American Apparel Announces Management Changes

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- American Apparel, Inc. (NYSE Amex: APP), a vertically integrated manufacturer, distributor, and retailer of branded fashion basic apparel, announced today that it has appointed John J. Luttrell as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, effective February 7, 2011.

Mr. Luttrell was previously Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Old Navy Inc. from 2007 to 2008. Prior to Old Navy, Mr. Luttrell was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Wet Seal, Inc. from 2005 to 2007; and prior to that he spent approximately five years from 2001 to 2005 as Chief Financial Officer at Cost Plus, Inc. Mr. Luttrell is a graduate of Purdue University.

"I am pleased with the depth that we are continuing to add to our management team," said Dov Charney, American Apparel's Chief Executive Officer. "John has demonstrable past success with building and improving management infrastructure, including a history of building world class finance and accounting teams through careful development of existing talent. He will be a welcome addition to our management team as we perfect our operating procedures and improve efficiency and financial performance."

"I am very impressed with the unique business model that American Apparel presents, and in many ways one could argue that its vertically integrated business strategy of bringing together manufacturing, distribution, and retailing under one umbrella is ahead of its time," said John Luttrell. "Having had experience in rapidly growing retail environments, I have great respect for the organization that has been built at American Apparel. Without question the company has undergone some unprecedented challenges that have impaired its recent financial performance. My challenge is to leverage the existing business model by engaging in intelligent cost cutting, and providing a platform for the business to accelerate top line sales growth."

The company also announced that current Chief Financial Officer, Adrian Kowalewski, is being named Executive Vice President, Corporate Strategy. Mr. Charney continued: "I want to thank Adrian Kowalewski for his efforts over the past two years, stepping into the CFO role during a transitional period in the depths of the credit crunch in late 2008. Since joining American Apparel in 2006, he has been an indispensable partner to me in many areas of the business, including his role in financing the company's earlier growth as a private company, leading to American Apparel becoming a public company in 2007. His contributions have helped create and preserve thousands of manufacturing jobs in downtown Los Angeles. Given his work ethic and integrity, I do not think anyone would have been capable of doing a better job in this role during this period of time. I look forward to his involvement in the many important operational roles he will play in the future." Mr. Kowalewski, who has served on the company's board of directors since 2007, is also remaining on the board.

About American Apparel

American Apparel is a vertically integrated manufacturer, distributor, and retailer of branded fashion basic apparel based in downtown Los Angeles, California. As of December 31, 2010, American Apparel employed approximately 10,000 people and operated over 270 retail stores in 20 countries, including the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, United Kingdom, Ireland, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Israel, Australia, Japan, South Korea, and China. American Apparel also operates a leading wholesale business that supplies high quality T-shirts and other casual wear to distributors and screen printers. In addition to its retail stores and wholesale operations, American Apparel operates an online retail e-commerce website at http://www.americanapparel.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release may contain forward-looking statements which are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of our management, but are subject to risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results and/or the timing of events to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements, including, among others: changes in the level of consumer spending or preferences or demand for our products; increasing competition; our ability to hire and retain key personnel and our relationship with our employees; suitable store locations and our ability to attract customers to our stores; effectively carrying out and managing our strategy; failure to maintain the value and image of our brand and protect our intellectual property rights; declines in comparable store sales and wholesale revenues; seasonality of the business; consequences of our significant indebtedness, including our relationships with our lenders and our ability to comply with our debt agreements, generate cash flow to service our debt; our ability to extend, renew or refinance our existing debt; our ability to maintain compliance with the stock exchange rules; our ability to develop and implement plans to improve our operations and financial position; costs of materials and labor, including recent increases in cotton prices; our ability to improve manufacturing efficiency at our production facilities; location of our facilities in the same geographic area; manufacturing, supply or distribution difficulties or disruptions; risks of financial nonperformance by customers; investigations, enforcement actions and litigation; compliance with or changes in laws and regulations; costs as a result of operating as a public company; material weaknesses in internal controls; interest rate and foreign currency risks; loss of U.S. import protections or changes in duties, tariffs and quotas and other risks associated with international business; our ability to upgrade our information technology infrastructure and other risks associated with the systems that are used to manage our operations; general economic and industry conditions, including U.S. and worldwide economic conditions; and other risks detailed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, and Form 10-K/A for the year ended December 31, 2009, and our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2010. In addition, consideration needs to be given to the withdrawal of the opinion of our prior auditor as indicated in our Form 8-K filing on December 21, 2010. Our filings with the SEC are available at www.sec.gov. You are urged to consider these factors carefully in evaluating the forward-looking statements herein and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and the company undertakes no obligation to publicly update such forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

ICR, Inc
Joe Teklits / Anne Rakunas
203-682-8200

Source: American Apparel, Inc.

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