Dov Charney built this business and has remained controversial with
his sexist antics as cataloged in multiple print articles over the
years. (You can find a small smattering of them on Musicians Against Sweatshops' website and knowmore.org.)
American Apparel gained worldwide notoriety (and sales) for their
sweatshop free claim yet for years many among the anti sweatshop
activist community have remained very critical of American Apparel's
self designation.

I have been a consistent outspoken voice against American Apparel's sweatshop free status.
Mr. Charney and his cohorts have continued to spew anti-union venom
which of course plays a clear role in whether American Apparel workers'
feel they are free to make their own choice about unionizing. His
Communications Director Cynthia Semon has continued to ambush anyone
outspoken against American Apparel and has even threatened various
lawsuits against nonprofits and independent media outlets alike in
order to keep negative press of American Apparel out of the public eye.
If American Apparel can successfully force others to back down, imagine
the intimidation when the line managers at the American Apparel factory
in Los Angeles are telling workers to vote against forming a union.

This recent sell of American Apparel frankly scares the hell out of
me given that these workers have relied on Mr. Charney to keep his word
about wages, health benefits, and other positive worker policies. Now
its unclear whether an American Apparel job will be a good one. As I
have continued to say about American Apparel, Mr. Charney can give out decent wages but at the end of the day he can also take them away. And the workers won't have any control over this without a collective bargaining agreement.

My only hope is that the American Apparel workers will realize how
vulnerable they are given that not all bosses will pay them decently
and without a union contract they are at the whim of those calling the shots who often don't have workers' best interests as a priority.

The International Labor Rights Fund and many other orgs have endorsed a list of companies that truly are sweatshop free as they follow clear guidelines which can be found here.