given to Charney alleged that he had engaged in conduct that "repeatedly put himself in a position to be sued by numerous former employees for claims that include harassment, discrimination and assault."
Paula Schneider, who took over as company CEO, claimed Charney was fired "for violating our sexual harassment and our anti-discrimination policy" and "for misuse of corporate assets."
According to reports, Charney was blindsided by news of his termination, calling it a "coup." In court filings by his attorneys, it was alleged that the American Apparel CFO had sketched out a plan to oust Charney, and that he was persuaded to sign a disastrous settlement that left him with no job and no control of the company, despite being the largest shareholder. Charney also argued that the investigation was biased because it was conducted by people who wanted him out, and that he has never been charged with any crime or found guilty or liable for any of the accusations against him.
In December 2014, Charney was terminated as a Chief Executive Officer after months of suspension. In December 2014, Charney told Bloomberg Businessweek
''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...
he was down to his last $100,000 and that he was sleeping on a friend's couch in Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
. 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. In 2016, American Apparel board dismissed a $300 million offer from Hagan Group that pushed for Charney's comeback.
In the wake of his dismissal, reports of Charney's management style emerged. Business Inside stated that he wasn't "...able to install a mature operational infrastructure to keep the company running smoothly." also claiming that Charney wasn't able to build a "management bench strength" for American Apparel. Andrew Ross Sorkin
Andrew Ross Sorkin (born February 19, 1977) is an American journalist and author. He is a financial columnist for ''The New York Times'' and a co-anchor of CNBC's ''Squawk Box.'' He is also the founder and editor of DealBook, a financial news s ...
, writing for the New York Times stated that Charney "should have been gone long ago, face of the brand or not."
Los Angeles Apparel
In 2016, Charney founded Los Angeles Apparel
Los Angeles Apparel is a manufacturer, designer and distributor of clothing based in South-Central Los Angeles. The company was founded in 2016 by Dov Charney, the founder of American Apparel. Los Angeles Apparel is a vertically integrated manuf ...
. He opened Los Angeles Apparel
Los Angeles Apparel is a manufacturer, designer and distributor of clothing based in South-Central Los Angeles. The company was founded in 2016 by Dov Charney, the founder of American Apparel. Los Angeles Apparel is a vertically integrated manuf ...
's first factory in South Central Los Angeles
South Los Angeles, also known as South Central Los Angeles or simply South Central, is a region in southwestern Los Angeles County, lying mostly within the city limits of Los Angeles, south of downtown.
It is "defined on Los Angeles city maps as a ...
, with aims of replicating the successes he experienced in the 1990s with supplying wholesale clothing. The origins are similar to those he deployed while expanding American Apparel
American Apparel Inc. is an online-only retailer and former brick-and-mortar stores operator based in Los Angeles, California. Founded by Canadian businessman Dov Charney in 1989, it was a vertically integrated company that ranked as one of the l ...
. When interviewed by Vice News regarding his new venture, Charney said, "my previous company had an effect on the culture of young adults...I want to reconnect and do that again before I die."
The company grew to over 350 staff during the second year of operation. During an interview with Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to:
People
* Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer
* Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian
* Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician and ma ...
, Charney drew comparisons to the growth he experienced with American Apparel
American Apparel Inc. is an online-only retailer and former brick-and-mortar stores operator based in Los Angeles, California. Founded by Canadian businessman Dov Charney in 1989, it was a vertically integrated company that ranked as one of the l ...
calling it the equivalent of "year eight." Charney expected the fashion line to grow to $20 million in revenue by 2018.
Similar to American Apparel
American Apparel Inc. is an online-only retailer and former brick-and-mortar stores operator based in Los Angeles, California. Founded by Canadian businessman Dov Charney in 1989, it was a vertically integrated company that ranked as one of the l ...
, the manufacturing of all Los Angeles Apparel garments are kept in the US to maintain low lead times and offer better completion times than overseas competitors. Los Angeles Apparel also provides livable wages to factory workers.
Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
The COVID-19 pandemic in the United States is a part of the COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the Uni ...
, Charney repurposed his business operations to help increased demand for PPE. According to the ''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'', Charney spotted shortages as early as February and this is when his apparel company began to consider manufacturing face masks.
Charney was interviewed in March 2020 by a number of media outlets, speaking about his desire to turn Los Angeles Apparel
Los Angeles Apparel is a manufacturer, designer and distributor of clothing based in South-Central Los Angeles. The company was founded in 2016 by Dov Charney, the founder of American Apparel. Los Angeles Apparel is a vertically integrated manuf ...
into a medical equipment manufacturer during the pandemic. Los Angeles Apparel then began manufacturing face mask
The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human Personal identity, identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental d ...
s and medical gowns at the facility in South Central. Charney told ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' that he aimed to create 300,000 masks and 50,000 gowns each week. In an interview, Charney said he was "losing money on the venture," as he was giving many of them away. This included donating large numbers to key worker
A key worker, critical worker or essential worker is a public-sector or private-sector employee who is considered to provide an essential service. The term has been used in the United Kingdom in the context of workers who may find it difficult t ...
s in healthcare and law enforcement
Law enforcement is the activity of some members of government who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by discovering, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms governing that society. The term en ...
in LA, Seattle, New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
.
Controversy
Charney has been the subject of several sexual harassment
Sexual harassment is a type of harassment involving the use of explicit or implicit sexual overtones, including the unwelcome and inappropriate promises of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. Sexual harassment includes a range of actions fro ...
lawsuits, at least five since the mid-2000s, all of which were settled, dismissed or remanded to private arbitration. Due to employees signing documents revoking legal claims against Charney or the company, many lawsuits were thrown out by the courts and had to go through internal arbitration at American Apparel. He has never been found to have committed sexual harassment. Charney's lawyer, Keith Fink, told Business Insider that, "In many instances, cases were defeated or dismissed. In other instances, cases were settled because the insurance company whose only goal is to save total dollars wanted to stop the legal bleeding on these cases." Charney maintained his innocence, telling CNBC that "allegations that I acted improperly at any time are completely a fiction." He accused lawyers in the lawsuits against American Apparel of extortion and of "shaking the company down."
In 2004, Claudine Ko of ''Jane
Jane may refer to:
* Jane (given name), a feminine given name
* Jane (surname), related to the given name
Film and television
* ''Jane'' (1915 film), a silent comedy film directed by Frank Lloyd
* ''Jane'' (2016 film), a South Korean drama fil ...
'' magazine published an essay narrating that Charney began masturbating in front of her while she was interviewing him. The article's publication brought extensive press to Charney, who later responded that he believed that the acts had been done consensually, in private and outside the article's bounds. In a follow-up to her first article, Ko wrote that her article had been misconstrued, stating that her encounter with Charney "was being used to feed a flawed cliche where men are evil and omnipotent while women are mute victims lacking free will." She further questioned the notion that she had been taken advantage of: "Who was really exploited? We both were—American Apparel got press, I got one hell of a story. And that's it."
Personal life
Charney lives in Garbutt House, a historic mansion atop a hill in Silver Lake
Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...
designed by Frank Garbutt, an early movie pioneer and industrialist. The house is made entirely out of concrete due to Garbutt's fear of fire. The house often functions as a dormitory for out-of-town workers doing business at company headquarters. During his time at American Apparel Charney was consumed with work, often sleeping in his office at the company's factory, leaving little separation between his personal and work life.
Awards
* 2005, "Marketing Excellence Award" at the LA Fashion Awards.
* 2008, "Retailer of the Year" at the Michael Awards for the Fashion Industry.
* 2009, Charney was a finalist for TIME Magazine's annual list of the '100 most influential people in the world.'
References
External links
Official American Apparel website
Dov Charney website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Charney, Dov
Canadian fashion designers
Canadian retail chief executives
California people in fashion
Living people
Canadian expatriates in the United States
Businesspeople from Los Angeles
Businesspeople from Montreal
Canadian Jews
Canadian people of Lebanese-Jewish descent
Jewish fashion designers
Anglophone Quebec people
Choate Rosemary Hall alumni
Tufts University alumni
Canadian company founders
Canadian people of Israeli descent
21st-century Canadian businesspeople
1969 births