All American Sex
Katie Connolly
Issue date: 10/25/06 Section: Features
The new American Apparel store in Harvard Square is hard to miss. Rows of bright tees hang against blindingly white walls. Mannequins sport neon legwarmers with pride. But it's the marketing that really catches the eye. In an otherwise innocuous shopping strip, the store's explicit front window display raised enough eyebrows to prompt the management to take it down.
A jejune, thong-clad girl on all fours, looking suggestively over her shoulder was one of several seductive images greeting shoppers during American Apparel's opening week in Cambridge.
The L.A. based company boasts anti-fashion fashion. The store hawks trendy, logo-free and print-free basics - tees, sweats, hoodies and y-front underwear (for girls and boys). The company also prides itself on being sweatshop free.
"Everything in the store is made in LA. We are vertically integrated, which means that production, design and manufacturing all happen under one roof," Harvard Square store manager Emily Twombly explains.
"Our factory workers are paid comparatively well. They get a minimum of $12/hour and really good benefits - including free massages. We are a progressive company and we are a young company. I think that shows in our products." But it was their advertising not their business model that got the Harvard Square community talking.
"We have had mixed reviews for our provocative ads. That display was not well received. I think it drove people away," Twombly said. "We did have complaints - one from a man, but mainly from women. It would have been good to start off on a better footing but Harvard Square is kind of old school."
Such discord plays directly into the hands of American Apparel CEO, Dov Charney, who is deliberately working to establish a risky brand image and toy with standards of sexiness. Likened to Hugh Hefner by The New York Times, Charney himself is a magnet for controversy; three sexual harassment suits were filed against him last year.
True to American Apparel trademarks - stark lighting, minimal makeup, unplucked eyebrows, and underarm stubble - the store's provocative images prompted diverse reactions from KSG students.
A jejune, thong-clad girl on all fours, looking suggestively over her shoulder was one of several seductive images greeting shoppers during American Apparel's opening week in Cambridge.
The L.A. based company boasts anti-fashion fashion. The store hawks trendy, logo-free and print-free basics - tees, sweats, hoodies and y-front underwear (for girls and boys). The company also prides itself on being sweatshop free.
"Everything in the store is made in LA. We are vertically integrated, which means that production, design and manufacturing all happen under one roof," Harvard Square store manager Emily Twombly explains.
"Our factory workers are paid comparatively well. They get a minimum of $12/hour and really good benefits - including free massages. We are a progressive company and we are a young company. I think that shows in our products." But it was their advertising not their business model that got the Harvard Square community talking.
"We have had mixed reviews for our provocative ads. That display was not well received. I think it drove people away," Twombly said. "We did have complaints - one from a man, but mainly from women. It would have been good to start off on a better footing but Harvard Square is kind of old school."
Such discord plays directly into the hands of American Apparel CEO, Dov Charney, who is deliberately working to establish a risky brand image and toy with standards of sexiness. Likened to Hugh Hefner by The New York Times, Charney himself is a magnet for controversy; three sexual harassment suits were filed against him last year.
True to American Apparel trademarks - stark lighting, minimal makeup, unplucked eyebrows, and underarm stubble - the store's provocative images prompted diverse reactions from KSG students.
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