Before its infamous collapse, American Apparel was a cultural force of the mid-2000s. The clothes were colorful, the ads were provocative, and the brand marketed itself as progressive with its proud motto: “Ethically Made, Sweatshop Free.”
But behind the scenes, beneath the indie sleaze and moral posturing, the company was quietly imploding. Now, Netflix’s new documentary anthology Trainwreck exposed what really went down with the clothing brand in a new episode titled The Cult of American Apparel, exposing what brought the billion-dollar brand to its knees.
Here are the most shocking revelations:
The Company Interviews Were About Vibe Checks
Founder Dov Charney wasn’t just building a brand—he was creating a look.
Former employees say they were hired on the spot simply because of their appearance: “I’m tall and skinny,” said one. Another claimed their “hipster meets bike messenger” style got them hired. In some cases, people with no fashion background were placed in senior roles.
The Employee Welcome Package Included Vibrators
Yes, it’s true.
New hires reportedly received Hitachi wand vibrators as part of their employee welcome kits.
A safe working environment? Not exactly American Apparel’s thing.
Fool of the Week
Charney didn’t just have a proclivity for sexual perversion; He also loved verbally abusing his staff!
Every week, he would hold mandatory company wide calls, during which he nominated a “fool of the week”—an employee who he believed “screwed him over.”
The whole thing was basically an exercise in ritualistic shaming.
Extreme Work Hours
Former American Apparel employees claim that they worked insane hours.
“On one two-week period, on top of the 80 hours that I worked, there was another 120-something hours of overtime I clocked,” Carson, one of the documentary’s subjects, said.
‘The 48 Laws of Power’
Charney reportedly treated Robert Greene’s The 48 Laws of Power like gospel.
The book outlines how to manipulate and dominate in business and life, which people claim heavily influenced Charney’s leadership style.
When the company went public in 2007, he even appointed Greene to the board
The Sexual Abuse and Harassment Allegations
By 2014, several women had accused Charney of sexual harassment. However, many employees were bound by contracts that funneled complaints into private arbitration, shielding the company from public lawsuits.
Civil rights attorney Toni Jaramilla, featured in the documentary, explained: “It started with one woman, then another. In doing our due diligence, we found more who had experienced the same thing.”
Following a formal investigation, Charney was ousted for sexual harassment, discrimination, and misuse of company funds.
Today, American Apparel lives on in name only. It exists as a fully online store owned by Canadian manufacturer Gildan Activewear. But the brand’s cultural cachet has long vanished, along with the so-called “cult” that once surrounded it.
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