Latest news with #CultofAmericanApparel
Graziadaily
11 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Graziadaily
Who Is Dov Charney? Former American Apparel CEO And Subject Of Trainwreck Netflix Documentary
As the subject of the latest Netflix documentary, Trainwreck: The Cult of American Apparel , its founder and former CEO Dov Charney has become a global talking point. He was axed from the top job in 2014 following allegations of misconduct in the workplace and the documentary serves to expose the darker side of the cult brand. But who was the man behind American Apparel? What was he accused of? And where is he now? Read on to find out. Dov Charney is an Canadian entrepreneur who grew up in Montreal to architect and artist parents. He started American Apparel, famed for its nylon '80s-inspired 'basics', in 1989 in South Carolina after dropping out of college and borrowing $10,000 from his parents. Charney later expanded the store to multiple countries around the world, including the UK, but was fired in 2014 after facing allegations of sexual assault and harassment, which he denies. Charney subsequently founded Los Angeles Apparel. The original brand is still available to shop online. In the new Netflix documentary, Charney is shown to be an overpowering figure with little regard for the feelings and boundaries of his staff. It showed archival footage of him walking around the factory naked in front of female employees. Former employees claimed Charney often wanted to conduct business in his private home, which was described as a 'playboy mansion for hipsters', and one former staff member called Jonny Makeup lived there too. Makeup told the filmmakers, 'I'll probably be in therapy until the day that I die.' The episode also featured employment and civil rights lawyer Toni Jaramilla who spoke about working with several women who claim they experienced sexual harassment while working for Charney at American Apparel. They signed non disclosure agreements to not comment on Charney or the clothing brand, however some allegations were leaked, so the Netflix special uses voice actors to read excerpts from their complaints. One claims Charney invited 18-year-olds to his bedroom and used to walk around in front of employees in a towel. Aside from allegations of sexually inappropriate conduct, the documentary heard that Charney regularly abused his power too. One employee named Carson said Charney once called him at around midnight and said, 'I hate you! I hate you!' over and over again, before hanging up. 'That was a regular day at American Apparel,' Carson explained, adding that he sometimes worked 36-hour shifts. There are also clips featured in the documentary where Charney can be heard calling his employees 'morons' and 'dummies'. Charney denies all allegations. It ends with archival footage of him saying, 'I'm not sorry about shit', from a 2017 interview with VICE. A spokesperson for Charney said: 'Charney has never been found liable for any misconduct — sexual harassment or otherwise — by any judge, jury, arbitrator, or independent investigation. Unfortunately, the Netflix documentary grossly misrepresents the story of American Apparel and Charney, relying on paid actors to emotionally restate long-disproven allegations.' The statement continues, 'No credible insiders — including Charney himself — participated in the production. One can only hope the full, unvarnished story of American Apparel and the forces behind its downfall will one day be told.' Charney reportedly lives in a mansion in Silver Lake called Garbutt House. Two years after he was fired from American Apparel, Charney launched the almost identical brand, Los Angeles Apparel. He sold the same 'basics' and even built the new company from the original American Apparel warehouse. 'We had six sewing machines, then 12 machines. It was a nail-biter,' Charney said in 2017. 'It still is a nail-biter. That's part of the chills and thrills of starting up a business. You're always on edge, but I love it. The workers are happy. It's exciting. We want to prove something.' However, when the pandemic took hold in 2020, Charney reimagined the business and started selling face masks and medical gowns. By June, he was condemned by public health officials and CBS News reported that Los Angeles Apparel got shut down for 'flagrant violations of mandatory public health infection control orders'. Charney then found a loophole and reopened the factory as an essential business, keeping employees at work, which sadly led to a large Covid outbreak and four employees died. He filed for bankruptcy in 2022, owing $30 million (£21m) to a hedge fund associated with his original brand American Apparel. According to Bloomberg, his debts and assets reached $50 million (£36m) each. The Cult of American Apparel documentary alleged that Charney was also hired to work as the CEO of Kanye West's clothing line Yeezy. In 2023, Rolling Stone reported that the former American Apparel head created the West's controversial 'White Lives Matter' t-shirts the year prior. It is unclear from what's available online whether Charney is in a relationship or has any children. Trainwreck: The Cult of American Apparel is available to stream on Netflix now.
Cosmopolitan
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
Where is Dov Charney now, the ‘disgraced' former American Apparel CEO?
Best known for their provocative and risque advertising campaigns – and their high-rise and high shine disco pants – American Apparel was the 'it' brand of the 2000s indie sleaze era. But behind its ultra-cool facade, was a whole lot of chaos, which the latest episode of Netflix's documentary series Trainwreck sets to explore. The Cult of American Apparel traces the stratospheric rise of the edgy and alt-cool clothing stores that sprung up seemingly overnight in the noughties, along with the brand's flamboyant CEO, Dov Charney, who the media dubbed 'King of Sleaze'. Seen to be the driving force behind the brand's success, Charney (initially anyway) appeared impervious to scandal, even after a shocking 2004 interview with Jane magazine was published during which he reportedly started masturbating in front of a journalist. The scandals linked to Charney didn't stop there either. He was also accused of sexual harassment, discrimination and assault (all of which he has firmly denied), which saw him later lose his role at American Apparel in 2014 – something he described as a 'coup'. Allegations of misconduct aside, Charney continues to work in the fashion industry. Here's what the former American Apparel owner is doing now and what happened to Dov Charney after his 'King of Sleaze' reign came to an end… Following his termination in 2014 from American Apparel following a string of allegations of wrongdoing, Charney told Bloomsberg in 2014 that he was down to his final $100,000 (around £72,800) and was forced to sleep on a friend's sofa in Manhattan. In May 2015 Charney filed a defamation lawsuit against Standard General, American Apparel's parent company, followed by a second complaint of fraud of conspiracy a month later, which saw him seek $100 million (around £72.8 million) in damages. In response, American Apparel released court documents which showed the alleged extent of Charney's accused misconduct – and they did not make for pleasant reading. As reported in the Los Angeles Times, Charney was alleged to have told accounting employees that they were 'Filipino pigs… with your faces in the trough', as well as miming holding a shotgun to an employee's forehead. Other accusations include stored footage on company equipment of himself having sex with models and employees, as well as sending sexually graphic texts to people he worked with. Lawyers on behalf of Charney denied all allegations, and pointed towards harassment lawsuits that had previously been filed by five former employers in 2011 all being being dismissed or going into arbitration. Charney's own lawsuits proved unsuccessful. His attempt to buy back American Apparel was rejected by a judge in 2016, and Charney's defamation lawsuit was thrown out the following year. Despite his legal losses and having to leave American Apparel, Charney did not exit the fashion industry altogether. Having described his practices at American Apparel as 'revolutionary' (all the clothing was made by American workers in a large factory in Downtown Los Angeles, where the senior team were also based), in 2016 he launched Los Angeles Apparel. The ethos is similar to American Apparel – supplying wholesale clothing to companies with all garments made in the US. In an interview in The Guardian about his new venture, Charney said that Los Angeles Apparel was his former company's natural successor: 'The people aren't different, the materials aren't different, the environment isn't different.' A cursory look at the Los Angeles Apparel Instagram page seems to agree, with the clothing, style and even advertising similar to Charney's previous venture. In another interview with Vice, Charney added that he wanted his new brand to have 'the same impact on the culture of young adults' as American Apparel did in its heyday. In 2017, just a year after Los Angeles Apparel started, Charney claimed in an interview with Bloomberg that he had expanded his operations to now have 350 employees (he also told the publication he 'lived and slept' at his new factory in South Central Los Angeles). However, 2020 had a severe impact on the business: the outbreak of coronavirus meant that Charney moved away from manufacturing wholesale basics and started making masks and medical gowns (something Charney said lost him money). While the factory was initially closed down on 27 June 2020, Charney maintained it was an essential business and reopened, according to CBS News. However, after an outbreak of Covid-19 in the factory saw 300 workers infected with the virus and four dying, Los Angeles Apparel was forced to cease operations for a month. In 2022, Charney filed for bankruptcy, with Bloomberg reporting substantial debts as much as $50 million (£36.4 million). But things are no longer so bleak for Charney. His Los Angeles Apparel business is still growing; on Instagram, Charney announced that Los Angeles Apparel is opening a new store in New York City later this year. Charney has also worked with Ye, formerly known as rapper Kanye West, in more recent years. In 2023, Rolling Stone reported Charney printed West's controversial 'White Lives Matter' shirts and had been involved in many talks, including some financial, with the Yeezy brand. Charney is thought to have now distanced himself from West after West's numerous antisemitic comments. Kimberley Bond is a Multiplatform Writer for Harper's Bazaar, focusing on the arts, culture, careers and lifestyle. She previously worked as a Features Writer for Cosmopolitan UK, and has bylines at The Telegraph, The Independent and British Vogue among countless others.
