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Born Hustler: American Apparel’s Dov Charney Is Born

“America doesn’t need another faceless, institutional apparel company,” says American Apparel founder Dov Charney. “They need an apparel company that gets it and does it right.”

Living The American Dream: Charney’s Business Takes Off

Charney’s dreams of running a clothing company crashed in the mid-1990s, along with much of the industry. Did he waste his father’s $10,000 loan, he wondered. Was his move to South Carolina pointless? Charney wanted to make sure that his venture down south was not in vain.

Lesson #1: Succeed Through Innovation Not Exploitation

American Apparel is about much more than clothes or at least Charney hopes so. In creating the company of his dreams, Charney wanted to make sure that it stood for something, that it was selling a message along with its products. That message is that a company does not have to be exploitive in order to turn a profit.

Lesson #2: Narrow The Market To Your Niche

“There’s the relaxed fit generation and then there’s the next generation,” says Charney. “We like sexy at American Apparel.”

Lesson #3: Conventions Are Not For The Creative Entrepreneur

Charney typically schedules all his appointments for the day between 11:30 to 12:30. He also, however, does not rise until almost noon. Charney has no personal assistants, does not own a Blackberry, and sees little use in checking his voicemail. He lives in a modest house and drinks instant coffee on his way to work. Charney may not be your conventional CEO, but according to him, that is precisely the reason he has been able to become so successful. After all, the creative entrepreneur does not live by the conventions of others.

Lesson #4: If You Can Dream It, You Can Do It

When asked what the number one key to success is, Charney replies, “Passion. That’s it. When you believe in what you’re doing, that’s it.”

Lesson #5: Make Efficiency Your Secret Weapon

When Charney filed for bankruptcy it was because American Apparel was suffering from a lack of one thing: efficiency. His staff were all in their 20s, a wildly creative bunch when it came to graphics and design, but few knew the ins and outs of running a business. And so Charney brought on Marty Bailey, an industry expert, who helped make efficiency American Apparel’s secret weapon against its competitors.

Living The American Dream: How Dov Charney Fashioned His Own Success

“Give me the chance of going to Harvard or being there when Google started and I want to be there making $3 an hour sweeping their floors. Or Apple when Steve Jobs started it,” says Charney. “Maybe I'm delusional but that's what I think American Apparel is.” For Charney, the success of American Apparel has just begun. But how did he get to where he is today? How did a Jewish Canadian college dropout become the CEO of one of the most revered and fastest-growing companies in America?

Dov Charney Quotes

Dov Charney Quotes

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