American Apparel

Yes, I’m old. No, I am not a mutant. Having lived in Los Angeles for more than a decade, I knew better than to step into American Apparel because of the abhorrent behavior and business practices of its owner. But I had new bangs and time to spare before dinner, so I popped in to check out the sale rack. Gen X ladies need leotards and crop tops too.
A nearly empty store and was completely ignored by a staff member (she saw me walk in) while she tripped over herself to help teenagers who walked in :30s behind me. This same employee lingered around my changing room and then followed me as I very kindly walked to put the clothes back where I found them. Realizing she was stalking me, I halted my philanthropy in making her job easier, tossed the rompers on the closest rack and got the heck outta Washington Ave.
The only small (teeny tiny) redemption was another young woman who helped me at one point in my visit. This unfortunate experience has solidified my dislike of the company as a whole. For any AA store managers reading this, I’d be happy to provide the date /​time and description of the employee, if you care to know who is representing your shop. I had time, money and the willingness to wear spandex and gold lamé. Maybe this was all just a big conspiracy to say, «Hey, lady! No!» Who knows. But it worked.

Not going back. I am an African American young professional woman. I went in to shop and while in the dressing room cops were called. I came out to two cops watching me. They looked at me and then at the employee and said, «we will be close by if you need us» — unbelievable! They had nothing in stock and the employees were not helpful.

This location definitely has the least attentive and helpful staff compared to stores in L.A. and Chicago. There’s no excuse for that when the Royal Oak shop is absolutely dead.

It is so sad that I love american apparels clothing but I hate there customer service skills! There are some that are attentive while others completely ignore you and act as if I’m annoying them. I have had two really bad experiences with this place… once I asked for a small crop top and the guy stated loud and rude your not a small and shook his head at me. I was humiliated! Then during my last visit to the store I went to the counter to purchase an item and return the other items from the dressing room when the sales associate told me I was missing a shirt as if I had stole a $ 30 crop top. I politely told him it was in the pile he then repeated it like 4x the white shirt is missing. Now everyone in the store is starring at me. He started acting frantic and then realized the very tiny top was right in his hand. He shamefully looked at me and rung up my shirt while in a very low unapologetic voice says my bad. I was in awe and really needed this white top for an event that night. I usually do not support places that I receive bad service from but I really like there trendy clothes. Last but not least there was a cute skater dress that originally was priced at $ 48 but I guess since it was so popular they decided to raise it to $ 78! Wtf is this a designer dress cause the thing is so small there is no reason it should ever be $ 80! Disappointed customer ;(

American Apparel is certainly not my favorite store (by a long shot), and I know it inspires lots of impassioned opinions, but this location is not too bad. I went here on the recommendation of my aerial yoga teacher because she said they would have good choices for potential costumes. They definitely had lots of options, many of which were incredibly skimpy or ridiculously small (I saw a «sports bra» that my age 11 mini-​boobs would not have been able to fit into) but I found what I was looking for without too much difficulty.
The sales staff was pleasant enough, and the girl working the checkout counter even asked if I was shopping for a performance. It’s got that judgey hipster vibe, but it wasn’t too bad (plus, because I’m chicken, I took my mom to provide a buffer :-)). It’s not a place I would shop at regularly, but this visit was not nearly as painful as I expected it to be.

It blows my mind that people give this place one star reviews.
In response to the girl who dislikes American Apparel and everything they stand for:
So you are not a fan of buying things that are made in this country by your fellow citizens?
Are you more into the idea of slave children making your stuff and it being marked up 800% than paying a little more for someone who is making a fair wage?
Not a fan of clothing made with sustainability in mind?
Looking for more of an Ed Hardy thing on your shirts rather than the minimalism that A.A. offers?
People don’t deal with the C.E.O. of the company when they go into the store so what does him being a sleazeball have to do with their shopping experience?
I wish more businesses would go in the direction of American Apparel, sexual harassment aside. Look at the tags on your clothing to see where they are made and do some research on the child labor laws in those countries. Things far worse than flirting are going down. I think $ 20 for a t-​shirt will seem a bargain in comparison. AND if more people cared about this, the prices of slave labor made clothing would eventually go up and places like (rare optimism) American Apparel would bring their prices down due to increased demand. There used to be a thriving textile industry in the U.S. and now this is all we have left. It’s time to start doing something to help our country instead of waiting for Washington to do it.
Now that I have gotten MY political rant out there, I really like almost every single piece of clothing I have bought here.
I am not a super skinny dude, I would say average. I wear a medium t-​shirt and the medium shirts at A.A. fit me just fine — the way a medium should fit. I still have every A.A. shirt going back five or six years. They last forever and are always comfortable.
The socks last forever and are very comfortable.
When they were making denim I bought a pair and wore them out. I was sad when I went in to replace them to find that they didn’t have any more jeans.
People need to think before dropping a one star review on a place that is clearly not deserving of it. Because the clerks look fey and indifferent doesn’t mean that is how they are when you ask them for help. I am not a 20 year old hipster but I do not feel intimidated by the employees here. They are actually very helpful and friendly if you talk to them.
And lastly, if you don’t like what you find in the store, come back in a few months. They are constantly changing designs.
Buy American!
(I am old enough to remember that slogan from when I was a kid, now I realize its importance and relevance)

I’ve always gotten great service here, so I’m not sure what others are talking about. And no, I’m not the holster type lol. I enjoy shopping here because if i find a silhouette I like I can order it in multiple colors. I know how things fit. Everything is pre-​washed so what I’m trying on at the store is the same as what I’m getting at home size-​wise. I also like that the focus is more on color than print because it makes it easier for me to mix and match. As for the «made in America» ethos, that didn’t really impact my decision to shop there, but I guess it’s a cool perk.

i really dislike american apparel and pretty much everything they stand for– if you’ve ever read an article about its owner dov charney you would understand.
but anyways i was hungry and driving to sonic at 2AM and glanced in the window of american apparel for a split second.
there were people, real people, sitting in a circle on the floor staring at the floor and doing some strange movements, like a weird yoga or something. 2AM. yoga. american apparel.
honestly i thought they were fashion zombies or something. i was very afraid. i told a friend to drive there and look too so i knew i wasn’t just hallucinating from hunger and it was confirmed. yoga fashion zombies wearing unitards at 2am.
i had nightmares for days about zombie hipster leotard cults. not stepping foot in there.
i don’t know. to make this more of a review, one time i bought a V-​Neck here for $ 25 and i thought that was really overpriced (it was a gift). and then the employee was wearing a 1950s circus style swimsuit and was very very hairy and totally a girl. i waited at the desk for 15 minutes for someone to help me and then the person who checked me out didn’t say a single word to me.
this place just gives me the heeby jeebies in general.

American Apparel, one of the most polarizing places ever. I personally really enjoy their styles and their fits. Some of my favorite band t-​shirts are American Apparel, as well as one of my favorite hoodies. Their stuff fits me really well, and I look pretty dapper in it. However, their prices are just f%^&ing stupid. $ 25 for a V-​Neck? woohooooo! The only time I got to ACTUALLY shop here was with my $ 50 Groupon. I was glad. I got some nice stuff.
Service for this particular location was… alright. The one guy seemed very uninterested in helping me and more interested in moving things around and looking very hip. The girl though, she was great. She answered my questions about shrinkage and the like, and was at the fitting rooms giving me a yes/​no for sizing. My friend had the style part down, but I needed her advice on if it was going to shrink into a childs size shirt.
I will come back. And when I get the money and have a job where I have to wear polos, I will come here and buy their polos. Because they are no BS, no frills, good fitting polos. I like you American Apparel, but hire a couple more people that girl who actually want to help customers.

I like AA for two reasons. First, they have simple styles in many different colors. Second, their merchandise is sweatshop-​free, made in the USA, which is very hard to find these days.
Expensive, maybe. But part of their prices reflect the fact that these clothes are not made in a country with poor worker’s rights. I choose to pay a fair price for the goods I buy, so this is ‘guilt-​free’ shopping, if you will.
As far as sizing goes, it matches what most of the world considers small, medium and large – both for guys and girls. I’d say it’s more truthful than many other retail stores, so if you’re used to that sizing, be prepared for a rude awakening.

I’m not a clothes person. I mean, obviously I wear clothes, but I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about fashion.
I will also admit to two other things: 1) I bought a shirt from American Apparel back in high school when I visited NYC. It’s a plain black shirt with a scoop neck and I like it a lot. Still wear it. 2) I’m a size 16. I was a size 16 when I bought the black shirt, and I’m still a size 16 now.
I decided to visit this store a while back, because I thought, «Hey, I like that one shirt, and it ostensibly came from this manufacturer. Maybe this manufacturer will have other shirts that I like.»
After I went in and then promptly exited the store about five minutes later, I drove immediately home for the sole purpose of double checking whether or not the shirt I had bought was, indeed, made by American Apparel.
Well, apparently it was, but I have no idea how I managed to buy a shirt made by this company that fits me when the largest shirt size this place offered probably wouldn’t have gotten over my shoulders without tearing, let alone the rest of me.
I’m sorry, but the sizes here are ridiculously, offensively small. I mean, an XL here (and most sizes are S or M on the rack) couldn’t have fit anybody larger than a size 8. I’m not saying that there aren’t women who are naturally on the smaller side, but seriously. A woman who is a size 8 is not «extra large.» Not by anybody’s standards outside of the supermodel industry.
Come on, American Apparel, get real.

If you like poor quality items that are expensive, then this is the place for you. Otherwise, shop elsewhere. The clothing is very basic, poorly structured, and the sizing is very odd — most of it runs very very small. For example, I am a size 4 in most brands/​stores, yet at American Apparel, a lot of items smaller than a Large are just too small, but then in a few items, an X-​Small fits… The clothes are designed for the very tall, very very skinny people. The clothes shrink a lot in the wash as well.

American Apparel, you’ve been to one, you’ve pretty much been to them all. Whether it’s Royal Oak or the Upper East Side in NYC, you’ll walk into a fluorescent kingdom full of hipsters, skin tight clothing (except for the dress pants, which are quite baggy… probably the only thing they offer which is), strange colors (a gold v-​neck which opens by your torso? what the…), all overpriced and of mediocre quality.
The staff here can either be really passive or really helpful.
With that said, their grey jeans do look fairly decent, and their baseball t shirts are fantastic.

I have to say from just viewing their website I knew I was going to be disappointed by this store. If you are not someone who is naturally born skinny or have recently starved your self so you are emaciated then you might as well walk on past. Not only are the clothes designed mainly with an alternative lifestyle in mind (v-​necks, tight tight clothes, leggings, ect.) They are overpriced. Who wants to pay $ 30 for a organic cotton green t-​shirt that doesn’t even have a design on it. While I do admit I did see a few things I might consider buying I was overall displeased with the store and would not make it the first place I come to every-​time I receive my paycheck.

I’m not the type that hates on AA. I’ve been in the their shops on several occasions in other states and always walked out shaking my head at the prices. However, in fashion deprived Michigan, this place can be a godsend. The trick is, use their stuff to accent whatever you’re already gonna rock. Since their stuff is mass-​produced, you have to assume everyone’s gonna either have one or seen it before somewhere. So use a little imagination and freak the technique. This particular location is cool. It was quiet when I went in and the girl working seemed nice, if a little bit inattentive. However when I told her one of the shirts I’d pulled was scuffed she offered to get me another one right away which was cool.
Overall, the shop is cool, the clothes are fine and the ads are out-​of-​sight!

Who’s in the market for a sweatshirt? Huh? How about sweatpants? Yeah? Well you’re in luck!!!
Everyone else, you’re screwed.
One star for the cool window displays.

I used to dread going to this place with my ex-​boyfriend, he loved this store for some reason. A lot of over-​priced plain clothes in a large white room that reminds me of a hospital. Really weird.

I love American Apparel… simply because it’s simple! I usually buy a solid colored dress or shirt, and mix and match it with so many other things in my wardrobe. This is the only American Apparel I know around metro-​Detroit, so I would definitely recommend coming out here if you like their garments. I DO think they are a bit overpriced for what the material actually is… However, I have been able to wear my pieces numerous times without people knowing its the same dress or shirt. My only complaint about this store is the customer service. Every time I go in here, no one really acknowledges my presence, and seem way to hung up on conversing with each other.