Comments on: Looking good without Dov

By: Siel

Siel — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 00:58:51 +0000

Hey natalia — Thanks for the great links :) They’ll be useful to many of us :)

By: natalia

natalia — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 16:37:47 +0000

here’s a list of places you can buy non-sexualized, non-creepy anti-union-busting sweat-free clothing:

http://www.newdream.org/consumer/clothing.php
http://www.justgarments.net/

dov charney really, really creeps me the f*ck out. he has been sued for sexual harassment three times.

and even though i consider myself a sweatshop activist you won’t catch me dead in an AA store. save your pedophilic photos and masturbation-employee fantasies for the FBI, thank you very much.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 06:53:13 +0000

Does AA have any major competitors?

By: eddy

eddy — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 03:56:17 +0000

all i know is that Dov is my fucking hero.
he should really run for public office.
you people need to find something better to do.
or you could keep promoting his tees :)

By: Siel

Siel — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 19:51:37 +0000

Too true about the difficulty of finding non sweatshop clothing — Even for us, girls living in urban areas of Cali!

That said, we’re lucky to have it easier than most, yes? Wanna go shopping when I’m up in NoCal later this month? I’m esp. curious about the Global Exchange stores –

By: elsamary

elsamary — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 18:41:39 +0000

Hi Siel–I’m not saying that people shouldn’t seek out non-AA clothing if they can. But the vast majority of people in mall-ified America are lucky if they even get AA as a shopping option. If it’s a toss-up between buying AA or clothes from a mainstream company that uses sweatshops and non-organic ingredients, then I say buy AA, because your dollars are at least supporting some good practices and showing the marketplace that there’s demand for that. There are skeletons in every company’s closet, so if you don’t want to support AA’s particular skeletons (some of which are out in the open), then I encourage anyone to hunt for other eco-friendly clothing options–which you’re doing, great! Ideally, we should all only support companies whose practices match our conscience. The reality is that these options remain hard to find and expensive for *most* people, maybe with the exception of resale. That’s changing as more people buy eco-friendly, workplace-friendly clothesâ€¦including those from AA. Though that doesn’t mean I’m running out to buy anything from themâ€¦in fact, I want to hunt for and support non-AA clothes too! Guess I left that part out.

By: esteban

esteban — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 06:44:00 +0000

Agreed, the greenest way to go is to buy second-hand.

However, if you’re buying new things, I can’t recommend the world’s first and only worker-owned free-trade zone highly enough. Their products are marketed by Maggie’s Clean Clothes in Ypsilanti, MI. I’ve been to the co-op a dozen times (I used to live near it) and Maggie’s twice. I did an interview with the gringos involved in the co-op, which you can read here, and one with the owner of Maggie’s here.

By: Anna

Anna — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 05:23:25 +0000

one of my fave eco friendly clothing options: crossroads trading co., thrift store on 4th near promenade. they take clothes for trade or cash (they are way picky, but makes for good threads) and the 1/2 off racks are great deal…..

if really going green, always helps to avoid buying new “stuff”.

By: Siel

Siel — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 01:53:16 +0000

elsamary — I’m not endorsing sweatshops. My point is that it’s not AA vs. sweatshops, nor AA vs. nudity. There are options beyond American Apparel.

Back to socio-eco friendly clothing stores — I’d like to think it takes some effort to reach Dov’s level of notoriety. I’m with Pandagon: “In many workplaces that you donâ€™t see the sexual harassment and abuse going on, it doesnâ€™t necessarily mean itâ€™s happening behind closed doorsâ€“yes, in many cases itâ€™s just that itâ€™s not happening at all.”

Of course, that’s not true in all cases. But I don’t get the “other companies MIGHT be sexually harrasing employees so we may as well shop at AA” argument…

By: elsamary

elsamary — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 01:32:00 +0000

I agree with Siel’s problems with the so-called “sexually free” workplace at AA and applaud the efforts to find “socio-eco-friendly clothes.” Still, I think that if you’re choosing between, say, a department store non-fair-trade t-shirt and an American Apparel one, it would be silly not buy the AA t-shirt just because of Dov. As Organelle says, there are probably plenty of hidden evils behind the scenes at other clothing makers’ shops. For example, what about the sexual abuse of workers in sweatshops, especially in places where women’s rights aren’t a concern?