"Sheer Loopiness" after American Apparel Goes Public
Maybe it's just the effect of repeated, unending exposure, but Dov Charney, the self-described "Jewish hustler" and lech behind American Apparel, seems to get cuter every week. This weekend, the WSJ intoned about the company recently going public: "American Apparel is opening the kimono — and it's not necessarily a pretty sight." A totally fun WSJ video of Dov follows.
First of all—thanks for the visual! American Apparel has admitted it "suffers a number of 'material weaknesses.'"
Apparently that includes a whole bunch of boring capital-related things that you don't care about, but then Dov livens things up by calling his CFO a "loser":
"In an interview March 20, Mr. Charney said his current chief financial officer, Ken Cieply, "has no credibility" in the retail apparel industry and is a "complete loser." Mr. Cieply says: "The only thing I can say is I'm surprised ... There are times when Dov is frustrated." In a followup telephone interview, Mr. Charney Friday called his own words "juvenile."
And then, the weird female-employee situation is practically a required part of any American Apparel profile at this point:
Mr. Charney stages provocative photo shoots in the basement of his Los Angeles mansion — a hilltop perch filled with stacks of his vintage porn magazines. On a recent evening [at his Los Angeles mansion], a young female employee served Mr. Charney tomatoes over rice while another, dressed in underwear and a T-shirt, was quizzed by her boss on competing brands.
We'll assume she is paid in legwarmers, tchotchkes, and underwear.