Beleaguered brand making comeback

American Apparel’s website has been hinting about a summer relaunch for some time — now its parent company is making good on its promise.



Gildan Activewear, which purchased the specialty retailer at a bankruptcy auction earlier this year, is preparing to relaunch the brand’s e-commerce website, according to Bloomberg. However, this is only the first project on its list of retail plans.



The new website will open within the next two weeks. The site will feature a wide range of products — including pieces that American Apparel’s historically sold, such as jeans, the report said.



Gildan purchased the brand and assets for $88 million in January, but not American Apparel’s stores or factories. At the time, it also separately purchased inventory from American Apparel to ensure a seamless supply of goods to its printwear channel while Gildan integrated the brand within its printwear business.



Since then, Gildan has rebuilt the American Apparel brand’s inventory and ramped up shipments to wholesalers. The company also hired top talent from American Apparel’s old advertising and marketing team to handle its branding, according to Racked.



Gildan is already boosting overall revenue by selling blank American Apparel basics to wholesalers, who then customize the items. That segment of the screen-printing business is the most lucrative, and Gildan predicts American Apparel will contribute to higher margins, Bloomberg reported.



"This will hopefully be one of the best acquisitions the company has ever made, in terms of return on investment, so we’re very excited about it," Gildan CEO Glenn Chamandy told Bloomberg.



Looking ahead, Chamandy will continue focusing on distribution and direct-to-consumer operations — especially on a global level. “We’re going to expand internationally. We think that this could be quite big as we go forward,” he said in the report.