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AA was built on their wholesale business, and only later built their direct sales model. So it's hard for me to believe 'edgy' had much to do with their initial

AA was built on their wholesale business, and only later built their direct sales model. So it's hard for me to believe 'edgy' had much to do with their initial growth. As of Q1 2015, retail sales still only made up about half of their total sales[1]. I don't think the wholesale buyer is interested in edginess, but rather price/quality/variety, which, IMO, AA had, especially considering it was all domestically made. [1] http://investors.americanapparel.net/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=912429 http://investors.americanapparel.net/releasedetail.cfm?Relea...

rhino369 11y ago
But that expansion into direct sales and direct branding may have been the fatal move. If they expanded too quickly and took on debt (and you pretty much have to if you are doing retail stores) then you can get into a bad situation. It's possible the wholesale business is still profitable, but the retail portion has sunk the entire company. I have no clue if that is what happened, but it certainly is possible.