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52-446: Legalize LA was billed as an education and media advertising campaign. According to Dov Charney , Legalize LA was an open alternative to private lobbying . Charney also stated that the cause is part of the core of the company. Choosing to advertise social causes not directly related to the fashion company's product has drawn comparisons to campaigns done by advertisers like United Colors of Benetton and Nike . American Apparel released

104-488: A Womenswear collection with appearances from Sofia Richie , Teyana Taylor and Chanel Iman . Yeezy Season 5 debuted at Pier 59 in New York City during New York Fashion Week . The collection introduced new graphical references and sportswear attires, a departure from the oversized silhouettes and post-apocalyptic influences of previous ranges. The much-anticipated Calabasas-branded items were debuted, along with

156-471: A center table. The T-shirts were later given out to the public. West was notably absent, leaving after the initial setup of the event, and wearing a retro Manchester United jersey. Unlike popular belief, YZY SZN X was not a supposed Yeezy Season 10 or even fashion show, but served an event for models to audition for Yeezy. However, some samples of pieces from Yeezy Season 10 have surfaced online via collectors. Yeezy Gap (stylized as YEEZY GAP or YZY GAP )

208-432: A controversial shirt featuring Pope John Paul II on the front and a White Lives Matter print on the back. Naomi Campbell walked on the runway at the fashion show, soundtracked by an unreleased Kanye West collaboration with James Blake titled "Always", in reference to the deceased Virgil Abloh . West stated: "There's just people. From the same planet. And sometimes, in high school, it feels like we don't fit in. And in

260-500: A line of T-shirts featuring the words "Legalize LA" that were sold in its retail locations. The company donates the proceeds of the shirts to Los Angeles-based immigration rights groups. Legalize LA participated in the May Day protests in 2008. American Apparel employees were given the day off work to participate. The company also maintains a Legalize LA portion of their website that features news articles relating to immigration reform,

312-477: A medical equipment manufacturer during the pandemic. Los Angeles Apparel then began manufacturing face masks and medical gowns at the facility in South Central. Charney told The New York Times that he aimed to create 300,000 masks and 50,000 gowns each week. In an interview, Charney said he was "losing money on the venture," as he was giving many of them away. In 2020, public health officials ordered

364-438: A new pair of retro-inspired chunky runners. The Three Stripes logo was featured on several pieces. Yeezy Season 6, unlike other seasons, opted out of a runaway show for its debut. Instead, Kim Kardashian unveiled the collection on December 5, 2017, through a series of photos on social media. The collection featured jackets , hoodies , shorts , sweats , trench coats , and more. Yeezy Season 7 also used Kim Kardashian as

416-457: A series of disagreements between West and Gap executives. Yeezy Gap was characterized by minimalist and utilitarian design, echoing previous Yeezy collections designed by West. It consisted of "elevated" basic clothing, including hoodies , tracksuits , and jackets . The line was met with generally positive critical and commercial reception, although some criticized the manner in which it was released. Yews (stylized as YEWS or yews.news )

468-474: A series of protest videos on YouTube renaming "Legalize LA" as "Amnesty for Illegal Aliens." The videos feature the group picketing outside of the company's Hollywood store. American Apparel also received hate mail regarding the campaign which they subsequently posted online. Angered by the company's politics, a group launched a website called BoycottAmericanApparel.com that gave away stickers to participants. The campaign also inspired Vice Magazine to release

520-461: A situation like this, we have the opportunity to come together to express who we are." YZY SZN X Casting Showcase (YZY FREE) debuted at 10 PM on May 1, 2023, held in Los Angeles at 8025 Melrose Ave. The show hosted many male and female models with shaved heads wearing skintight white T-shirt and black stockings. Part of the show involved the models standing at attention and placing candles on

572-535: A video documentary called Illegal LA - Immigration, Deportation, and the Right to Work that featured Dov Charney and other immigration figures. In November 2008, after the passing of Proposition 8 , which banned same-sex marriages in California , American Apparel created "Legalize Gay" (a play on Legalize LA) T-shirts to hand out to protesters at rallies. The reaction was so strong, American Apparel began selling

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624-534: Is a Canadian entrepreneur and clothing manufacturer. He was the CEO of Yeezy in 2023, and the founder of American Apparel , which was one of the largest garment manufacturers in the United States until its bankruptcy in 2015. Charney was fired from American Apparel due to numerous allegations including sexual harassment, racism, and sexual assault. Charney subsequently founded Los Angeles Apparel . Charney

676-608: Is a company that celebrates natural beauty, and the Lower East Side Valentine's Day window continues that celebration. We created it to invite passerbys to explore the idea of what is 'sexy' and consider their comfort with the natural female form. This is the same idea behind our advertisements, which avoid many of the photoshopped and airbrushed standards of the fashion industry. So far we have received positive feedback from those that have commented, and we're looking forward to hearing more points of view. Legalize LA

728-548: Is sold for US$ 20. The items are produced by Los Angeles Apparel , a company owned by longtime friend of West and CEO of Yeezy, Dov Charney . Items include t-shirt 's, hoodies , joggers , socks , and the YZY POD sock shoes. On April 24, 2024, West announced via social media Yeezy Porn , a pornography venture with a video depicting a blank white screen with the text "YEEZY PORN IS CUMMING 4 24 24". This announcement garnered mostly negative reactions from West's fanbase. After

780-751: The Yeezy Season 2 runway show. The partnership between Adidas and Yeezy was ended prematurely in October 2022 after Adidas terminated the contract. Yeezy is the subsidiary of Yeezy LLC, West’s main company that was incorporated on May 16, 2016. Yeezy Season (stylized as YZY SZN ) is a runway fashion line created by Yeezy. Yeezy Season 1 was a collaboration with Adidas . However, all garments were produced independently, mostly of which by Los Angeles Apparel , with only shoes being produced by Adidas. Yeezy Season 2 debuted at New York Fashion Week on September 15, 2015. Influenced by Japanese workwear,

832-547: The United States , Charney repurposed his business operations to help increased demand for PPE (Personal Protective Equipment). According to the Los Angeles Times , Charney spotted shortages as early as February and this is when his apparel company began to consider manufacturing face masks. Charney was interviewed in March 2020 by a number of media outlets, speaking about his desire to turn Los Angeles Apparel into

884-514: The United States. In November 2008, after the passing of Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriages in California, Dov Charney and American Apparel created "Legalize Gay" T-shirts to hand out to protesters at rallies. The positive reaction led American Apparel to sell the same shirts in stores and online. In an interview with Vice.tv , Charney spoke out against the poor treatment of fashion workers in developing countries and refers to

936-556: The Washington DC area display a "Legalize Gay" shirt. The company also offered to give the shirts to any gay rights group in DC who wanted one. The company has also been criticized for carrying Butt Magazine, a gay culture publication, though American Apparel refuses to discontinue carrying it citing it as an "important gay culture publication" and freedom of expression. Dov Charney Dov Charney (born January 31, 1969)

988-489: The advertisements himself and was criticized for featuring models in sexually provocative poses. The campaigns were also lauded for honesty and lack of airbrushing. In 2012, the company made headlines when it debuted an ad campaign featuring 62-year-old model Jacky O'Shaughnessy. American Apparel again stirred controversy in 2014 when they displayed mannequins with pubic hair in the window of their Lower East Side store. The company told Elle Magazine : American Apparel

1040-476: The affordable price points he wanted. On December 13, 2023, he named Gosha Rubchinskiy as Head of Design at Yeezy via X, formerly known as Twitter . On December 15, 2023, the YZY PODS, a sock-shoe hybrid and a small selection of other items were available on the site for varying prices, with the YZY PODS retailing for US$ 200. Then, on February 11, 2024, the price of YZY PODS dropped to US$ 20. Anyone who bought

1092-479: The announcement, the Chief of Staff at Yeezy, Milo Yiannopoulos, made his resignation public through a resignation letter detailing the cause of him leaving the company. In the letter, Yiannopoulos described that he could not "be complicit in the production or dissemination of pornographic films and literature, for moral and religious reasons". In a statement obtained by TMZ, Yiannopoulos said: “I wish Ye every success in

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1144-538: The app's development. The founder and creative director of the YZY APP startup is Robert Maldonado. On May 1, 2024, the development team presented a finished version of the app to West and Milo Yiannopoulos. Despite completing the project, the employees were reportedly not compensated for their work, leading to the filing of a lawsuit. The lawsuit seeks damages for unpaid wages, overtime pay, and emotional distress. West's wife, Bianca Censori , also allegedly sent an employee

1196-480: The brand and information on the history of the issue. Legalize LA ran advertisements [1] that pushed for the legalization of the country's illegal alien workers in the New York Times and Los Angeles Times . The ads appeared in both Spanish and English. One ad featured a quote from President George W. Bush expressing the need for immigration reform and asked why nothing had been done. It ended with

1248-476: The collection was praised for strong silhouettes and diverse casting. Yeezy Season 3 debuted in Madison Square Garden on February 12, 2016. The collection debuted with West's The Life of Pablo album and was host to many viral moments, including Lil Yachty being one of the models. Yeezy Season 4 debuted at Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park in New York City , and was predominantly

1300-560: The company had expanded to Europe and opened 65 new stores. By 2006, there were 140 total stores. In 2009, it expanded to 281 total retail locations, making it "the fastest retail roll-out in American history." In 2014, the company reported record sales of $ 634 million. American Apparel under Charney's leadership was known for its simple and provocative ads, which rarely used professional models and whom were often chosen personally by Charney from local hangouts and stores. He shot many of

1352-496: The company, despite being the largest shareholder. Charney alleged that the investigation was biased on the grounds that it was conducted by those who benefitted from an outcome that weighed in their favor. Charney asserted that he has never been charged with any crime or found guilty or liable for any of the accusations against him. In December 2014, Charney was terminated as a chief executive officer after months of suspension. In December 2014, Charney told Bloomberg Businessweek he

1404-414: The courts and had to go through internal arbitration at American Apparel. Charney denied the allegations, accusing lawyers in the lawsuits against American Apparel of extortion. Charney has said numerous times that he sees no problem with sexually pursuing his employees. In 2004, Claudine Ko of Jane magazine published an essay narrating that Charney began masturbating in front of her while she

1456-575: The future. I have some concerns about his new team, and hope he proceeds with caution.” In April 2024, West acquired two startups, YZY VSN and YZY APP, developed by fans competing for West's attention. After purchasing both companies for an undisclosed sum, West planned to merge them into an official YZY application for mobile devices. The founder of the YZY VSN startup, Massimo Venezia, was hired as Software Project Lead at Yeezy. Ricky Dean Bro and Allessandro Giunta were also hired as designers by Yeezy for

1508-522: The growth he experienced with American Apparel calling it the equivalent of "year eight". Charney expected the fashion line to grow to $ 20 million in revenue by 2018. Similar to American Apparel , the manufacturing of all Los Angeles Apparel garments are kept in the US to maintain low lead times and offer better completion times than overseas competitors. Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in

1560-408: The main model, sporting a neon color palette. Yeezy Season 8 debuted in 2020 at Paris Fashion Week . The show featured raw, textured garments with a neutral color palette, and materials such as wool from West's Wyoming ranch were used. Yeezy Season 9 debuted at Paris Fashion Week on October 3, 2022, and was streamed on YouTube. The collection featured oversized ponchos, 3D printed boots and

1612-549: The next several years, he spent time learning about manufacturing and wholesale before moving to Los Angeles in the mid-'90s. By 1997, Charney had moved all manufacturing into a factory located in downtown Los Angeles. American Apparel products were marketed towards "young metropolitan adults." The company had about $ 12 million in sales by 2001. In 2003, Charney opened the first store in L.A.'s Echo Park neighborhood, followed by one each in New York and Montreal. Within two years,

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1664-574: The pods for US$ 200 was refunded US$ 180. Later that day, West posted on Instagram a text message from Milo Yiannopoulos , Yeezy's Chief of Staff, showing he sold 260,000 pairs of Pods. Following this, on February 22, 2024, West released several items from his terminated Yeezy Gap collaboration on the Yeezy.com website in Europe and Asia only, seemingly without permission from Gap . The items were sold for US$ 20, lower than typical Yeezy Gap prices. On

1716-512: The practices as "slave labor" and "death trap manufacturing." Charney proposed a "Global Garment Workers Minimum Wage" and discussed many of the inner workings of the modern fast fashion industry practices that creates dangerous factory conditions and disasters. Charney's own factories have been heavily scrutinized for labor violations. In 2020, public health officials ordered the shut-down of Los Angeles Apparel due to "flagrant violations of mandatory public health infection control orders." Charney

1768-448: The public court system. American Apparel publicly suspended Charney on 18 June 2014, stating that they would terminate him for cause in 30 days. The termination letter given to Charney alleged that he had engaged in conduct that repeatedly put himself in a position to be sued by numerous former employees for claims that include harassment, discrimination, and assault. Paula Schneider, who took over as company CEO, stated that Charney

1820-475: The same day, he premiered a Super Bowl advertisement for the website, which was a low budget phone recording of West speaking in his car. As of June 26, 2024, the Yeezy.com website is no longer accepting orders for the time being. This is due to the site receiving a huge backlog of orders that Yeezy cannot fulfill unless they stop accepting new orders. Some of the clothing on the site is designed by either Mowalola or Gosha Rubchinskiy . Notably, everything

1872-624: The same shirts at stores and online. On July 20, 2009, the window of an American Apparel store was broken by vandalism in response to the campaign. In the next two days, employees at the Silver Spring location as well as the Georgetown store received threatening phone calls, with the perpetrators demanding the T-shirts be taken down. American Apparel asserted the company would not take the T-shirts down and instead, insisted every store in

1924-407: The shut-down of Los Angeles Apparel due to "flagrant violations of mandatory public health infection control orders." Charney was able to sidestep the initial lockdown measures and keep employees from unemployment benefits by reopening as an essential business making and selling masks. 300 workers were infected with COVID-19 and 4 workers died before the factory was ordered to close. Charney has been

1976-407: The subject of several sexual harassment lawsuits, at least five since the mid-2000s, including allegations of sexual harassment, sexual assault, racist remarks, and abusive behavior against numerous employees. He has been accused of sexually harassing employees as young as 17. Due to employees signing documents revoking legal claims against Charney or the company, many lawsuits were thrown out by

2028-491: The successes he experienced in the 1990s with supplying wholesale clothing. The origins are similar to those he deployed while expanding American Apparel . When interviewed by Vice News regarding his new venture, Charney said, "my previous company had an effect on the culture of young adults...I want to reconnect and do that again before I die". The company grew to over 350 staff during the second year of operation. During an interview with Bloomberg , Charney drew comparisons to

2080-492: The words "It's time to Legalize LA and the USA." Ads have also implied that the current laws constitute an "apartheid." Another campaign used an excerpt from John F. Kennedy 's essay, A Nation of Immigrants . The company also put up billboards, bus stop ads and posters throughout Los Angeles. They also placed two large banners across their downtown factory that read "Legalize LA" and "Immigration Reform Now!" The company's message

2132-478: Was a news website created by Yeezy, which launched on December 13, 2023. Daniel Schmidt served as a senior reporter, and Chad Spencer served as a reporter. As of May 16, 2024, following Milo Yiannopoulos's termination from Yeezy, Yews seems to have shut down. Following West's anti-Semitic remarks in 2022, his Gap and Adidas collaborations were terminated. During this time, West went on multiple podcasts doing interviews, blaming Gap and Adidas for not reaching

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2184-530: Was a fashion collaboration between Yeezy and the American clothing company Gap announced in June 2020, with its first wave of clothing releasing a year later in June 2021. In January 2022 the brand announced its collaboration with luxury fashion house Balenciaga , with the first collection from that line releasing the following month. Yeezy Gap was terminated two years after its announcement in September 2022 after

2236-545: Was able to sidestep the initial lockdown measures and keep employees from unemployment benefits by reopening as an essential business making and selling masks. 300 workers were infected with COVID-19 and 4 workers died before the factory was ordered to close. Workers were also made to sign agreements releasing Charney and American Apparel from all legal claims against him or the company. These claims forced employees to go through mandatory arbitration, an internal process, and prevented lawsuits alleging workplace abuse from entering

2288-432: Was an immigration reform campaign conceived by Charney and promoted by American Apparel beginning in 2004. The campaign featured billboards and full-page ads, as well as t-shirts with the words "Legalize LA." Proceeds from the sale of the shirts were donated to immigration reform advocacy groups. The campaign called for the overhaul of immigration laws so as to create a legal path for undocumented workers to gain citizenship in

2340-551: Was born in Montreal , Quebec on January 31, 1969. His parents, Morris, an architect, and his mother, Sylvia, an artist of Syrian descent, divorced when he was young. Charney is a nephew of architect Moshe Safdie . Charney is dyslexic and was diagnosed with ADD in kindergarten. He attended Choate Rosemary Hall , a private boarding school in Connecticut and St. George's School of Montreal . According to Charney, he

2392-610: Was down to his last $ 100,000 and that he was sleeping on a friend's couch in Manhattan . Following his suspension as CEO in the summer of 2014, Charney teamed up with the Standard General hedge fund to buy stocks of the company to attempt a takeover. In 2016, American Apparel board dismissed a $ 300 million offer from Hagan Group that pushed for Charney's comeback. In the wake of his dismissal, reports of Charney's management style emerged. Business Inside stated that Charney

2444-472: Was fired for violating sexual harassment and anti-discrimination policies and for misuse of corporate assets. Charney was "blindsided" by news of his termination, calling it a "coup." In court filings by his attorneys, it was alleged that the American Apparel CFO had planned to oust Charney, and that he was persuaded to sign a disastrous settlement that left him with no job and no control of

2496-796: Was heavily influenced by both Montreal culture and his own Jewish heritage. While attending high school in the United States, Charney began importing Hanes and Fruit of the Loom t-shirts from the U.S. to his friends in Canada. In an interview with Vice , he described smuggling the shirts on Amtrak trains from New York to Montreal. Charney began selling t-shirts under the American Apparel name in 1989. In 1990, he dropped out of Tufts University , borrowed $ 10,000 from his parents and established American Apparel in South Carolina. Over

2548-413: Was interviewing him. The article's publication brought extensive press to Charney. In a follow-up to her first article, Ko wrote that her article had been misconstrued, stating that her encounter with Charney "was being used to feed a flawed cliche where men are evil and omnipotent while women are mute victims lacking free will." She further questioned the notion that she had been taken advantage of: "Who

2600-568: Was later endorsed by California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez , according to the Los Angeles Times . He gave a speech denouncing ICE 's raids on "nonexploitive" companies underneath the Legalize LA banner at the downtown Los Angeles factory alongside company executives. One group responded by picketing the company's store in Pasadena, California with signs that said "Legalize LA: Deport Immigrants". A group called Save Our State uploaded

2652-680: Was really exploited? We both were—American Apparel got press, I got one hell of a story. And that's it." Ko did not ever claim Charney masturbating in front of her was consensual. Charney lives in Garbutt House , a mansion atop a hill in Silver Lake . Yeezy (brand) Yeezy (often stylized as YZY ) is a media and fashion brand founded by American rapper, designer, and entrepreneur Ye , formerly known as Kanye West, on August 6, 2013. Incorporating fashion and music entities, it first began producing clothing in 2015 during and for

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2704-576: Was unable to install a mature operational infrastructure to keep the company running smoothly, and didn't establish management bench strength for American Apparel. Andrew Ross Sorkin , writing for the New York Times stated that Charney "should have been gone long ago, face of the brand or not." In 2016, Charney founded Los Angeles Apparel . He opened its first factory in South Central Los Angeles , with aims of replicating

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