Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - American Apparel question

I'm thinking of screenprinting some bike shirts...I was just wondering if AA traditionally runs larger or small on the sizing

smaller....more slim fitting.

+1.. definitely smaller. they are definitely great for screen printing though.

yeah, like said, smaller. and if you're getting the
100% cotton shirts there will be slight shrinkage.

they're also hands-down the best for printing. you can get some serious detail on them. too bad the guy who runs the company is a terrible human being.

I can barely fit into a women's large..and I aint big.

i'm the typical lanky, scrawny 6'3" 165lbs trackster build, and i wear a medium.

i like 'em tight, so as to show off my pecs.

i'd say they shrink upwards of 10-20% on the first hot wash, as well.

Run small and according to American Apparel they shrink 5% after the first wash, but I'd go with Ben's estimate of 10-20%.

they're also hands-down the best for printing. you can get some serious detail on them. too bad the guy who runs the company is a terrible human being.

What makes him a terrible human?

Aparently he's made sexual advances or something of the sort to workers, and he's fighting unionization with borderline illegal methods.

What makes him a terrible human?

Sexist, womanizing *******.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dov_Charney

there's this

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/10/fashion/sundaystyles/10HARASS.html?ex=1278648000&en=79e76efd724185ff&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

The QC on american apparel wholesale shirts tends to be pretty shoddy as well... when you order them in runs in the hundreds, you tend to get a bunch of shirts with holes in them or with hems that are falling out. But they fit really well and they take ink like nobody's business.

I worked for AA for about a year and the company is horrible. The owner, Dov, is horrible and after working my 1 year at AA the whole management staff either quit or got fired. I'm talking about 20-30 people. Everything bad you have heard about Dov is true, from sexual advances to verbal abuse.

I also feel that their shirts are flimsy. They sure are soft, but they get holes in them pretty easily. After a couple of washings, there's holes all over.

My girlfriend works as a manager at one of his stores and I can tell you quite comfortably that he is *******, sexist, womanizing piece of **** who uses his fame, money and the offer of positions in his company to sleep with women... From all the stories I've heard from her and everyone else who works there, I would never buy a single piece of clothing from that store.

While it's great that he produces sweatshop free clothing, I wouldn't try and pretend it's ethical just so you can sleep better at night, when you take into account their marketing campaigns, shameful treatment of women, employees, and his hypocritical stance on unionization the whole company is just as bad as any other. </rant>

You know what has always bugged me about them (other than the fact that their stuff costs twice what it should even taking into account their labor costs and yuppies still pay for it)? They make nothing that's at all tailored -- it's all t-shirts, polos, sweatpants, nothing that takes any real detail work, and the sewing on the stuff they can do makes H&M look like Mountain Hardwear. And then they make bras. They can't do pants, or a yoked shirt, or anything like that, but they can do lingirie, which is about the most technical sewing you can get. What gives?

umm they have yoked shirts, and if you are really complaining about a 15 dollar t-shirt you are an idiot.

oh and I just quit the company cause it is so ****ing poorly run...

They must have stuff in the stores that they don't put online, then, because I don't see anything more complicated than gym shorts with piping.

And I don't care what the T-shirts cost, I'm not buying them anyway, I just think it's funny what goods people try to get their socially conscious consumerism on about. We'll shell it out for fair trade coffee or American-made shirts (even though there is other American and union made stuff for half the price), but nobody's asking where their bikes get welded or all their parts get forged, or looking into apple's manufacturing practices.

tell me of an american made t-shirt for half the price? oh and it's funny that american apparel is now trying to play down the made in america thing, saying it's about the money not about the workers or some other ****.

Below was the first google hit I got for union made shirts, $6 color shirts, no sexy models or slim cuts, but the same product in terms of costs. I know from doing political crap we could get union made plain white tees for under $5 on bulk orders, but then you have to pay IUPAt rates to get them screened and bugged.

http://www.unionjeancompany.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Session_ID=&Screen=PROD&Store_Code=ujc&Product_Code=10331

I disagree about them falling apart or getting holes easily. I bought a screened AA t-shirt and while it feels flimsy (read: light) it still looks new after dozens of washes and has no holes or signs of wear. that's more than I can say for any other t-shirt I bought at the same time.

They run about a size smaller. I always wear medium, and that's what I bought. It fits ok, but a little tight. I wish I got a large.

And I have to agree, screenprinting on them is great.

They are made from pretty good material and do take screening well, but you also have to remember that screening quality is way more a function of the screening than the shirt.

I'm going to have to agree with the people that think they have crappy QA. Maybe it's simply because they do such a large volume of shirts that some bad ones get by, but I find this hard to believe.

I worked as a quality assurance inspector at the Abercrombie & Fitch distribution center for over a year so I know what a good shirt should look like. I own probably about five or six t-shirts from American Apparel of various styles and two of them have major issues. They do feel nice, I love the fit, and I'm all about buying American made stuff, but not at the cost of quality, especially when the cost is higher than average. I don't think this applies as much to their stuff that's been printed on though. If a shirt has printing on it and is from a clothing manufacturer or retailer it will probably go through some kind of quality check at least twice if not three times instead of just once.

For all you guys complaining about shrinking, everything doesn't go on hot. If you don't want a shirt to shrink, then always wash it on cold. If you want some shrinkage then go with warm. On hot you're taking a chance (the label probably says warm anyway). In my experience shrinkage occurs in the length of a shirt too, not the width, which is something to keep in mind. This means when and if it shrinks the most significant change will be in the length of the body and sleeves. This only applies to 100% cotton t-shirts.

that's one of the reason's i like that AA shirts are longer than normal shirts. most t-shirt cuts are shorter, so if they shrink at all then everyone sees my beer belly when i stretch...

So track bikes....

i have yet to find another brand of t shirts that fit me as well as AA ones. also, the fact that i don't have to wear some obnoxious design on bright colored shirts is another plus.

i don't buy their stuff because i'm currently broke.

but watch out when i come into some money. cause this summer is gonna be a rainbow of AA tshirts.

I work for a company that uses AA shirts to print on. We order thousands of shirts per year and there is usually a couple in each other that has a weak seam, crooked seam, or a hole in a seam. That's pretty unacceptable.

I work for a company that uses AA shirts to print on. We order thousands of shirts per year and there is usually a couple in each other that has a weak seam, crooked seam, or a hole in a seam. That's pretty unacceptable.

It seems to be the wholesale stuff that has problems, mostly. I've only bought two things from an AA retail store, but both have held up really well. I have one of those zip front jogger thingies that is about 3 or 4 years old and has no problems... however, I've bought a pile of stuff wholesale through a screenprinter friend of mine and in every order there's usually at least one thing that is effed up. One nice thing is that you can take defective stuff you get wholesale back to a retail store to exchange without a receipt.

Sucks to hear that, because I was going to order wholesale from them for a new batch of printing. It's good you can exchange it but still, a little quality control isn't too much to ask.

one of the most irritating things about AA to me is that dov has basically admitted that he has no interest in american made products, or reducing sweatshop labor...it just happens to be a good marketting gimmick.

****er.

i remember when AA was mostly just wholesale. now theres all this controversy. if you do a search on the company and that dude who runs it, youll read all sorts of sketchy things. union issues, sexual harassment issues. theres alot of opinions on both sides. im just glad theyre not made in bangladesh, or wherever. marketing gimmick or not. but their clothes are pretty pricey. 20 for a plain cotton t? yoiks.

I will say when I first heard of AA I was pretty pumped to find "sweatshop free" clothing, and bought up a few things, one of which was the 48 dollar hoodie...within a week or two the stitching on the front pocket has completely come off, I had my friend sew it back up and never had a problem...I will say their t-shirts are comfortable as hell, but like everyone has said the owners a pretty useless human being..so no more of that...now i buy a lot from www.nosweatapparel.com im sure they could hook u up with bulk stuff..i think the t-shirts are made at a place right here in PA

mrT, how would you rate No Sweat versus AA in terms of material and cut? Because if I could afford it I'd wear AA t-shirts all day every day, they feel and fit perfectly.

I'm in the same boat with most of you here. I mostly like the product despite shrinkage to the tune of 5%-10% and spotty QC.

I hate Dov. Absolutely detest the guy. Why does he have to be a 'sexual liberator' couldn't he be a 'canine liberator' instead?? I love dogs but hate on scumbags... I have no desire to see a 20ft crotch on a billboard.

yeah we got a lot of crappy stuff come into the store, but between unpacking and folding then hanging we usualy found the ****ty ones, we sent back a box of stuff every 2 weeks. The zippers suck, but because they want coloured ones they wont use ykk, so always was your stuff zipped up.

I worked for AA for about a year and the company is horrible. The owner, Dov, is horrible and after working my 1 year at AA the whole management staff either quit or got fired. I'm talking about 20-30 people. Everything bad you have heard about Dov is true, from sexual advances to verbal abuse.

I also feel that their shirts are flimsy. They sure are soft, but they get holes in them pretty easily. After a couple of washings, there's holes all over.
i got an AA shirt from a thrift store.. and i didnt even know it was an AA shirt when i bought it!
its been at least a year...i wear it every week, washed it hundreds of times but not one hole!
not defending the company or Dov. but i just had to say something

The whole "sexual liberation" thing is such bullsht. The standards haven't changed, slavering males watching Girls Gone Wild still don't think that cause a girl is flashing her ta-tas she's "liberated." All it is just tomming except not about slavery but with being objectified.

I think when he says "sexual liberation" he's speaking personally.

Oh...

Well maybe I missed the point, but still, that whole genre of philosophy is rather deeply flawed.

Oh...

Well maybe I missed the point, but still, that whole genre of philosophy is rather deeply flawed.

no, no. you didn't miss the point, my sarcasm just doesn't carry over the interweb...

i just meant the only one he's "liberating" is himself, it seems. during interviews, no less.

mrT, how would you rate No Sweat versus AA in terms of material and cut? Because if I could afford it I'd wear AA t-shirts all day every day, they feel and fit perfectly.
I'm not going to lie, the AA shirts are really soft and comfy, the no sweat shirts are just ur average tshirt, but they definitely feel a little more solid, are cheaper, and i feel a little better about owning them *i type from my intel based computer*

i'll look into them for printing on, maybe. those $3 hanes from A.C. moore look like **** after 2 washes.

One way to make a shirt ultra-comfortable is to wash it. Some companies do this before they screen/stitch stuff onto them. They use enormous washing machines filled with rocks, washing hundreds if not thousands of shirts at a time. It's what makes thrift store shirts so comfy. This is done more commonly with jeans to get that worn look.

I'm not sure how you would do this on a small scale though. A couple rolls of quarters, a bag of rocks, and a day at the laundromat maybe?

is this thread still here because it has american in the title?

They definitely run small in most clothes, but the t-shirts are mostly standard.