Dov Charney Is The Founder and CEO of American Apparel

Dov Charney (born January 31, 1969 in Montreal, Canada) is the founder and CEO of American Apparel ("AA"), a clothing manufacturer, wholesaler, and retailer.Charney is known for his success as an entrepreneur, and passion for simple clothing.His "contrarian" leadership style, which he feels promotes creativity, has drawn extensive praise and criticism.Charney has earned recognition in the media for management decisions to pay a fair wage and refusing to outsource manufacturing, while still running a profitable business.The Los Angeles Times named him one of the Top 100 most powerful people in Southern California.

Charney's father, Morris Charney, is an architect, and his mother, Sylvia Safdie, an artist.[10] Both of his parents are of Jewish descent. He is the nephew of noted architect Moshe Safdie.Charney attended Choate Rosemary Hall, a private boarding school in Connecticut.Charney grew up with and was influenced heavily by the culture of Montreal.As a teenager, he "fell in love" with the United States due to the juxtaposition of Canadian culture and American culture.As a teenager, Charney was an admirer of American-made products.He became disillusioned as a teenager with Quebec nationalism which was widespread during the 1980s. In interviews, he has stated that he considers himself to be a continuation of the trend of Canadian-Jewish entrepreneurs.

Charney got his start in high school, importing Hanes and Fruit of the Loom T-shirts over the border to his friends in Canada He is said to have shipped as many as 10,000shirts at a time, using a rented U-Haul truck to transport the goods.In 1987, he enrolled at Tufts University. While at Tufts he continued to operate his business but by 1990, dropped out to pursue it full time. He is currently listed as a graduate although in actuality, he'd moved to South Carolina to transition from importing t-shirts to manufacturing them.In 1996, Charney's company could not cover its debt and he was forced to file for Chapter 11 and personal bankruptcy.Two years later, he'd migrated to California to try the t-shirt business again.By 2003, Charney had opened his first retail store and employed over 1,300 people.