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Goodbye once more, American Apparel.

by Laura Duncan

If you’re a shirt nerd, you may be familiar with the recent woes of American Apparel. Indeed, no sooner had they shed their super pervy exec than the whole company fell to pieces, and long story short: AA is about to be 86’d here. It’s a real bummer. We’ve been searching for a viable replacement, and frankly sourcing a domestic partner who makes blank tees in the quantities we need has proven well nigh impossible. Again, if you’re a shirt nerd, that won’t surprise you either.

All this is to say we’re introducing a new ~~*premium*~~ brand. We’re not changing our prices - that would be lame. We’ve just gotta source new blanks, and we really like the AA replacement: Bella + Canvas. In terms of fit, it’s pretty close to AA, while still offering a snugger, more “modern” fit than the roomy Anvil counterparts. These new blanks are softer and lighter to the touch, too. It’s like wearing nonfat yogurt. To give ‘em a proper trial run, we put a bunch in the laundry about a billion times (or like 15) and they held up very well - just a little puckering in the collar. Not bad.

Some of you are undoubtedly wondering about country of origin. As we intimated above, we just couldn’t make a domestic manufacturer work. Although some Bella blanks are made in the US, they also come from Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Vietnam and Bangladesh. We’re sorry that we can’t guarantee your shirt will be manufactured in this great nation anymore. (But they’ll all still be printed in Dallas, obvs.)

By April 4th, AA will be “off the menu.” By then, if not sooner (today), we’ll have updated the sizing charts, FAQs, features text, and all the other places we foolishly boasted about AA. We’ll make sure you’ve got all the important info to help you make a smart shirt investment. And just in case we were unclear, we’re still offering Anvil as our standard option, so that won’t be impacted by this news. Literally nothing changes there.

QUICK NOTE: As totally cool people with MBAs say, there are “a lot of moving parts” with a transition like this. As such you MIGHT receive a Bella shirt if you ordered AA recently. Life is like a roulette wheel.

That’s it. We’re really sorry we’ve gotta do this. We were so thrilled to bring AA back for y’all, and we know how much that meant to the community. Hell, we even had to rent an eagle costume for the occasion. But these new blanks really feel nice and durable, and we think you’ll like them.

So now we’re in transition, and like all businessy things, this is a journey. Take our hand. Join us on this new adventure. Shirts.