After a considerable delay, American Apparel opened the doors of its first Irish outlet today and, curious to see what all the fuss was about, I decided to pay a visit to Grafton Street to check it out with Eimear and Su-Hu.I'm not a Trendy Trevor by any stretch of the imagination, so all I really knew about American Apparel clothing was that they produce the type of clothing sported by characters in 'Gossip Girl' and that friends of mine got very excited about shopping there while abroad.
Having seen the wares on offer, I'm beginning to understand the appeal of American Apparel. The plain, block-colour clothing , which is essentially what my tatty wardrobe is made up of already, seem great for mixing and matching or if you're looking for something simple to team with more daring items of clothing (presumably purchased elsewhere).
The quality of the fabric seems great and, perhaps most importantly, the garments fit really well. This should come as good news to guys exasperated by the high street stores that are hell-bent on convincing rotund, middle-aged men that they are 'medium'.
The down-side of the store is the prices. You're looking at forking out over €40 for a t-shirt with a funky print and the reality is that you could probably get a similar item for half the price in H&M. I'll probably probably be limited to window-shopping until I have some kind of income to speak of.
I'd also be curious to know what sort of turnaround they have in stock. Because the clothes are so plain, they're somehat immune to changing trends but, if the store are slow to update their lines, then shopping there means you're inevitably going to wind up dressed like half of Dublin.
Overall though, colour me impressed.
5 comments:
Good work joebot! After having done copious amounts of research on AA for the open call I thought I'd stick the dmcg oar in.
Their prices are frustratingly high for simple things that you might be able to fish out elsewhere, but you're paying for the knowledge that the garments are produced sweatshop-free. Their sewing staff, who all work in LA, are treated really well rather than working for pennies, and can even benefit from free massages. Massages! Imagine.
As for their stock turn around, that's also quite interesting. I was saying the words "vertically integrated" in my sleep leading up to my call because they're so proud of it. All of their design, production, marketing, photography, modelling, etc is all done in-house which leads them to be a very tight operation and therefore having such a definite style. But it also means that they can get items from initial conception to being on the rails in a matter of weeks (in the states at least) because the process is so efficient. As to whether they will see Dublin as being worthy of new stock immediately remains to be seen. And if I get the inside schooop on any future bat-wing or shiny items of clothing you'll be the first to know! :)
P.S. The GG crew wouldn't be seen dead in AA stuff! Far too commercial. The fans are an entirely story though...
Yeah agreed with the above GG is all about the shiny shiny designers. And yes it's all sweat-shop free although I do think they admitted to have one. The guy that ones AA is a total dick I hear though some sex crazed freak which would explain the ads (which I love). It is expensive but so needed the material is so nice and haha exactly I'm so sick of Mediums really being larges and small being baggy mediums. Argh!
And you MUST get a bat wing hoodie. I mean, there is no use for them really. They're fun but they're also like ha what the fuck? The shiny ones are the best!
I love AA for the very reason that their clothes are so plain. You can't go wrong with some nice basics. My AA jersey skirt is one of the most comfortable, versatile skirts I've ever bought.
Cheers for the comments, guys.
Sorry for getting it wrong about GG. It goes to show how little I knew about AA. And GG.
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