American Apparel, known for its raunchy ads, flirty U.S.A.-made cotton T-shirts, and progressive principles (pro-sex, anti-sweatshop), was an iconic fashion brand of the 2000s. But scandal consumed it as its founder, Dov Charney, fought allegations of sexual misconduct, and the company filed for bankruptcy in 2015. In Strip Tees (Holt, July), Kate Flannery writes about her years as a spokesmodel for the brand, and the company’s charismatic, problematic founder.
You write in the book that you graduated into a “Californicated America.” What does that mean?
I graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 2003. It was a post-9/11, post-AIDS, sex-positive environment. We all thought, let’s party! We’re post-feminism! It was the perfect storm to bring me into American Apparel, where calling out sexual harassment was seen as buying into a culture of victimhood.
The language American Apparel used to recruit you evokes a cult—is that how it felt?
At my first job, at Urban Outfitters, I saw what was really going on behind the scenes in fashion—sweatshops making clothes, executives courting controversy. I wanted to be a part of something that made a difference. I was right in there with that cult language—“you’re one of us,” “this is a revolution.”
What was so enticing about Charney?
He was charismatic. He had Peter Pan syndrome. He broke all the rules. It was good to be in his circle, and we thrived under his attention. There was no distinction between work and personal life: my whole world was the job. That’s why it took me so long after leaving to write about it—those were and still are my closest friends.
What would you tell young women today who are thinking of taking a job like this?
I wish I had better advice. I still fall into misogynistic traps all the time. But young women these days—they seemingly take way less shit. Part of it is social media. It’s still the same messed-up stuff that’s been going on, but we hear about it more.
What were some of the challenges in writing about this experience?
There’s a betrayal involved in writing about other people. I was really nervous about telling my friend Caralee, who appears in the book. She’s still tight with Dov. It’s a testament to his charisma that so many of those women are still with him. I still find myself buying things from his new company, Los Angeles Apparel—it’s the only place I can get made-in-America string bikinis.
