Bamboo, biodiesel, and solar power at American Apparel

American Apparel’s eco-image handler, Roian Atwood, delivered a charming propaganda slideshow at Compostmodern 2006. We toured pictures of cotton fields, ginning and spinning, and the downtown L.A. factory complete with smiling seamstresses and designers. OK, it’s not fair to call his presentation propaganda, because spin is the job of any “coordinator of community relations, organic and environmental programs.” Yet because Atwood effectively portrayed the clothier as sweatshop-free and eco-positive, and even minimized my annoyance with some of its ads, I feel spun, cheated of curmudgeonhood. Highlights:

• Within the next month, five American Apparel trucks will chug along on biodiesel coming from a processor designed by an east L.A. high school student.
• Organic cotton is tricky to grow. The company’s got its eye on alternative fabrics made from bamboo, even corn sugars—and foresees using more blends, such as equal parts organic and conventional cotton with bamboo and recycled ingredients (all of its scraps get recycled, by the way). Don’t expect to see tees of coarse hemp, which is better for jeans. On AA’s wish list? A sustainable spinning mill that works with multiple fibers. For now, bamboo and soy fibers are too tough for the few remaining U.S. mills to deal with.
• The company uses 5 to 7 percent organic materials, but crosses its fingers to make that 80 % within a few years.
• Freestanding solar panels now top American Apparel’s facilities, which show off the ASE-300 “Cadillac of solar panels.” Next comes a green roof.

Atwood described the staff in verbal snapshots similar to the vital stats in the company’s ads, i.e.: This is ______ the office manager, 19, from Los Angeles. As for the controversial ads? “We’re celebrating the best of human sexuality…Our subjects are our friends, lovers, employees…Society is accustomed to a more stale sexuality…Everything we do is spontaneous.”

Yay for anti-Puritanism. But while Atwood says the company is “not a patriarchal network of old boys smoking cigars," some see CEO Dov Charney's hand-down-the-pants antics as an abuse of power. Guess I'd cheer more for a former sex worker starting her own clothing line (but would that include Heidi Fleiss?).

Overall, though, if you're trying to be a green consumer, you'd be dull to boycott AA just because its ads don't fit your stiff ideal of gender equality. AA wouldn't have gone this far with JC Penney-style marketing (left), and others have um, beaten this subject to death, so let me stop. Plus, if you like stuff made in the USA in a world where up to 98 percent of clothing is not, then AA's the easiest and best-fitting option. Ingredients include:

An 8,000 square foot factory; 4,000 employees; average $13.50/hour wage with health and dental benefits plus onsite massage; 12 product designers; 25 graphic artists; 200,000 pieces of clothing made daily; 125 styles; $1.3 million poured weekly into the L.A.-area payroll; 500 stores in vibrant downtowns (not stale malls); 125 knitters working 24/7; 400,000 gallons of water a day for dyeing; 45 customer service order-takers, 8 company-sponsored employee soccer teams.

This is the poster child for how sustainable practices can add value to a brand, even if altruism isn't  the initial goal; no coincidence that American Apparel's growth rate best mirrors that of Whole Foods.

Am I pandering? Check out non-AA sustainable textiles and clothes if you think so.

Comments

[green LA girl]

Just wrote about ya on my post today. You've inspired me to go shopping!