Online rebirth of American Apparel confirmed

Friday, April 27, 2018 - 09:10 by Sarah Collinson

Back in 2016 the company which owned popular clothing chain, American Apparel, encountered serious financial issues, resulting in the closure of its UK stores. But now fans of the brand can rejoice as it has returned to these shores, but only offers its products via safe shopping online.

Internet Retailing reports that after a lot of revision, American Apparel now exclusively stocks products which are manufactured in ethically sound factories, rather than the sweat shops that had begun to plague its reputation prior to its collapse 18 months ago.

The garments are still produced in parts of the world with a patchy history in terms of working conditions, such as Bangladesh, but the re-vamped website for the retailer includes examples of how employees are treated to prove that there is no foul play in these places.

Industry observers have pointed out that this is just the latest example of a retailer that was once tied to bricks and mortar outlets deciding to make the leap to an online-only presence.

As well as being able to reach more customers across the UK by switching to safe shopping online, companies can also save a lot of money by cutting themselves loose from real world stores, which are expensive to operate for a number of reasons.

The recent re-emergence of troubled times for the high street has seen big names like Toys R Us and Maplin face extinction, with the move to a web-only presence likely to be the only thing that can save such companies.

American Apparel still holds some clout as a brand, so in the age of booming online fashion sites it stands a chance of returning to its former prominence and competing with the likes of ASOS to gain the attention of style-savvy consumers.