American Apparel Just Relaunched As…American Apparel

When Canadian brand Gildan acquired American Apparel for a cool $88 million in January of this year, it only bought American Apparel’s intellectual property (the name, brand, and designs), leaving its operations (the stores and factories) to shutter. That move revealed Gildan’s strategy: Keep American Apparel alive, only dial down the made-in-America part. CEO Glenn Chamandy went on to confirm this tactic with investors earlier this year, revealing that the new AA would still offer some products made on American soil but that Gildan, which specializes in making cheap basics with its global supply chain, would essentially be taking American Apparel international. This week Gildan relaunched American Apparel’s e-commerce site and, yep: it’s the same photography (though a slightly less…provocative edit), same logo, and same clothes. The only difference, other than the fact that the assortment has been edited down to American Apparel’s greatest hits, is that most of the pieces are now what Gildan is calling “globally made” and therefore cheaper. In other words: American Apparel isn’t quite so American anymore. Read more at GQ.