Wednesday, August 20, 2008

findings

i have avoided american apparel at all cost ever since their store in evanston opened up and i saw in the display window a video all about how their model was a famous porn star. there was just something that stuck me, maybe it was the obvious "we are selling sex" message that ended up never stepping into any of their stores nor even looked at any of their products. then i found out from my friend dan (aka my number one fashion industry know it all resource) that they sell 100% organic cotton. this news came in a year after i first was introduced to their image and my straight up hating of american apparel died down a little. then this week, knowing that their are tons of their stores in chicago, i decided to look into the company online and found that they are trying to build a company that doesn't outsource, gives their workers benefits, subsidized transportation, subsidized lunches and even go as far to open a clinic at their L.A. warehouse for their co-workers. Needless to say i was impressed and thought hey, perhaps i should apply there. today, i pushed their revolving door until the store revealed itself to me and kept pushing until i was safely back on the sidewalk. i don't know what it was exactly, but my gut description was, "so this is what a store on acid looks like." there was just this weird, odd and strange energy in the place that i couldn't quit get what it was but had absolutely no interest in staying around to find out. so good job american apparel on doing all that you do, being conscious of your workers and such, but sorry, i just don't feel your image.

so i don't feel american apparel or their stores at least, but here are a few places that i just recently discovered and am really enjoying. the first one is a clothing line called Armour Sans Anguish that is out of San Fransisco. they take and recycle vintage clothing. i like their imagination and playfulness. then there is this line called William Good which is brought to you by the designer who was made famous from the Joe Boxer line. basically he teamed up with Good Will to take some of the gazillion pounds of clothes Good Will gets and recycles the clothes by adding a little bit of his own style to them and then resells them creating a William Good boutique. from what i read on their website one of the goals of the company is creating the next level from people who work at Good Will. pretty sweet. next on my findings was an awesome shop in L.A. called Fresh Press, if you are in L.A. please just go for me and then tell me how awesome i am imagining it is. lastly, dear friends, i have found my dream home. one day i will move to l.a. and i will live in this house (probably not, but why not dream). currently it is occupied by the guy who built it; ray kappe. unfortunately can not find as good as pictures that were in the dwell article, but there was something about the split levels and the where the lines cut that just got me drooling. there is a bunch of other nice stuff i discovered today, but i think one more link would kill this post. i'm thinking though that i'm going to have to set up monthly afternoons devoted to barnes and noble, there is just too much to be discovered just with the magazines.

1 comment:

Heather said...

For some reason, all the times that I saw this blog entry and all the times that we talked about this, I never connected the name to the place. I know that place! I hate it too! Eeeeewwww! It's AWFUL, HORRIBLE, DISGUSTING and ICKY YUCKY POO!

Yes.

Also, I really like that place in LA too. Let's build one like it in Costa Rica, okay? Okay!