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I Will Now Be Boycotting American Apparel

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I don’t know how many of you have been following the contest for larger-sized models that American Apparel has been conducting. I was very vaguely aware of it and of the controversy surrounding it. Apparently, the company decided to disregard the popular vote that gave the win in the contest to a woman called Nancy Upton because she had made statements criticizing the company. Of course, it’s their contest, so they can do whatever they want with it.

What really shocked me, however, was a letter the company’s creative director sent to the winning contestant. I’m not going to expose you to this badly written rant in its entirety (you can check it out here if you wish) but here is a small excerpt from it:

Oh – and regarding winning the contest, while you were clearly the popular choice, we have decided to award the prizes to other contestants that we feel truly exemplify the idea of beauty inside and out, and whom we will be proud to have representing our company.

I don’t know about you, but I, for one, will not buy anything ever again from a company that employs such condescending, rude and unintelligent individuals who express themselves in the style of characters from the movie Mean Girls. I used to be a customer, but after this, I won’t be any longer.

13 responses to “I Will Now Be Boycotting American Apparel”

  1. nominatissima Avatar
    nominatissima

    I never bought something from an American Apparel store, but a lot of Etsy shops which create clothes that I love and buy use American Apparel clothing as the base for their own designs, since it’s sweatshop-free clothing. I’m going to email the owners of the stores and ask them if they’d consider switching to another sweat-free store, because this really was a disgrace. Implying that she doesn’t have “beauty inside and out” because she mocked them in a tongue-and cheek manner?
    I also hope that we’ll be seeing more of this model, and others of her size, in the future. I’m a size 12/14, and I do like seeing models who have my body type model clothing I would actually look good in.

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    1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
      bloggerclarissa

      It seems like the company felt they were being so heroic by allowing larger-sized women take part in the competition that the women in question should just swallow their tongues out of gratitude. The truth is that they are not doing anybody any favors by opening larger-sized lines of clothing. Any company that doesn’t do so will go bankrupt in no time. They are doing a huge favor to themselves but expect larger women to swoon with gratitude.

      You are right, models like Upton are the future, and American Apparel is too outdated in its approach to understand that.

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      1. nominatissima Avatar
        nominatissima

        I remember once in a book (I can’t remember which) someone told one of the protagonists that by challenging the way things were, she was “biting the hand that feeds her”. The character responded that she didn’t feel the need to accept that meagre bit of food at all.
        That more or less describes my attitude towards companies that decide to feature one plus size model (usually wearing much less flattering/pretty clothing) in a sea of size zeroes, and expect larger women to be overjoyed with that.

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  2. Helena Suess Avatar
    Helena Suess

    Those pictures that woman took are hilarious.

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  3. Lindsay Avatar
    Lindsay

    I’ve never shopped at an actual American Apparel store, but like nominatissima I do sometimes order things from Etsy or other places where you can order unique T-shirts, and American Apparel seems to be everyone’s preferred place to buy blank T-shirts for printing/embroidering/silkscreening/whatever their designs on.

    I cannot wear the largest of their women’s sizes, but I hadn’t been ruling out their larger men’s sizes. (Men’s T-shirts tend to fit me better at the arms and shoulders, and not too bad in the chest — the only problem is that I have hips, and they don’t flare out in the bottom like fitted women’s shirts do.)

    I have unfortunately heard some very bad things about working conditions for women at American Apparel — it’s sweat-free, which is great, but the CEO, Dov Charney, is known for sexually harassing his female employees. So THAT sucks.

    @nominatissima – what are some of the other sweat-free shops you’d recommend? I don’t know of any besides AA.

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    1. nominatissima Avatar
      nominatissima

      The ones listed here are a good place to start:
      http://www.sweatfree.org/shoppingguide

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      1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
        bloggerclarissa

        Thank you, this is a great resource!

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  4. edward Avatar
    edward

    Cruel comments from the company spokesman. Only fools do not realize that true sublimity in the fairer gender originated from within and radiates outwards.

    When I was in highschool Grade 11, there was a gal in my class who was quite heavy, but whose character and personality were a strong draw. Being the open person I am, I approached her one day when the class was dismissed for the period and told her that I thought she was a superb gal with a warmth of personna that was outstanding. I could tell you her name even after decades of existence on this wretched planet and that was boosted by the class way in which she took the comment.

    Cuelty and pseudo images of what women are supposed to look like are promulgated by the msm media whores, follywood fecalities, and the mindless grazing herd ad continuum.

    Sickening and obtuse….in the extreme…causes much unhappiness and disatisfaction for the fairer gender. What is really disgusting is the shape that more than a few members of my gender let themselves get into. Worse, these are the pot bellied beer sucking miscreants who expect a woman to be a veritable Aphrodite and who are quick to criticize the least “imperfection” in the fairer gender. How does one spell HYPOCRIT? Huh, even bloody hell huh?

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  5. Jonathan Mayhew Avatar
    Jonathan Mayhew

    Now this blogger is being flown to LA to looks at AA’s factories. I have no opinion about American App. at all, but didn’t she say she would refuse the prize even if she won? Now they are going to try to co-opt her, and they will probably succeed.

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    1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
      bloggerclarissa

      I don’t know who is right here, Am App or the blogger, but a company that sends out this kind of letters to people is not a company that will inspire me to buy anything from them any more.

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  6. Spanish Prof Avatar
    Spanish Prof

    I’ve never bought AA, because the owner has received complaints for sexual harassment for years. That, and their prices, was enough for me. And I’ve always been suspicious of the non-sweatshop claim. Just because you manufacture something in downtown LA doesn’t mean labor conditions are fair.

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    1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
      bloggerclarissa

      I’m so out of everything that I only recently (meaning last month) discovered that they have been embroiled in all these scandals. If it weren’t for blogging, I’d just continue being very clueless.

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  7. Miriam Avatar
    Miriam

    I know Nancy Upton actually had no interest in modelling for American Apparel, but the way they turned her down was still ridiculously condescending and rude. I guess criticizing things means you lack inner beauty. As for outer beauty, we all know what American Apparel thinks about non-skinny people.

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A conservative literary critic and college professor

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