American Apparel

Edited Dec 2015:

Clothing quality hit or miss. Do yourself a favor and save yourself the headache. I was such a loyal customer and have spent thousands of dollars on them the last two years. I order from their website and shop at their store. For most pants, try them on in store because all the sizes are inconsistent and vary so much that a size 25 and 29 could be the same thing. Check for stains and holes because they sometimes send me damaged products, products with no tags, or products with censor tag pointy backings! It stabbed into my hand when I didn't know it was in the pocket.

Their return and exchange policy is ridiculous. An exchange of the same item in different size, they would charge you the difference of the promo code you used. For returns, in store means store credit only. Only online purchases mailed back will get your money back. Sale items cannot be returned which is reasonable but no exchanges either?!

On top of that, they discontinued so many staple products I loved like the Riding Pant. Also, I have purchased three separate things the last three months that claim it will ship from retail store, but it was backordered and I waited for over a month. I cannot wait for one as Christmas is coming soon and the item still wasn't shipped out. Backorder is NOT the same as "ship from retail store", quit wasting your customers' time! I cancelled all three orders when weeks passed with no shipment date.

Customer service through e-mail never replies. Their phone customer service is ok; I wouldn't rely on them for everything, just a warning. I used to love American Apparel and I always forgave their mistakes, but all these backorders for items clearly posted for sale on their website is really annoying.

Ahh! Horrible! All I wanted to do was find leggings and I get a picture of a girl holding her hand over her naked exposed breasts! All the women are in whore poses! For all the good things that MAY be said about the clothes they sell, who wants to see this? Its unfortunate that they sell their clothes through sites like amazon and I am sometimes forced to see them if I am looking for something.

Blah! My disgust urged me to write this review.

American Apparel's anti-sweatshop message is just marketing BS (but I like their tshirts) - I really hate companies that pretend to be all "green" or "sweatshop free" and make it seem like they are super ethical. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy they are. But I could do without the overt marketing of it. American Apparel is a great example of this. I heard their dirt-bag CEO Dove Charney and he admitted that the real reason they manfacture their clothes in the US is because it's actually cheaper (easier to manage, shorter market lead times, and no shipping costs).

That said, I do like my American Apparel light jackets and tshirts. They fit pretty well. Can't beat em, join em.