So t-shirt and bodysuit pitstop American Apparel has been embroiled in tons of controversy lately!
First, one of their showroom reps admitted that plus size girls were ‘not their demographic’. Then Jezebel noticed that a lot of their skimpier products like disco skirts and pleated skirts only came in ittie bittie sizes (nothing bigger than a size 6).
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The latest ‘on no they didn’t‘ move by the LA based company comes in regards to their hiring policies for women of color. A former American Apparel manager sent Gawker a few guidelines she was told to follow when hiring. For black women, she was told, “none of the trashy kind that come in, we don’t want that. we’re not trying to sell our clothes to them. Try to find some of these classy black girls, with nice hair, you know?”
She continued, “…I will remember that forever, especially the “nice hair” part. He was instructing another manager and I on who to look for during an upcoming open call, and I sat there dumbfounded, listening to him speak while the other manager made “uh huh, got it” sounds on her end of the phone. The other manager on the call with me later became a district manager, and at one point instructed me to tell two of my employees (both of whom happened to be black females) to stop straightening their hair. I refused to do this, but wondered if the mentality behind her request was related to what Dov (the CEO) had said.”
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Hmm, none of this surprises me. And might I also add that when searching for brown skinned girls to illustrate this post, homegirl above is the darkest shade I could find? I’d say they have another unspoken ‘beauty’ stipulation, at least for their models of color, that reminds me of pre-Civil Rights America’s paper bag test. #Imjustsayin
Of course hearing about this makes me less likely to shop at American Apparel, which is totally fine. Their products are subpar and overpriced. The pictures on their website and their ads are generally revolting, offensive, and border on soft core porn (on the European site, you can see full on nipple).
I will pass, pass I say!
What say you?
Source: Hello Beautiful
June 15, 2010 3:55 am
[...] here to see the original: American Apparel Allegedly only Hires Black Women with 'Nice Hair … Tags: apparel, hires, hires-black, their, their-demographic, time, urban Published by admin on [...]
June 15, 2010 8:15 am
Yeah I noticed the lack of dark skin on the site too. There might be some black guys on the male model side of AA, but no girls.
They seem like they’re trying to get away with hiring the “universal girl” (the one who can pass for several different ethnic groups).
And the nice hair comment usually translates to mixed girl.
June 15, 2010 9:01 am
I believe this is nothing new, even our own black people do this to each other. AA should have the right to decide who they want to represent them and if they don’t like the trashy kind so be it.
June 15, 2010 9:07 am
Their UK site has one model with natural “right out of your head” hair. It’s sad I have to search so hard. http://www.americanapparel.eu/gallery/photocollections/models/keondra/
June 15, 2010 9:34 am
Not surprised…nor offended. I don’t think in those lower realms of ignorance, therefore, I shan’t (yes, shall NOT) entertain the likes of. I will continue to support growing lines such as H&M and Forever(Faith)21!
June 15, 2010 10:59 am
well this is it for me. no wonder american apparel is about to go bankrupt. part of the reason is because they refuse to make clothes that fit people over a size 6 or 12 depending on what item of clothing it is and another part is they are fending off sexual harrassment suits from their own female employees that have been sexually accosted by that perverted jackass ceo, dov charney. not to mention the vulgar aa billboards of women i’ve seen posted in nyc. i had reservations about buying things there before, and would only go there once in a while for a dress i liked, but after hearing this, i refuse to support a bunch of white people openly imposing a paper bag test on black people in 2010. i hope their black employees get wind of this and sue them to hell and back.
June 15, 2010 11:00 am
btw, the girls in the second photo, do look trashy, slutty, and disgraceful. no one should be dressed like that in public.
June 15, 2010 11:12 am
I don’t see how the girls in the second pic look so different from the other girl…just add heels to the other girl and voila. trash. I think American Apparel clothes are trashy by nature
June 15, 2010 11:20 am
I happened to run across this image on their website of a black girl modeling their clothes. http://www.americanapparel.net/morephotos/rnt65/rnt65_09.jpg
June 15, 2010 11:26 am
@stop, i don’t remember saying that the other girl didn’t look trashy, in the second pic, with her butt hanging out of those shorts, she does too. but 1. at least she was paid wear those clothes, at a photoshoot 2. she doesn’t have triple E sized breasts wearing a leotard split open to her CROTCH in public. those other three actually paid money to go outside and look like they were about to go on the ho stroll. sorry if that bothers you.
June 15, 2010 12:03 pm
oh my…this is so distrubing….having been shopping there lately anyway. Definitely overpriced…but some of us do have a habit of letting others define us…good hair…definitely heard that before.
June 15, 2010 12:17 pm
UMMMMMM- Let’s talk about the three girls up top!!! WTF THEY WENT TO THE CLUB LIKE THAT???? Anyways, I’ve seen African American and Latino/a (dark-skinned) associates working in a few of the AA’s I’ve visited and one of them had dreads? This is bologna. That store is just like every other overpriced trend out there- used and abused.
June 15, 2010 1:24 pm
yeah their clothes are poorly made and not worth more than 1 dollar. And unfortunately i am not surprised by this associate policy. Racism and discrimination exists in all industries. It is just sad that we still have to deal with it.
June 15, 2010 2:18 pm
While I completely agree that this is disgusting and ridiculous, people wearing clothes that are not right for their body type (like the women pictured above) give designers further reason to only make clothing in sample sizes. Some people will always push the limit though–literally. Sigh.
As far as the colorism and good hair comments made by AA, as Black people, we have a responsibility to chose the brands that we support wisely. Remember, shopping at places like AA and Abercrombie will only perpetuate a lack of unity and self-respect in our community.
No more AA for me!
June 15, 2010 3:48 pm
I didn’t have any issues with AA refusing to carry large sizes. However, this news is ridiculous. I would launch a boycott except I don’t shop there to begin with. I agree with Claire that their goods are sub-par and waaaay overpriced.
June 15, 2010 4:39 pm
I’m sure the girls only had that on for Halloween.. Well at least I hope. But they don’t look any trashier than alot of the AA ads.. No more AA for me. I used to love their different styles of tshirts. But they can *shove em*
June 15, 2010 4:47 pm
LOL@ the All the Parties pic accompanied with the article, it kinda backs their point LOL. I don’t shop at American Apparel moreso bc they dont have one in my area than the clothes but I dont think someone’s hair type or hair style should determine whether they get hired or not. BTW Im au natural.
June 15, 2010 5:07 pm
Ladies lets keep it real, especially all the BLACK LADIES!! You know that what they’re wearing looks trashy on them. There are so many other ways to wear those body suits, why would you wear it like that?!!! Its tacky and in my opinion. You have to have a NICE BODY and good looks to pull that off. Its quite obvious that they are only wearing those bodysuits to seek attention. I’m black myself but I’m only being honest and keeping it real. Also if you havent’ seen any black chics working at American Apparel then maybe you really don’t shop there, because I know I have. Hate on my comment if you want, but lets stop pulling the BLACK CARD and start keeping it real!!
June 15, 2010 5:11 pm
I’ve never had an issue going into AA. I honestly think they look like crap and it is an obvious embarrassment to the clothing line. It doesn’t matter what race you are. I’ve seen plenty of black people in AA when I shop there and yes they had nappy hair and yes they weren’t that hot. Don’t pull the black card based on someone’s fashion accident.
June 15, 2010 7:07 pm
so ture also if you go in to their store you see the only hire black ppl that thinks they are white if you know wat i mean
June 15, 2010 11:26 pm
Gonna have to agree with Trish here. I’m a regular shopper at AA, in fact I’m there every other week and I see black sales associates that do not meet the requirements that is stated by the former employee in that quote. I’m not saying they’re not like that in other locations but one of the reasons I started shopping at AA was the fact that I saw one of the sales associates that didn’t have straight hair and didn’t look like she could ‘blend in’ putting up a nice dress in the window. I felt a little more comfortable knowing I could waltz right in there without anyone looking at my cross eyed so shrugs I don’t know.
PS And no I don’t think I’m white, I just like their clothes.
June 16, 2010 10:28 am
I’m not surprised, the body type alone disqualifies and a lot of women of color that typically have curvier body types. Like you mentioned their clothes ain’t all that anyways, the material is crap and over priced. I’ll take my money else where.
June 18, 2010 10:38 pm
first of all i am black, i shop at AA I like it. the comments are disturbing yes, but Americans are rasicts, sizests and some are stupid black ones and white ones. I live in toronto and nearly all the AA’s have black people working there. Every clothing store has a mandate of their ‘ideal’ sales person AA is just having their foolishness put out there. As for the 3 ‘trashy girls’. I think they have sexy bodies. nothing wrong with them. they are shaped kind of like Amber rose who frequently wears body suit in public but thats cool cause she is white, right. what about lady gaga its cool for her too because she is skinny, but she is ugly so wouldnt that make her look trashy aswell. please.
June 28, 2010 6:29 pm
American Apparel’s misogyny getting more attention…
My blog readers will be interested in your post so added a trackback to it on CatholicTide…
July 4, 2010 1:35 am
The girls in the party pics DO look a hot mess, and while the statement made by the manager might be implied, I don’t think it’s the reality of who’s actually hired at AA. At my local AA there’s a black lady who wears her natural hair, and let’s just say it’s not “nice hair”.
January 29, 2011 1:28 pm
i once applied for a position and i had to email them a picture which i thought was weird
May 20, 2012 5:06 pm
whyyy are those black girls shown in this article when they have nothinggggg to do with it???!!! wfff. thats only perpetuating the stereotype that black girls are trashy .UGHH TAKE IT DOWN DAMMIT.