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'Dov Charney' (born January 31, 1969 in Montreal) is the CEO of the garment company American Apparel (AA), a vertically integrated clothing manufacturer, wholesaler, and retailer that makes all of its garments in a downtown Los Angeles factory, now the single largest clothing manufacturing plant in the United States. American Apparel employs nearly five thousand workers, most of whom make at least twice the minimum wage. American Apparel now has over 125 retail outlets with plans of expansion. In December of 2006, American Apparel announced that it would be going public through a "blank check" [1]acquisition deal with Endeavor Acquisition Corporation. Mr. Charney will maintain leadership of the listed company that will result. Employees from all areas of the company are expected to receive around 500 shares each in publicly traded stock.
Dov Charney was raised in Quebec. He attended the prestigious prep school Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Connecticut. He then attended Tufts University, but left the school before graduating. He started an apparel company in 1989 in Columbia, South Carolina. In the mid nineties, like many others in the business at the time, the company suffered financial difficulties. Through a standard Chapter 11 reorganization Charney was able to redirect the company to profitability, moving it to Los Angeles in 1998 where it has become extremely successful.^[1]
In 2005 Charney was sued for sexual harassment by four employees. Three of the cases have been dismissed or settled and a fourth is still pending.
In 2004 Charney received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. In 2006, the ''Los Angeles Times Magazine'' included Charney in its list of the “100 Most Powerful People of Southern California,” and in the same year ''Details'' magazine listed him in its “Power 50," recognizing the 50 most powerful people under 42.
Charney was included in the October 2007 issue of ''Vanity Fair'' as part of "The Next Establishment" list. This group of up-and-coming moguls also included film directors Judd Apatow and Brett Ratner, Roc-A-Fella Records and Rocawear co-founder Damon Dash, and fashion designer Zac Posen.
His uncle is the Israeli-Canadian architect Moshe Safdie.

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External links

Notes

1. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_26/b3939108_mz017.htm#2

External links

★ 'Official American Apparel website'

★ American Apparel Online Store

★ The New Rich - Dov Charney, website recap from the ''20/20'' episode from July 31, 2006

★ Sexy marketing or sexual harassment?, recap of the ''Dateline NBC'' episode from July 28, 2006

★ "Dov Charney, Like It or Not", from Inc. magazine (September 2005)

★ "Mr. No Logo", interview from montrealmirror.com

★ Jewlicious.com post on Dov Charney