American Apparel’s motto used to be “Ethically Made—Sweatshop Free.” But in a new documentary, former employees say the clothing brand, which became the go-to place for hipster chic clothes in the mid- to late- aughts, operated pretty much like a sweatshop.
Trainwreck: The Cult of American Apparel, a 54-minute doc out July 1 as part of Netflix’s series on disasters in recent history, looks at the rise of the brand and its decline in influence amid allegations of inappropriate behavior and oppressive conditions in the workplace.
Here’s a look at the most shocking revelations about what it was like to work at American Apparel.
Sewing discontent
When American Apparel launched in 1989, it was supposed to represent the American dream. It proudly boasted clothes made in the U.S., and employees made well over minimum wage. And it had a star-studded clientele. A former employee who goes by Jonny Makeup in the doc says he would close the store for Beyoncé to go shopping.
As American Apparel became known for its cheeky advertisements, which often featured women in solid colors and provocative poses, like upside down with their legs outstretched—employees in the doc argue that behind the scenes, founder Dov Charney encouraged sexually explicit behavior in the workplace and routinely violated boundaries. New hires at the American Apparel factory say they received a welcome gift bag that included a vibrator, in addition to a book called The 48 Laws of Power, a Leica camera, and a Blackberry—so they would always be on call. According to the doc, it was not uncommon to see employees making out in the hallways of its downtown LA factory. The doc even shows footage of Charney walking around naked in front of two female employees.
The toxic environment was not contained to American Apparel’s walls. The doc starts off with an employee named Carson saying Charney called him up close to midnight one night and said “I hate you! I hate you!” over and over again, and then hung up. “That was a regular day at American Apparel,” says Carson, who reveals he sometimes had to work 36-hour shifts.
Coming apart at the seams
Employees in the doc say they were disturbed by how much business Charney wanted to conduct in his private home.
Jonny Makeup says he actually lived in his boss’s house, arguing in the doc that Charney invited him and he wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to live in such luxurious digs. Young women were always hanging around the house, so much so that Jonny describes it as “a Playboy mansion for hipsters.”
Toni Jaramilla, an employment and civil rights attorney, talks about working with women who say they experienced sexual harassment while working for Charney at American Apparel. Because they had already signed agreements to not say anything disparaging about Charney and American Apparel, each complaint was sent to confidential arbitration. However, some allegations have leaked into the public domain, and the doc uses a voice actor to read excerpts, describing Charney inviting people as young as 18 years-old to his bedroom and walking around in a towel in front of employees.
As allegations mounted, so did Charney’s verbal attacks on his own employees, and the doc features audio snippets of him calling them morons and dummies. Charney has denied all allegations, but he was fired in June 2014.
American Apparel, which is still exists online, filed for bankruptcy in 2015 and 2016. Charney ended up getting a job with Kanye West’s clothing brand Yeezy. The doc ends with archival footage of him saying, “I’m not sorry about sh-t.”
The post The Shocking True Story Behind Trainwreck: The Cult of American Apparel appeared first on TIME.
