# Is American Apparel stuck in the past???



## jwids18 (Dec 5, 2010)

I have been looking for some wholesalers lately, and there are plenty of them out there for any style of t-shirt. I have read through tons of posts here on the forum about wholesale services and which suppliers people would reccomend. I have found that there are plenty of people who use and reccomend American Apparel. Of course, there are many other suppliers that people go with as well but I know that AA has a strong following and a loyal customer base. The thing is, I am not sure why? First, I don't know why there models wear their hair like they are from the 70's? Also, why do they tuck a shirt in to their waist band and then wear their pants/shorts above their belly button? I know this may have been "in style" at one time but we are now in 2011 and I don't know why they continue to have the goofiest looking models and styles to model their clothing. I found one shirt that I would use, "the AA 2001" and that is about it. The other shirts are either just plain awful looking, or have a neck big enough drive a car through. I don't know of one brand whether mainstream or not, that sells male shirts where the neck sits on the outside of the shoulders??? Other suppliers such as, alstyle, alternative, nextlevel, and many many others offer much higher quality looking clothing. I am not sure of the wholesale cost of any of these but if you have to sacrifice a few dollars to get away from AA's shirts I don't know why you wouldn't, and from reading previous posts, Alstyle's shirts are cheaper.

I guess I just wrote all this to get some input as to why American Apparel has such a large following and so many loyal customers. Any comments would be appreciated, because, like I said the only shirt that I saw that I would use for my clothing line would be the 2001. Can't wait to hear some input on this post.

Thanks, Jake


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## jwids18 (Dec 5, 2010)

I forgot to mention something in my post that I think would be helpful. There is a website that I came across, it is run by a younger male, and his shirts are awesome, he has a great story as well. He "proudly uses" American Apparel, and his shirts do look great with his fantastic designs. I believe he is probably using the AA 2001, because it does look very nice. Maybe it is just the fact that he is modeling the shirts hisself is not a complete dweeb, and has a good sense of fashion. Anyways, check out his website, and see for yourself.

De Mauri Da The Future Of Fashion - follow the link to his website, also, check out his store and his story as well


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## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

Some of their shirts are ok but the big vnecks dont look right for men, at least the men that buy from us. Maybe it is ok for the West LA crowd but the IE is a little more grounded in reality.


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

Who cares what their models are doing? People buy AA because of the quality and fit. Have you worn one?


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## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

Wow, such hostility for a simple question. I have a few AA shirts that I wear and they are about the best ones I have. I don't care for their advertising, either from a fashion statement or a political statement, but they do have nice shirts.


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## jwids18 (Dec 5, 2010)

First of all let me start off by saying, sorry for coming off sounding like I was mad or upset about their models. I am not at all I guess I am just very confused as to how they have such a great following with what I view as very poor pictures to display their shirts. I know that AA is a large favorite among many t-shirt businesses and good for them, honestly. Like I posted below my post, demaurida.com uses AA and I think they look amazing, not only because his designs are phenomenal, but the shirts themselves look great. I'm not even saying that I would not buy them myself, but I just don't understand why their pictures are so "outdated." Sorry for any conflicts, but I was just curious as to why and how they manage to have such a large following?

Thanks again guys


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

There's no conflict.

Different companies choose to market their product different ways. AA happens to use pictures as you describe. That doesn't work for you, but it works for millions of other customers.

Some are turned off because of the risque pictures they publish, or the use of recognizable porn stars as models (from what I've been told ), or their stance on illegal immigration. Others support the company for these views.

But once you weed through all the bs, bottom line is they make an excellent, super soft, tee. If you haven't tried one, you can pick up one for $10 shipped here Woot® : One Day, One Deal.


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## jwids18 (Dec 5, 2010)

splathead said:


> There's no conflict.
> 
> Different companies choose to market their product different ways. AA happens to use pictures as you describe. That doesn't work for you, but it works for millions of other customers.
> 
> ...


Thank you for laying out for me "splathead" I really appreciate it. I understand what you are saying, I guess as long as people know the quality of the shirts it wouldn't matter as much about the photos taken to model the shirts. I have not tried them, I'm currently serving overseas for the military so its kinda hard to communicate back and forth with my local gov't and what not for resale permits. I'll be home in a few months so planning on getting all the tangibles taken care of then. Thanks for your input, greatly appreciated!


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

Jake,

PM me your address, shirt size and the color you want, and I'll mail you one. You'll love them. They are slim fit (kinda), so if you like them loose, order 1 size up.


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## Recover Clothing (Feb 9, 2011)

I think american apparel is the best. And its pretty cheap too


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## intuos13 (Aug 24, 2010)

thats funny.


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## jwids18 (Dec 5, 2010)

Recover Clothing said:


> I think american apparel is the best. And its pretty cheap too


Hah, thanks that works! Simple, but I get your point.


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## intuos13 (Aug 24, 2010)

American App is a company very grounded in their belief thus has a loyal fan base. I have noticed that more and more are going for tultex.


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## jwids18 (Dec 5, 2010)

intuos13 said:


> American App is a company very grounded in their belief thus has a loyal fan base. I have noticed that more and more are going for tultex.


I checked out the tultex website, and I like it a lot. It is very easy to navigate, and the shirts look like and appear to have great quality. I would definitely think about going with them, depending upon prices. Thanks for mentioning them in your post!


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## intuos13 (Aug 24, 2010)

Believe me Tultex is a great quality shirt. Really taking a lot of business from American App.

Some people refer to Tultex as immitation AmericanApparel.


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## jwids18 (Dec 5, 2010)

intuos13 said:


> Believe me Tultex is a great quality shirt. Really taking a lot of business from American App.
> 
> Some people refer to Tultex as immitation AmericanApparel.


Yeah I saw they even have tear away tags as well, which is a big plus. I believe it was the shirt that was "prepared for dye" PFD, which I believe to mean you can dye it any color you want? Anyways, with the tear away tags nobody would even be able to tell the difference between those shirts and any others anyways.


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## cotenc (Feb 14, 2011)

AA was the first company I've ever tried to set up a new account, they took so damn long to finalize the account I lost the customer/order I was trying to get, we have no sales tax in my state and no resellers certificate, duuuogh, not my fault. teamwork out of so.cal. worked out fine.


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