What would Dov Do? American Apparel t-shirt conflict continued

What Would Dov Do?

Not to take this lightly, but I have to wonder what would Dov Charney, CEO of American Apparel, do if a company wouldn't sell him product that he needed to stay in business? Would he jump up and down and yell? Would he sue for violations of the anti-trust act for unfair business practices? Would he create a competitive line of clothing and/or offer alternatives to the items that he was being restricted from selling? Hmmmm, I wonder.

Most likely Dov would do all of these things in a random sequence, but yelling would be first. He's quite the successful business person and I am always impressed how he comes from behind and ends up on top.

The yelling is a given, but after that a serious discussion would ensue with a few confidants. As far as the anti-trust issues like monopolistic corporate behavior; Dov would sue asap. My response: I'm not in a position to pursue legal action since the cost are too high for lawsuits and to get good results you have to have the time to deal with the details. However, if this truly is an anti-trust violation of the law that harms the consumer by forcing them to pay higher prices by manipulating the distributors, then the government itself may be responsible for enforcing the law on this type of matter. But Dov, like myself, would avoid involving the government into his business as it usually just creates more problems in the long run. Nonetheless, if after a legal review that the government would enforce his rights to do business then I think he would immediately bring them in with the hopes of creating a 2nd front of attack against the company denying him products.

Team up with other manufacturers. Dov has been successful in the past at partnering with others to create new lines of clothing. I currently have some competitive lines of clothing that are available and I'll list those later. The problem here is that people do request American Apparel as a specific line for their jobs and I have offered it for over ten years and I don't bother trying to sell them an alternative in the short run. Case and point:

"I am looking for a quote on screen printed t-shirts for my XXX.

I would need approx. 100 American Apparel (no pocket) shirts in assorted colors in various men's and women's sizes. I would be looking to have a small one color logo put on the front left pocket area and one larger (but not large) on color logo printed on the back. All printing would be black."

Why should I have to say no to people or try to sell them something different? American Apparel has also improved it's quality and stock availability over this same period of time and I prefer selling that brand over some of the competitive brands. Dov would not give up selling these shirts easily, but would pursue other lines in the meantime. I feel the same.

Creating a new line of t-shirts isn't that difficult, but I don't have the financial resources to back this venture, as I have done before, except maybe in White and Black t-shirts. Private labeling a basic t-shirt that matches the style and color choices available with American Apparel is not as easy as it looks. Inventory and production schedules are the largest problem, but it is not impossible. Once again, the end result would most likely have a smaller color selection anyway, but underlying style factors like fit and texture with the basic American Apparel t-shirt in both Mens and Womens t-shirts are not unique enough to be exclusive. Dov would increase his debt and liabilities to create a new line, but I personally am not willing to invest my meager earnings into wholesale manufacturing since I don't the capacity for more debt.

The correct answer for what American Apparel and Dov Charney should do is:

Realize the shortcomings of the current prohibitive marketing strategy and separate his wholesale line from his retail line cleanly so that the wholesale market could continue to exist without interference or confusion with the American Apparel retail line of basic t-shirts? No brainer. The market forces for wholesale t-shirts are then returned to an equlibrium. As well, by offering a second line strictly for the retail market, as they have done with so many other specialty products that American Apparel has made, then they would solve this problem in the longrun instead of blaming it on smaller t-shirt distributors and screenprinters in the shortrun. The printable line of clothing should be separate anyway from what is sold retail. Thus by fixing this problem American Apparel would allow a competitive free-market system for blank t-shirts to exist again for the basic American Apparel 2001 and 2102 t-shirts and American Apparel would not be so Un-American in it's pursuit of complete control of the t-shirt industry.