Dov Charney | |
---|---|
Born | Montreal, Quebec, Canada | January 31, 1969
Dov Charney (born January 31, 1969) is a Canadian entrepreneur and clothing manufacturer. [1] [2] He was the CEO of Yeezy in 2023, and the founder of American Apparel, [3] which was one of the largest garment manufacturers in the United States until its bankruptcy in 2015. [4] Charney was fired from American Apparel due to numerous allegations including sexual harassment, racism, and sexual assault. [5] Charney subsequently founded Los Angeles Apparel. [6]
Charney was born in Montreal, Quebec on January 31, 1969. [7] His parents, Morris, an architect, and his mother, Sylvia, an artist of Syrian descent, divorced when he was young. [8] [9] [10] Charney is a nephew of architect Moshe Safdie. [11] Charney is dyslexic and was diagnosed with ADD in kindergarten. [7]
He attended Choate Rosemary Hall, a private boarding school in Connecticut [12] and St. George's School of Montreal. [13] According to Charney, he was heavily influenced by both Montreal culture and his own Jewish heritage. [11] [14]
While attending high school in the United States, Charney began importing Hanes and Fruit of the Loom t-shirts from the U.S. to his friends in Canada. In an interview with Vice, he described smuggling the shirts on Amtrak trains from New York to Montreal. [15]
Charney began selling t-shirts under the American Apparel name in 1989. [16] In 1990, he dropped out of Tufts University, borrowed $10,000 from his parents and established American Apparel in South Carolina. [17] Over the next several years, he spent time learning about manufacturing and wholesale before moving to Los Angeles in the mid-'90s. By 1997, Charney had moved all manufacturing into a factory located in downtown Los Angeles. [18] American Apparel products were marketed towards "young metropolitan adults." [19]
The company had about $12 million in sales by 2001. In 2003, Charney opened the first store in L.A.'s Echo Park neighborhood, followed by one each in New York and Montreal. Within two years, the company had expanded to Europe and opened 65 new stores. By 2006, there were 140 total stores. [20]
In 2009, it expanded to 281 total retail locations, making it "the fastest retail roll-out in American history." [21] In 2014, the company reported record sales of $634 million.[ citation needed ]
American Apparel under Charney's leadership was known for its simple and provocative ads, which rarely used professional models and whom were often chosen personally by Charney from local hangouts and stores. [22] He shot many of the advertisements himself [23] and was criticized for featuring models in sexually provocative poses. The campaigns were also lauded for honesty and lack of airbrushing. [24] [25]
In 2012, the company made headlines when it debuted an ad campaign featuring 62-year-old model Jacky O'Shaughnessy. [26]
American Apparel again stirred controversy in 2014 when they displayed mannequins with pubic hair in the window of their Lower East Side store. The company told Elle Magazine: [27]
American Apparel is a company that celebrates natural beauty, and the Lower East Side Valentine's Day window continues that celebration. We created it to invite passerbys to explore the idea of what is 'sexy' and consider their comfort with the natural female form. This is the same idea behind our advertisements, which avoid many of the photoshopped and airbrushed standards of the fashion industry. So far we have received positive feedback from those that have commented, and we're looking forward to hearing more points of view.
Legalize LA was an immigration reform campaign conceived by Charney and promoted by American Apparel beginning in 2004. The campaign featured billboards and full-page ads, as well as t-shirts with the words "Legalize LA." Proceeds from the sale of the shirts were donated to immigration reform advocacy groups. The campaign called for the overhaul of immigration laws so as to create a legal path for undocumented workers to gain citizenship in the United States. [1] [2]
In November 2008, after the passing of Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriages in California, Dov Charney and American Apparel created "Legalize Gay" T-shirts to hand out to protesters at rallies. The positive reaction led American Apparel to sell the same shirts in stores and online. [28] [ non-primary source needed ]
In an interview with Vice.tv, Charney spoke out against the poor treatment of fashion workers in developing countries and refers to the practices as "slave labor" and "death trap manufacturing." Charney proposed a "Global Garment Workers Minimum Wage" and discussed many of the inner workings of the modern fast fashion industry practices that creates dangerous factory conditions and disasters. [29]
Charney's own factories have been heavily scrutinized for labor violations. In 2020, public health officials ordered the shut-down of Los Angeles Apparel due to "flagrant violations of mandatory public health infection control orders." Charney was able to sidestep the initial lockdown measures and keep employees from unemployment benefits by reopening as an essential business making and selling masks. 300 workers were infected with COVID-19 and 4 workers died before the factory was ordered to close. [30]
Workers were also made to sign agreements releasing Charney and American Apparel from all legal claims against him or the company. These claims forced employees to go through mandatory arbitration, an internal process, and prevented lawsuits alleging workplace abuse from entering the public court system. [6]
American Apparel publicly suspended Charney on 18 June 2014, stating that they would terminate him for cause in 30 days. The termination letter given to Charney alleged that he had engaged in conduct that repeatedly put himself in a position to be sued by numerous former employees for claims that include harassment, discrimination, and assault. [6]
Paula Schneider, who took over as company CEO, stated that Charney was fired for violating sexual harassment and anti-discrimination policies and for misuse of corporate assets. [31]
Charney was "blindsided" by news of his termination, calling it a "coup." In court filings by his attorneys, it was alleged that the American Apparel CFO had planned to oust Charney, and that he was persuaded to sign a disastrous settlement that left him with no job and no control of the company, despite being the largest shareholder. Charney alleged that the investigation was biased on the grounds that it was conducted by those who benefitted from an outcome that weighed in their favor. Charney asserted that he has never been charged with any crime or found guilty or liable for any of the accusations against him. [6]
In December 2014, Charney was terminated as a chief executive officer after months of suspension. In December 2014, Charney told Bloomberg Businessweek he was down to his last $100,000 and that he was sleeping on a friend's couch in Manhattan. [32] Following his suspension as CEO in the summer of 2014, Charney teamed up with the Standard General hedge fund to buy stocks of the company to attempt a takeover. [33] In 2016, American Apparel board dismissed a $300 million offer from Hagan Group that pushed for Charney's comeback. [34]
In the wake of his dismissal, reports of Charney's management style emerged. Business Inside stated that Charney was unable to install a mature operational infrastructure to keep the company running smoothly, and didn't establish management bench strength for American Apparel. [6] Andrew Ross Sorkin, writing for the New York Times stated that Charney "should have been gone long ago, face of the brand or not." [35]
In 2016, Charney founded Los Angeles Apparel. He opened its first factory in South Central Los Angeles, with aims of replicating the successes he experienced in the 1990s with supplying wholesale clothing. The origins are similar to those he deployed while expanding American Apparel. [36] When interviewed by Vice News regarding his new venture, Charney said, "my previous company had an effect on the culture of young adults...I want to reconnect and do that again before I die". [37]
The company grew to over 350 staff during the second year of operation. During an interview with Bloomberg, Charney drew comparisons to the growth he experienced with American Apparel calling it the equivalent of "year eight". Charney expected the fashion line to grow to $20 million in revenue by 2018. [36]
Similar to American Apparel, the manufacturing of all Los Angeles Apparel garments are kept in the US to maintain low lead times and offer better completion times than overseas competitors. [38]
Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, Charney repurposed his business operations to help increased demand for PPE (Personal Protective Equipment). [39] According to the Los Angeles Times , Charney spotted shortages as early as February and this is when his apparel company began to consider manufacturing face masks. [40]
Charney was interviewed in March 2020 by a number of media outlets, speaking about his desire to turn Los Angeles Apparel into a medical equipment manufacturer during the pandemic. Los Angeles Apparel then began manufacturing face masks and medical gowns at the facility in South Central. Charney told The New York Times that he aimed to create 300,000 masks and 50,000 gowns each week. [41] In an interview, Charney said he was "losing money on the venture," as he was giving many of them away. [42]
In 2020, public health officials ordered the shut-down of Los Angeles Apparel due to "flagrant violations of mandatory public health infection control orders." Charney was able to sidestep the initial lockdown measures and keep employees from unemployment benefits by reopening as an essential business making and selling masks. 300 workers were infected with COVID-19 and 4 workers died before the factory was ordered to close. [30]
Charney has been the subject of several sexual harassment lawsuits, at least five since the mid-2000s, including allegations of sexual harassment, sexual assault, racist remarks, and abusive behavior against numerous employees. [43] [44] [45] [46] He has been accused of sexually harassing employees as young as 17. [47] Due to employees signing documents revoking legal claims against Charney or the company, many lawsuits were thrown out by the courts and had to go through internal arbitration at American Apparel. [6]
Charney denied the allegations, accusing lawyers in the lawsuits against American Apparel of extortion. [48] [49] [50] [51] [52] Charney has said numerous times that he sees no problem with sexually pursuing his employees. [53] [54]
In 2004, Claudine Ko of Jane magazine [55] published an essay narrating that Charney began masturbating in front of her while she was interviewing him. [24] [56] [57] [54] The article's publication brought extensive press to Charney. In a follow-up to her first article, Ko wrote that her article had been misconstrued, stating that her encounter with Charney "was being used to feed a flawed cliche where men are evil and omnipotent while women are mute victims lacking free will." She further questioned the notion that she had been taken advantage of: "Who was really exploited? We both were—American Apparel got press, I got one hell of a story. And that's it." Ko did not ever claim Charney masturbating in front of her was consensual. [58]
Charney lives in Garbutt House, a mansion atop a hill in Silver Lake. [7]
Hooters is the registered trademark used by two American restaurant chains: Hooters, Inc., based in Clearwater, Florida, and Hooters of America, Inc. based in Atlanta, Georgia, and owned by the private investment firm Nord Bay Capital. The Hooters name is a double entendre referring to both a North American slang term for women's breasts and the logo.
Michael Morhaime is an American video game developer and entrepreneur. He is the chief executive officer (CEO) and founder of Dreamhaven, located in Irvine, California. Morhaime is best known as the co-founder and the former president of Blizzard Entertainment, a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, Inc., that was founded in 1991 as Silicon & Synapse. He served on the Vivendi Games executive committee from January 1999, when Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. became a subsidiary of Vivendi Games, until July 2008.
Guess Inc. is an American clothing company, notable for its black-and-white advertisements. Guess licenses its brand on other fashion accessories, such as watches, jewelry, perfumes, bags and shoes.
A Made in USA mark is a country of origin label affixed to American-made products that indicates the product is "all or virtually all" domestically produced, manufactured and assembled in the United States of America. The label is regulated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
American Apparel Inc. is a North American clothing retailer. The brand began with operating retail stores between the late 1980s and late 2010s. Its operations are based in Los Angeles, California. Founded by Canadian businessman Dov Charney in spring 1989, it was a vertically integrated company that ranked as one of the largest apparel manufacturers and marketers in North America.
The 48 Laws of Power (1999) is a self-help book by American author Robert Greene. The book is a New York Times bestseller, selling over 1.3 million copies in the United States.
Westgate Resorts is an American timeshare resort company founded by David A. Siegel in 1982.
Terdema Lamar Ussery II, born on December 4, 1958, is primarily known for sexual harassment committed over the course of multiple decades in his longtime role as an executive for the Dallas Mavericks. Ussery was the president and CEO of the National Basketball Association’s Dallas Mavericks and used his position to harass female staff. Ussery has not been criminally charged for his harassment and remains employed: he currently holds the position of interim general counsel for Buena Vista Visions. However, the Mavericks conducted an extensive investigation in 2018 which corroborated a long list of accusations against Ussery. Ussery had left the Mavericks by the time of the investigation so could not be fired.
Michael Stanton Jeffries is an American businessman who was Chairman and CEO of clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch from 1992 to 2014. During Jeffries' tenure, he engineered a turnaround of Abercrombie & Fitch from a "fashion backwater" losing $25 million yearly to a lifestyle brand grossing $2 billion yearly by 2006, though this approach courted controversy with the advertising of semi-nude models, racially and sexually insensitive slogans, and the stance of marketing to "cool kids".
Legalize LA was an activist campaign promoting amnesty for illegal immigrants, propagated through billboards, protests, clothing, advertisements, educational pamphlets, and grass roots support, underwritten by American Apparel. Originating locally in Downtown Los Angeles, the company took the campaign national in early 2008.
Garbutt House is a 20-room mansion in the Silver Lake section of Los Angeles built from 1926 to 1928 as the residence of Frank A. Garbutt. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.
Jonny Makeup is an American socialite, musician and Internet personality. He got his start in the early 2000s as a nightlife performer and musician. This led to forays into the fashion industry, and appearances on E! Entertainment and Logo TV reality series.
Riot Games, Inc. is an American video game developer, publisher, and esports tournament organizer based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in September 2006 by Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill to develop League of Legends and went on to develop several spin-off games and the unrelated first-person shooter game Valorant. In 2011, Riot Games was acquired by Chinese conglomerate Tencent. Its publishing arm, Riot Forge, oversaw the production of League of Legends spin-offs by other developers until its shutdown in January 2024. The company worked with Fortiche to release Arcane, a television series based on the League of Legends universe.
Travis Cordell Kalanick is an American businessman best known as the co-founder and former chief executive officer (CEO) of Uber. Previously he worked for Scour, a peer-to-peer file sharing application company, and was the co-founder of Red Swoosh, a peer-to-peer content delivery network that was sold to Akamai Technologies in 2007.
Sean Rad is an American entrepreneur and Founder of the dating app Tinder. Rad launched Tinder in 2012 and by 2014 the company was recording one billion "swipes" a day.
Los Angeles Apparel is a manufacturer, designer and distributor of clothing based in South-Central Los Angeles. The company was founded in 2016 by Dov Charney, the founder of American Apparel. Los Angeles Apparel is a vertically integrated manufacturer, and currently employs over 1,500 personnel.
The 2018 Google walkouts occurred on November 1, 2018 at approximately 11 am. The walkout had a large number of participants. The employees demanded five concrete changes from the company: an end to forced arbitration; a commitment to end pay inequality; a transparent sexual harassment report; an inclusive process for reporting sexual misconduct; and elevate the Chief of Diversity to answer directly to the CEO and create an Employee Representative. A majority of the known organizers have left the company since the walkout and many continue to voice their concerns. Google agreed to end forced arbitration and create a private report of sexual assault, but has not provided any further details about the other demands.
California Department of Fair Employment and Housing v. Activision Blizzard is a current lawsuit filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH), now the Civil Rights Department (CRD) against video game developer Activision Blizzard in July 2021. The lawsuit asserts that management of Activision Blizzard allowed and at times encouraged sexual misconduct towards female employees, that the company maintained a "frat boy" culture, and that the company's hiring and employment practices were discriminatory against women.
ABK Workers Alliance is a group of organized workers from video game company Activision Blizzard. Formed in response to a July 2021 state lawsuit against the company for harassment and discriminatory work practices, the worker advocacy group A Better ABK organized walkouts and demonstrations against the company's policy and practices. The quality assurance workers of subsidiary Raven Software went on strike in December after part of the team was fired. The striking workers announced their union as the Game Workers Alliance in late January 2022 and offered to end the strike pending their union's recognition.
Yeezy is a media and fashion brand founded by American rapper, designer, and entrepreneur Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, on August 6, 2013. Incorporating fashion and music entities, it first began producing clothing in 2015 during and for the Yeezy Season 2 runway show. The partnership between Adidas and Yeezy was ended prematurely in October 2022 after Adidas terminated the contract. Yeezy is the subsidiary of Yeezy LLC, West’s main company that was incorporated on May 16, 2016.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)Charney has been the subject of several, unproven, sexual harassment suits and claims to have been victimised by the media in the past. He said that he used Woody Allen in his company's ads because he wanted to draw attention to the way he and Allen—both high-profile Jews—had been treated.
The 'confidential arbitration' was in fact a charade. One of Nelson's attorneys, the 2nd District said, later described it as 'a 'fake arbitration' designed to produce a press release calculated to blunt negative media attention.'
The court went on to say that 'the proposed press release is materially misleading — among other things, no real arbitration of a dispute occurred and [the] plaintiff received $1.3 million in compensation.'