Introduction
American Apparel is a well-known clothing brand and company across the world. Basically AA is a manufacturer, distributor, and retailer of clothes with its headquarters based in the Los Angeles, California, U.S. Today it is known to everyone that this company is a sweatshop-free, vertically integrated, with a robust CRS stance which strongly supports the workers’ rights and tries to legalise the illegal foreign workforce of the American clothing industry. American Apparel is also known as a corporation that rejects the typical fashion ads and performs its own design, marketing, and advertising of fashionable clothes. If American Apparel is such a cool and innocent company how come they lost consumer interest and experience a downturn in sales revenue?
This research will take In-depth look at the key platforms of AA mentioned above and will carry out an analysis to examine, if any of those platforms contributed to the company’s current downturn. In addition American Apparel and its business model will be compared with its main competitors in the industry, to uncover what other (if any) business models are successfully in operation.
Dov Charney and American Apparel
Dov Charney is a Canadian-born founder, president and Chief Executive Officer of American Apparel Inc. According to Reuters (2013) AA operated 251 fully owned retail stores in twenty countries as of January 31, 2013 and still runs an online website that serves customers from more than sixty countries worldwide up-to-date. It is not an easy job to run such a big business, no wonder AA employs more than twelve thousand employees worldwide. It is also understandable that the competition is very strong in fashion apparel industry, as it has many major players l...
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Norms for consistency was another determinant of why Abercrombie decided to commit to reinvesting in its brand. Leaders are expected to take action when they encounter difficult situations. This expectation derives both from the public and from the employees as well. Thus, it was necessary for Abercrombie’s executives to act. Abercrombie believed that if they stay consistent with their efforts, the results were going to be positive. However, rebranding has proven to failed for several years
According to the Kohl’s Corporation Hoover Report (2014), in the late 1920s, a man named Max Kohl opened a grocery store in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Hoover Report, 2014, pg. 9). By 1938, Max and his three sons had developed his store into a successful chain and incorporated the business. Max Kohl had experienced enough success by 1962 that he opened a department store right next to his Kohl’s grocery store. In 1972, Max Kohl and his family’s “65 food stores and five department stores were generating about $90 million in yearly sales” (pg. 9) In the same year, the British American Tobacco’s Brown & Williamson Industries (BATUS) purchased 80% of the Kohls’ two operations. Six years later, BATUS proceeded to purchase what remained of Kohl’s. In the early 1980s, BATUS decided that “Kohl’s discount image did not fit in with BATUS’s other retail operations” and decided to ultimately separate the two operations in order to put them up for sale (pg. 9). The president and chief executive officer at the time, William Kellogg, “and two other executives, with the backing of mall developers Herbert and Melvin Simon, led an LBO (leveraged buy-out) to acquire the chain’s 40 stores and a distribution center” (pg. 9). By the time Kohl’s managed to go public in the year 1992, they “had 81 stores in six states, and sales topped $1 billion” (pg. 9). At this time Kohl’s began its expansion and within the next five years managed to top sales at two billion dollars. Kohl’s then “acquired a former Bradlees store to enter New Jersey and opened stores in Washington, DC; Philadelphia; New York; and Delaware” (pg. 9). The following year Kohl’s managed to expand into Tennessee by adding new stores. The company named Larry Montgomery CEO in 1999 and short...
American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) differentiates from its competitors because it’s a leading global specialty retailer offering latest trends that are high-quality and affordable. The source of competitive advantage is the quality of their clothes and their environmentally friendly fabrics. American Eagle Outfitters is a high-quality and inexpensive brand of their two competitors Aéropostal and Abercrombie and Fitch. AEO centers in every category of purchaser such as kids, tweens, teens, and adults. American Eagle Outfitters has further stores open globally and their product line is more assorted than its competitors and its name brand and logo is known world-wide.
It is affecting their revenue and product quality. With the economy lowering throughout the past couple years, it has been a major reason that the earnings at Abercrombie & Fitch and their product quality has decreased so much, but that is not the only reason. As stated before, the company is more focused on their image. Their image has always been there main focus, which being able to obtain a good image within a company they need to have good quality products, which will also result in an increase of revenue. Therefore, Abercrombie & Fitch does not understand that. They believe that a image such as making sure their employees look the best, to the point of forcing them to wear exactly what they want will cover the overall image category in the marketing aspect of the
The Silverman family first founded American Eagle Outfitters in 1977. They operated specialty clothing stores under the name Retail Ventures. In 1980 the Silverman’s encountered financial troubles when the Schottenstein family bought out 50% of the Retail Ventures. In 1991 the Schottenstein family bought the rest of Retail Ventures and opened 153 American Eagle Outfitters. By late 2000 the company had introduced 46 new stores in Canada. American Eagle had approximately $2 million in annual sales in 2003 and now operates over 800 stores in the United States and Canada (http://www.hoovers.com/american-eagle-outfitters/--ID__17231--/free-co-factsheet.xhtml).
Abercrombie and Fitch was initially started in 1892 by David T. Abercrombie. An outdoorsman himself, Abercrombie wanted to create a clothing line that was suitable for outdoor activities such as hiking, camping and hunting. Ezra Fitch, a lover of the Abercrombie clothing line, decided to become a partner in the company, this making what we know today as Abercrombie & Fitch. This partnership began in 1900 and subsequently ended in 1907 when David Abercrombie resigned from the company due to personal differences. The company proved to be a success and had much interest in expanding their company in order to draw in more business. The first major executive decision came shortly after Abercrombie’s resignation. The A&F catalogue was a cross between a clothing magazine and a guide to the outdoors. It gave information and advice to campers, hunters and fishers and also simultaneously provided a wardrobe for these activities. This catalogue increased both sales and notoriety. It brought Abercrombie and Fitch to people all around the world. Unfortunately, success was not everlasting. The company endured very tough financial times during the early 1960’s and 70’s and eventually declared bankruptcy in 1977. In 1988, success came again when The Limited Inc. bought Abercrombie and Fitch. Abercrombie is now a 223.0 million dollar corporation.
The company I chose to explore is TJ Maxx. I choose TJ Maxx because they are one of my favorite stores where I can find brand name products at an affordable price. The TJX Companies, Inc. have been in the business industry for 36 years. TJ Maxx started in 1919 when Brothers Max and Morris Feldberg founded New England Trading Company in Boston, Massachusetts and opened the first retail store in 1929, dedicated to selling women hosiery. Two decades later, that one store grown into a whole chain of women's apparel stores that overextended from New England to Washington D.C. In the mid 70’s T.J. Maxx was born and grew into what is known today as the TJX Companies, Inc., which is the leading off-price retailer of apparel and home fashions in the United States and worldwide.
Since the 1970’s Urban Outfitters INC. has produced a wide selection of clothing brands for the younger generation. Urban Outfitters INC. includes Free People, BHLDN, Anthropologie, Terrain and Urban Outfitters. The beginning of Urban Outfitters INC. started out in Philadelphia for college students, their fun loving affordable clothing appealed to students who were living under a college budget. It’s known for its “hipster” and “free thinking” clothing that would appeal to the younger generation. However in present day it seems as if the original purpose of Urban Outfitters INC. has been lost. The prices of clothing at Urban Outfitters and at their sister stores has increased drastically to where college students can barely afford it. Throughout the recent years Urban Outfitters INC. has found itself in multiple issues that effects the sales of their stores. For instance being reprimanded for their designs, being sued for stolen designs and having a president who supports anti-gay polictians. Considering all the negative aspects to Urban Outfitters and the loss of their traditional purpose Americans should not support Urban Outfitters Inc.
The American brand Abercrombie and Fitch (ANF) is a retailer selling fashionable and luxurious sportswear clothing, and accessories.
Under Armour is a leading athletic clothing line directed towards the overall athlete who is looking for the most comfort during extracurricular activities. The mission of the company is, "to provide the world with technically advanced products engineered with exclusive fabric construction, supreme moisture management, and proven innovation. In short, every Under Armour product is doing something for you; it's making you better."
Now, as with most business ventures, competition can be a disadvantage. Our research shows that there is already a high volume of undergarment lines in England, i.e. Stella Mccartney, Hanes, Mimi Holliday, La Perla etc. The great success of these lines is proof of...
In 2002, CEO of Levi Strauss, Phil Marineau was faced with a tough decision: whether he should sell product at Wal-Mart. In the last five years, Levi-Strauss had lost sales and had to close US plants to move production to cheaper offshore areas. Levi's really needed to revive the brand image to gain back some lost sales and was using marketing to create new advertisements and product placement to broaden their target market. Levi's had tough competition on every level of the price-point spectrum, whether it be high end retailers like Diesel or Calvin Klein, middle vertically integrated retailers like Gap or American Eagles, and on the bottom, private-label brands like Wal-Mart and Target.
The company Hennes and Mauritz (H&M), is the world’s second-largest clothing retailer. The founder Erling Persson, started the company in Vasteras, Sweden in 1947 (UKEssays, 2017). H&M’s presence extends to 37 countries and their online stores is available in 41 markets (H&M, 2017). H&M’s business notion is to provide its customers with stylish and quality clothes at the best price (H&M, 2017). The group is constantly growing, as more stores and markets are being added every year. Their expansion plans were probable since the company formatted its corporate strategy in line with the HR strategy. When expanding into new markets, H&M does not lose sight of their core values.
This new hip clothing store has labeled itself a sweatshop free. It employs over five thousand people at the Los Angeles location (Li par 27). This is incredible. It has given the people of Los Angeles many opportunities to improve their lives and to keep a steady job. The employees here are able to pump out around 200,000 garments of clothing per day (Li par 27). This is a great amount of production. This is in part due to how well the employees are treated. Shan Li describes their benefits as, “American Apparel's factory workers earn an average of $12 an hour. They have access to $3 subsidized lunches, an on-site medical clinic and free massages” (par 29). Being treated with respect often makes employees work harder because of the good relationships they have with their bosses. This is clearly shown by how much clothing is produced daily. American Apparel is a business that other American clothing companies can look to for guidance. With their annual sales of 634 million dollars, this store has shown what is possible for production in the United states (Li par
This has been possible through a remarkable and strategic supply chain of the company. Design, purchasing, production, distribution, and retailing are arranged in very unique way. Zara produces clothes that are not so much dissimilar to other manufacturers, but they beat them to the market (Sartal et al., 2017). The company has employed a policy that use less expensive fabrics, which has helped them to dispose the products at a lower price as compared to other competitors. Pricing policy at Zara has given the company a resounding marketing advantage that has helped it compete effectively in the congested industry. Supply chain has given the company due competitive advantage and it has been able to maintain it by design, warehousing, distribution, and logistics functions (De Jorge Moreno, & Carrasco, 2016). Zara has made this possible by design the organization, operational procedures, performance measures and even office configurations that has helped the flow of information and product easy. Zara manufacture its products in small quantity, which make the products, last in the stores for a small time and give it easy to manage and change the fashion depending on trends. To help the company meet its distribution and customer demands, the company has implemented a scheduling techniques, centrally managed inventory, reduced design cycle time, strong it system and logistics and distribution channels that were