American Apparel Celebrates the 6th Anniversary of Its First Stores

    


    
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<p><location>LOS ANGELES</location>, <chron>Oct. 19</chron> /CNW/ -- American Apparel (NYSE Amex: APP) is celebrating its sixth year anniversary as a retailer. On <chron>October 13th, 2003</chron>, American Apparel opened its first store in <location>Montreal</location>, following it quickly with a store in <location>New York City</location> and <location>Los Angeles</location>. It was the beginning of the fastest roll-out in retail history.</p>
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<p>The first store, in <location>Montreal</location> on St-Laurent Blvd, opened the day after <chron>Canadian Thanksgiving</chron> and did <money>$1,100</money> in sales. On <chron>October 19th, 2003</chron>, the company opened in <person>Echo Park</person> in <location>Los Angeles</location> at the corner of Sunset and Alvarado. In <location>New York City</location>, a few weeks later, the American Apparel on Broadway and Washington Place sold <money>$5,500</money> worth of clothes on its first day. Two of the original stores remain flagship locations for American Apparel in <location>Los Angeles</location> and Manhattan. In the six years since, American Apparel has grown from those three stores to more than 275 in 20 countries including <location>Brazil</location>, <location>Israel</location>, <location>China</location>, <location>Japan</location> and others.</p>
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<p>"This has been a very interesting journey for us," said CEO and founder, Dov Charney. "It couldn't have happened without the hard work and support of our employees and customers."</p>
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<p>In 2003, American Apparel was a small company, known for the blank t-shirts it sold to screen printers and private labels. The first stores sold just these basic t-shirts, dresses, socks, underwear and sweatshirts. Today, American Apparel has expanded to include men's button-down dress shirts, swimsuits, jackets, hosiery and other products in a wide array of prints and fabrics. These garments are knit, dyed, sewn, designed, distributed, marketed and modeled by American Apparel employees in <location>Los Angeles</location> - a vertically-integrated operation that now includes over 9,000 employees and <money>$500M</money> in annual sales.</p>
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<p>"We've had a challenging year but we've accomplished a lot in a short time. In my opinion, we're just getting started," Dov Charney said.</p>
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    About American Apparel

    
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<p>American Apparel is a vertically integrated manufacturer, distributor, and retailer of branded fashion basic apparel based in downtown <location>Los Angeles</location>, California. As of <chron>September 30, 2009</chron>, American Apparel employed approximately 9,000 people and operated over 275 retail stores in 20 countries, including the <location>United States</location>, <location>Canada</location>, <location>Mexico</location>, <location>Brazil</location>, <location>United Kingdom</location>, <location>Ireland</location>, <location>Austria</location>, <location>Belgium</location>, <location>France</location>, <location>Germany</location>, <location>Italy</location>, the <location>Netherlands</location>, <location>Spain</location>, <location>Sweden</location>, <location>Switzerland</location>, <location>Israel</location>, <location>Australia</location>, <location>Japan</location>, <location>South Korea</location>, and <location>China</location>. American Apparel also operates a leading wholesale business that supplies high quality T-shirts and other casual wear to distributors and screen printers. In addition to its retail stores and wholesale operations, American Apparel operates an online retail e-commerce website at <a href="http://www.americanapparel.com">http://www.americanapparel.com</a>.</p>
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For further information: Marsha Brady of American Apparel, [phone], [email protected] Web Site: http://www.americanapparel.com