American Apparel (amex: APP) is the largest clothing manufacturer in the United States. It is a vertically-integrated clothing manufacturer, wholesaler, and retailer that also performs its own design, advertising, and marketing. It is best-known for making basic cotton knitwear such as t-shirts and underwear, but in recent years has expanded to include tank tops, vintage clothing, dresses, pants, denim and accessories for men, women, children, babies and dogs. The company is known for a number of progressive policies including promoting immigrant rights and labor policies the company dubs "sweatshop free."New York Post - T-Shirts, As Far As the Eye Can See - Maxine Shen - March 24, 2004

Company formation and growth

After its success as a wholesale brand, the company moved into the retail market. The company was ranked 308th in Inc. Magazine's 2005 list of the 500 fastest growing companies in the United States, with a 440% three-year growth and revenues in 2005 of over US$ 211 million.

In late 2006 American Apparel announced a reverse merger, in which Endeavor Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company founded in July 2005, bought the company for $360 million. The merger closed in December 2007, at which point American Apparel became a publicly traded company. As a result, Charney became the President and Chief Executive Officer of the publicly traded company known as American Apparel, Inc. He remained the majority shareholder, and all employees of American Apparel were given 500 shares of stock in the new company.Endeavour Acquisitions Corp. SEC Proxy Statement Schedule 14A, June 5, 2007

It is also one of the few companies exporting 'Made in the USA' goods and in 2007 sold about $125 million dollars of domestically manufactured clothing outside of America.

Production

The company uses "team manufacturing" which pools the strongest workers towards priority orders. "His team manufacturing..." Each team functions autonomously and determines its own daily production schedule, giving them control over their own hourly wages.After its implementation, garment production tripled and required a less than 20% staff increases. The factory claims to have the capacity to produce 1 million shirts per week and manufacture 275,000 pieces a day{{cite news