American Apparel

American Apparel is a clothing brand known for cotton basics, graphic T-shirts, underwear, and casual wear, now operating primarily as an online and wholesale business under Gildan Activewear Inc. The brand sells its core assortment through its own e-commerce site and through wholesale channels that supply blank and branded product to screen printers, decorators, and other apparel buyers. As of December 2024, American Apparel functions far more as a label within a larger portfolio than as a chain of branded stores.

The company traces its roots to 1989, when founder Dov Charney began importing blank T-shirts and then built a domestic manufacturing and wholesale business in the early 1990s. American Apparel was formally incorporated in 1998 and spent the 2000s growing from a basics supplier into a well-known retail banner. At its peak, the company was recognized for its downtown Los Angeles production, provocative advertising, and a large fleet of company-owned stores in major global cities. By around 2013, it operated more than 260 retail locations worldwide and employed over 10,000 people, making it one of the most visible U.S. basics retailers of that period.

A key turning point came with financial and operational strain. Heavily leveraged and facing declining sales and leadership turmoil, American Apparel Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2015 and again in 2016. A notable milestone in the brand’s evolution followed in early 2017, when Canadian manufacturer Gildan Activewear acquired the American Apparel name and selected assets. The deal largely excluded the existing store fleet and most U.S. manufacturing facilities, and the former NASDAQ-listed retailer ceased to operate as an independent public company.

Under Gildan’s ownership, American Apparel has been reshaped over roughly the last five years into a lean brand platform supported by Gildan’s global supply chain and commercial footprint. Production and sourcing moved into Gildan’s broader system, and the focus shifted to online direct-to-consumer sales, wholesale imprintables, and brand licensing rather than building or operating a large brick-and-mortar network. As of December 2024, any American Apparel–branded stores that remain are limited in number, often legacy or outlet in nature, and not part of a publicly signaled rollout of new locations.

For landlords, brokers, and developers, this means American Apparel is no longer the inline mall or high-street tenant it once was when it was actively opening company-owned stores around the world. The brand’s current “footprint” is concentrated in digital channels and in wholesale programs that place its product into other operators’ physical spaces. Site selection for any physical presence runs through Gildan’s broader channel planning and real estate decisions, and the brand is more likely to appear as part of a multi-brand offering or shop-in-shop concept than as a standalone expanding chain. As of December 2024, there is no indication of a renewed, dedicated store expansion program for American Apparel, and its role in retail real estate is best understood in the context of Gildan’s portfolio strategy rather than as an independent driver of new lease demand.