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Choo backers take £58m American Apparel stake
13.03.09
The London investors who made millions from backing shoe designer Jimmy Choo have bought an $80 million (£57.8 million) stake in über-trendy fashion chain American Apparel.
Lion Capital has snapped up 18% of the business known for its sexually provocative advertising and sweatshop-free ethics. Its controversial founder, Dov Charney, is famed for having fostered a highly charged sexual atmosphere at the Lycra-loving business, based at a factory in Los Angeles.
Many hail him as a fashion genius for creating a risqué-feeling brand that appeals to the trendy youth market. But some staff beg to differ. Charney has been sued in the past in three sexual harassment cases, although he puts them all down to disgruntled former employees.
It last year opened 81 stores, making 260 across the world, and insists on paying decent wages.
