Dov Charney
Dov Charney | |
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![]() Dov Charney | |
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Occupation | Entrepreneur |
Dov Charney (born January 31, 1969) is the Canadian-born founder and former CEO of American Apparel, a clothing manufacturer, wholesaler, and retailer.[1][2]
At American Apparel, Charney was involved in nearly every part of the business process from design and manufacturing to marketing.[3][4][5][6][7] At a time when the US garment industry had largely shifted to outsourcing manufacturing, Charney built American Apparel into a vertically-integrated fashion company -- the largest clothing manufacturing operation in the USA -- where every aspect of the business—from design and manufacturing to distribution and marketing—is done from American Apparel’s headquarters in Los Angeles.[8][9] Charney was also responsible for American Apparel to be an early adopter of RFID tags on garments in 2007 in an effort to reduce theft and improve inventory control. [10][11][12] In addition, Charney pioneered the Made in USA sweatshop-free model of fair wages and a refusal to outsource manufacturing.[13][14][15]
In 2004, he was named Ernst and Young’s ‘Young and Ernst Entrepreneur of the Year’. Charney was titled ‘Retailer of the Year’ in the Michael Awards in 2008; an award which was previously given to Oscar de la Renta and Calvin Klein. He was given the title of ‘Man of the Year’ by the Apparel Magazine and the Fashion Industry Guild. In 2008 his brand was named ‘Label of the year’ by ‘The Guardian’.[16] The Los Angeles Times named him as one of the Top 100 powerful people in Southern California and in 2009, he was nominated as a Time 100 finalist by Time magazine.[17][18]
"But it's not just on the factory floor where American Apparel does not play by the rules of the Gap. While the Gap's imaging exemplifies the kind of sandblasted, bland notion of good-looking young Americans who have been the standard since long before "Dawson's Creek" or "The O.C.," the models in American Apparel's print ads challenge conventional notions of beauty. Before the ballyhooed Dove soap campaign, Charney embraced the notion of "real" advertising, photographing young ethnic and mixed-race men and women with asymmetrical features, imperfect bodies, blemished skin and visible sweat stains on the clothes they are modeling — the kind of artsy, latter-day-bohemian, indie-culture-affiliated young adults who live and shop in the neighborhoods where American Apparel stores are located."[19]
Early and personal life
Charney was born in Montreal, Quebec. His father, Morris Charney, is an architect, and his mother, Sylvia Safdie, an artist.[20] Charney is a nephew of architect Moshe Safdie.[21] He attended Choate Rosemary Hall, a private boarding school in Connecticut[22] and St. George's School of Montreal.[23] Charney grew up with, and was influenced heavily by, the culture of Montreal and his Jewish heritage.[21][24] He briefly attended Tufts University. As a teenager, he "fell in love" with the United States, and drew a sharp contrast between American and Canadian cultures.[21] "...when he was 15, and "had fallen in love with the U.S. in the way only a Canadian kid can – because Americans had the freedom to choose from hundreds more kinds of sugar breakfast cereals than us." As a teenager, Charney was an admirer of American-made products.[25] As a teen, he became disillusioned with Quebec nationalism which was widespread during the 1980s.[26]
Charney's teenage infatuation with the US inspired the aesthetics and name of the apparel company he later founded.[21][25] His first ventures in fashion began in high school, when he started importing Hanes and Fruit of the Loom t-shirts across the border to Canadian friends.[27] At Choate, he claims to have shipped as many as 10,000 shirts at a time, using a rented U-Haul truck to transport the goods.[28]
In 1987, he enrolled at Tufts University. While at Tufts, he continued to operate his business, but dropped out by 1990 to pursue the apparel business full-time.[29] He borrowed $10,000 from his father and moved to South Carolina to transition from importing T-shirts to manufacturing them.[30] In 1996, Charney's company restructured when it was unable to cover its debt and filed for Chapter 11.[22][31] On July 4, 1997, he went to Los Angeles.[32] By 2003, Charney had opened his first retail store and employed over 1,300 people.[33]
American Apparel
Building the brand
In 1991, Charney began making basic T-shirts under the American Apparel brand. The initial T-shirts were made of simple 18-single jersey and were positioned to compete with the Hanes Beefy-T.[34] The primary market objective was to sell garments to screen printers and wholesale clothiers in the United States and Canada.[35] In 1997, as his design, the 'Classic Girl', built momentum, Charney transitioned manufacturing to Los Angeles. In 2000, American Apparel moved into its current 800,000 sq ft (74,000 m2) factory located in downtown Los Angeles.[36]
It was his aim in building American Apparel that it "live beyond [his] lifetime." According to Charney: "We'll be a heritage brand. It's like liberty, property, pursuit of happiness for every man worldwide. That's my America." [37]
Role as manufacturer/retailer/CEO
Charney is founder and CEO of American Apparel, but formally went by the title of "Senior Partner."[38][39] He infused his personal progressive politics into the company brand paying factory workers between $13–18 USD/hr, offering low-cost, full-family healthcare for employees and taking a company position on immigration reform.[40][41][42] Workers are also allowed free international phone calls during work hours.[40] He claims to do this not for moral reasons but because it is a better business strategy.[43][44] He makes all product development and creative hiring decisions himself.[45]
Under Charney, American Apparel instituted "team manufacturing" which pools the strongest workers towards priority orders.[46] After its implementation, garment production tripled and required a less than 20% staff increase.[46] He formed the company as a domestic vertically-integrated manufacturer,[47] making him the largest manufacturer still producing garments in America.[48] Because of its vertically integrated and domestic manufacturing model, American Apparel's gross margins are actually significantly higher than other basic apparel brands. According to the company, its blended margins are roughly 70% (while GAP averages about 30% and luxury brands like Prada are between 65 and 70%.)[49]
Initially American Apparel was a wholesale brand but in 2003 it expanded into the retail market. Its first stores were in Montreal, New York City and Los Angeles.[40][50] By 2005, the company had over $200M in revenue.[34] Retail operations have grown to include 260+ retail stores. In 2008, he was named Retailer of the Year at the Michael Awards, a fashion industry mainstay.[51][52] The award has previously gone to Calvin Klein and Oscar de la Renta.[53]
Fashion and lifestyle
Charney is known for his fashion sense, which is geared towards "young metropolitan adults."[54] The 'fit' of a shirt is something he often stresses.[55] He was named Man of the Year by both the Fashion Industry Guild and Apparel Magazine for his design work.[56] In 2008, The Guardian named American Apparel "Label of the Year".[57]
From the onset, Charney has been known for producing clothing that is both logo and brand-free, which is considered important to younger consumers who are wary of corporate branding. [58]
Charney lives in the Garbutt House, historic mansion atop a hill in Silverlake designed by Frank Garbutt, an early movie pioneer and industrialist.[34] The home is made entirely out of concrete due to Garbutt's deathly fear of fire. He is consumed with work, often sleeping in his office at the company's factory, leaving little separation between his personal and work life.[34] The house often functions as a dormitory for out of town workers doing business at the company headquarters.[34]
Advertising and brand management
Until his recent ouster by American Apparel's board of directors, Charney was directly involved in his company's design, branding, and advertising. His print campaigns are award-winning and among the most followed in the garment industry.[59] Charney has promoted a branding strategy that spotlighted his treatment of workers as a selling point for the company's merchandise, promoting American Apparel's goods as "sweatshop free." A banner on top of the downtown factory states "American Apparel is an Industrial Revolution."[48]
The company is also known for its simple and provocative ads featuring women, including employees. The subjects are often not but sometimes professional models, and often chosen personally by Charney from local hangouts and stores.[60] He shoots many of the advertisements himself.[61] His advertising has been criticized for featuring young, even teenage, models in sexually provocative poses. However, it has also been lauded for honesty and lack of airbrushing.[62][63] In 2005, Charney won the "Marketing Excellence Award" in the LA Fashion Awards.[64]
Dismissal
During its routine meetings in March 2014, American Apparel's board learned that an arbitrator hearing one of the sexual harassment cases against Charney and the company had reached a decision in the case. While ruling that the main harassment claim had not been proven, the arbitrator found against the company and a Charney on a defamation claim, awarding $700,000 for that to Irene Morales, saying that Charney had failed to prevent a subordinate from posting naked pictures of her online. Up until then the board had steadfastly maintained that all the allegations against Charney, most of which were likewise settled in confidential arbitration proceedings, were not factually sufficient to constitute misconduct requiring disciplinary action.[65]
They also had strong financial reasons for replacing him. AA had posted losses in all but one of the previous 17 quarters, including $106 million during the preceding year, and the company had become a penny stock, Its financial options were limited—Charney's own portion of the company had been diluted from 45% to 27% during one effort to raise cash, which made it easier for the board to take him on. Some lenders refused to deal with the company at all while Charney was in charge, and those that did charged dearly; the interest rate on one of its major loans was 20%.[65]
With this now "established legal fact" in hand, the board began to quietly investigate Charney and prepare for the possibility of firing him, a move they anticipated he would resist vigorously. They worked closely with the company's law firm, Jones Day, to interview employees without Charney finding out. When they were done in June, the majority of the board confronted Charney with a throffer: either he quietly resigned as CEO and took a multimillion-dollar long-term position as a consultant, or they would fire him and make public why. He chose the latter.[65]
American Apparel publicly suspended Charney on June 18, 2014, stating that they would terminate him for cause in 30 days.[66][67] The company's board claimed at the time that it had "new information" which led it to finally fire Charney. "We have heard for years allegations and rumors in newspaper stories that were not sufficient to take action," said new co-chairman Allan Mayer. "But what came to our attention was not allegations and rumors but established fact." He declined to elaborate at that time. The board had just begun an investigation into how Charney responded to a 2011 lawsuit by a former employee who claimed he had held her against her will as a "sex slave", a suit settled in arbitration.[68]
Two days later, a company insider posted a "confession" to the social network Whisper asserting that the reasons for Charney's dismissal were "purely financial ... Everything else is bullshit. The board has nothing new." BuzzFeed got in touch with the poster through Whisper and was able to obtain the board's dismissal letter to Charney. It repeated the board's earlier allegation that he had allowed a subordinate to pose as Morales on a blog and make sexually provocative posts to him, which had apparently led to major punitive damages awarded to Morales by the arbitrator, calling this a breach of his fiduciary duty. Further in that vein, the board said, it head learned of an attempt to possibly suborn perjury in a "pending litigation matter". The letter also charged Charney with misusing corporate assets for personal gain, such as paying lucrative severance packages, bonuses and salary increases in exchange for silence from putative accusers as well as using corporate apartments himself and buying travel for family members with company funds, violating company policy by refusing to attend mandatory sexual harassment training sessions and disrupting them when others attended.[69]
As a result of Charney's behavior, the board claimed, the company's costs had increased unacceptably. "The company's employment practices liability insurance retention has grown to $1 million from $350,000 ... the premiums for this insurance are well outside of industry standards." His reputation had also hurt American Apparel's financing, as "many financing sources have refused to become involved with American Apparel as long as you remain involved with the company" and those that did had imposed "a significant premium for that financing in significant part because of your conduct." It gave him the 30-day suspension to "effect a cure" for these issues.[69] Charney demanded the board reinstate him, threatening to sue for age discrimination.[70]
In December 2014, Charney was terminated as a Chief Executive Officer after months of suspension. He was replaced by Paula Schneider, president of ESP Group Ltd, company of brands like English Laundry, on January 5, 2015.[71] In December 2014, Charney told Bloomberg Businessweek he was down to his last $100,000 and that he was sleeping on a friend's couch in Manhattan.[72] Following his suspension as CEO in the summer of 2014, Charney teamed up with the Standard General hedge fund to buy stocks of the company to attempt a takeover.[73]
Lawsuits
Charney has filed a number of lawsuits against American Apparel and Standard General in connection with his claim that he was fired illegally and disenfranchised a shareholder of the company. On March 25, Charney’s lawyer Keith Fink affirmed that Charney was suing American Apparel in private arbitration for $40 million in damages stemming from a breach of his employment contract.[74]
Additionally, on May 7, 2015 Charney sued Standard General, (the hedge fund that took control of American Apparel following his 2014 ouster) for 30 million dollars, claiming that Standard General’s public statements that the investigation of Charney was "independent and carried out by a third party" was allegedly a bold faced lie, and as such was defamatory and an intentional interference with economic relations and prospective economic relations. In the same lawsuit Charney claims the investigation of himself was a “sham” and he said American Apparel’s board, controlled by Standard General, sacked him because he wouldn’t drop his fight to regain control of the retailer and accept the settlement that was offered to him (an alleged multi-million dollar consulting—employment contract) and because he refused to release his claims as a shareholder against both the company and the investment firm (California Superior Court, case BC581130).[75]
On May 12, 2015 Charney sued American Apparel and Colleen Brown for a 20 million dollar defamation claim relating to a written statement Ms. Brown to made to employees whereby she stated Charney had signed a contract whereby he agreed in writing that "he would never come back to American Apparel”, which Charney claims he never signed (California Superior Court, case BC581602).[76]
On May 18, 2015 American Apparel sued Charney accusing him of running a "scorched earth campaign" as he tries to regain control of the company. Connected to that same litigation, on June 1, 2015, the Company obtained a temporary restraining order in Delaware Chancery Court preventing Charney from criticizing the company or seeking the removal of board members through July 16, 2015, the date of American Apparel’s 2015 annual shareholder’s meeting.[77]
On June 19, 2015 Charney sued American Apparel and a former board member, David Danziger, alleging that Danziger interfered with Charney's economic interests when in late June of 2014, he spoke to the company’s second largest shareholder in an alleged attempt to block Charney’s effort to gain shareholder support so he could take back control of his company. When the board realized that Charney was collaborating with the company's second largest shareholder, Five T to take control of the company and the board itself, Charney claims board member, David Danziger contacted Five T and told them that Charney was involved in acts which were criminal in nature, thereby preventing Charney from obtaining Roth’s support (California Superior Court, case BC585664).[78] This lawsuit called for minimum damages of 30 million dollars or more.[79]
On June 24, 2015, Charney sued American Apparel, the former CFO, John Luttrell, former board members David Danzinger, Robert Greene, Marvin Igelman, William Mauer and Allan Mayer for fraud and conspiracy. Among other things, Charney claimed the various defendants participated in a scheme to trick Charney into diluting his ownership stake in the company in early 2014 in a effort to sell the company in spite of his objections. Some of the defendants then engaged in securities fraud followed by an elaborate scheme of fraud in the inducement and intentional misrepresentation in collaboration with Standard General to oust Charney and steal control of the company away from him. This last lawsuit asks for damages over 100 million dollars (California Superior Court, case BC581130). [80]
Activism
Under Charney's stewardship, American Apparel took a leading role in the promotion of a number of prominent social causes:
Legalize LA
Legalize LA was an immigration reform campaign conceived by Charney and promoted by American Apparel beginning in 2008. The campaign featured billboards and full-page ads in national publications as well as t-shirts sold in retail locations emblazoned with the words "Legalize LA." Proceeds from the sale of the shirts were donated to immigration reform advocacy groups. The campaign called for the overhaul of immigration laws so as to create a legal path for undocumented workers to gain citizenship in the United States.[81][82]
Legalize Gay
In November 2008, after the passing of Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriages in California, Dov Charney and American Apparel created "Legalize Gay" t-shirts to hand out to protesters at rallies. The positive reaction led American Apparel to sell the same shirts at stores and online.[83] On July 20, 2009 the window of an American Apparel store was broken by a vandal in response to the campaign. In the next two days, employees at the Silver Spring location as well as the Georgetown store received threatening phone calls, with the perpetrators demanding the t-shirts be taken down.[84] Rather than take the t-shirts down, the company insisted that every store in the Washington DC area display a "Legalize Gay" shirt.[85]
Politics
In 2010, Charney made monetary contributions to the unsuccessful campaign of Gil Cedillo, a Californian Democratic Party candidate for Congress. In 2004 he contributed to a political action committee (PAC) that supported many Democratic candidates.[86]
Ethical views
In an interview with Vice.tv, Charney spoke out against the poor treatment of fashion workers in developing countries and refers to the practices as "slave labor" and "death trap manufacturing". Charney proposed a "Global Garment Workers Minimum Wage" as well discussed in detail many of the inner workings of the modern fast fashion industry practices that creates dangerous factory conditions and disasters like the 2013 Savar building collapse on 13 May, which had the death toll of 1,127 and 2,500 injured people who were rescued from the building alive.[87]
Controversy
Charney has been the subject of several sexual harassment lawsuits, at least five since the mid-2000s, all of which have settled or been dismissed, with no harassment ever proven.[88] Through early 2010, none of the accusations had been proven.[89][90] Some cases remain pending, but the remaining were dismissed, remanded to private arbitration, or “thrown out”.[91][92][93][94][95]
Charney maintained his innocence in all the lawsuits, telling CNBC that “allegations that I acted improperly at any time are completely a fiction."[96] The company and independent media outlets have publicly accused lawyers in the lawsuits against American Apparel of extortion and of "shaking the company down."[34][97][98][99] On the eve of trial in one case, the plaintiff confessed that she had not been subjected to sexual harassment and agreed to go to an arbitration hearing aimed at clearing Charney's name. However, the plaintiff failed to show up to the hearing and a ruling was unable to be reached. As a result, the $1.3 million settlement was dissolved and the matter reemerged as a negative media controversy for Charney.[100][101][102] The company was later sued by four ex-models for sexual harassment, including one separately named plaintiff who sued the company for $250 million.[34] The latter lawsuits were subject to much controversy when unsolicited nude photographs, consensual sexual text messages and requests for money surfaced.[97][103] Charney was accused of being responsible for these leaks in a later lawsuit.[104]
In 2004, Claudine Ko of Jane magazine[105] published an essay narrating multiple sexual exchanges that occurred between them while spending time with Charney. The article said that Charney consistently propositioned his employees. Charney admitted to using the word "sluts" in front of employees, in a deposition on another sexual harassment case, and denied that "slut" was a derogatory term.[62][106][107][108] The article's publication brought extensive press to the company and Charney, who later responded that he believed that the acts had been done consensually, in private and outside the article's bounds.[109][110][111][112]
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(help)@3:30 "Charney has long been an admirer....'there is something about American products...'"|medium=
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(help)@3:50 "generous fringe benefits"|medium=
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- ^ Li, Shan. "American Apparel gets temporary restraining order against Dov Charney". LA Times. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
- ^ Hsu, Tiffany. "Dov Charney sues American Apparel and former director on defamation claim". LA Times. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
- ^ Brooke, Eliza. "Dov Charney Hits Ameriican Apparel with $30 million - Plus Defamation Lawsuit". Fashionista. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
- ^ Masunaga, Samantha. "In lawsuit, Dov Charney claims conspiracy between American Apparel, Standard General". LA Times. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
- ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/18/business/media/18adco.html?_r=2&scp=5&sq=immigration&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
- ^ http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/10/28/us-usa-immigration-americanapparel-idUSTRE49R01020081028
- ^ http://www.legalizegay.com/
- ^ http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0709/642739.html
- ^ http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/Gay-T-shirts-spark-vandalism-threats-at-area-stores-8010554.html
- ^ "Dov Charney". CampaignMoney.com. January 21, 2013. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
- ^ VICE (May 29, 2013). "Dov Charney on Modern Day Sweat Shops: VICE Podcast 006". YouTube. Retrieved January 31, 2014.
- ^ Holson, Laura M. (March 23, 2011). "Dov Charney of American Apparel Named in Harassment Suit". The New York Times.
- ^ Covert, James (March 28, 2010). "American Apparel Struggles to Stay Afloat". New York Post. Retrieved March 29, 2010.
- ^ Brennan, Ed (May 18, 2009). "Woody Allen reaches $5m settlement with head of American Apparel". The Guardian. London. Retrieved May 22, 2009. Quote: "Charney has been involved in several highly-publicised sexual harassment suits brought by former employees, none of which were proven.”
- ^ Sefton, Eliot (September 3, 2009). "Dov Charney's LA-based clothing company loses 1,600 staff and sees yet another advert banned". The First Post. Retrieved September 11, 2009.
Charney has been the subject of several, unproven, sexual harassment suits and claims to have been victimised by the media in the past. He said that he used Woody Allen in his company's ads because he wanted to draw attention to the way he and Allen – both high-profile Jews – had been treated.
[dead link] - ^ American Apparel CEO Dov Charney's 'Sex Slave' Lawsuit Thrown Out HuffingtonPost.com 03/22/2012 5:20 pm
- ^ Brennan, Ed (May 18, 2009). "Woody Allen reaches $5m settlement with head of American Apparel". The Guardian. London. Retrieved May 22, 2009. Quote: "Charney has been involved in several highly publicised sexual harassment suits brought by former employees."
- ^ Judge Dismisses Sexual Harassment Lawsuit against American Apparel; No Further Legal Action in the Case Will Be Allowed; Plaintiff Receives No Money.
- ^ Covert, James (March 28, 2010). "American Apparel Struggles to Stay Afloat". New York Post. Retrieved March 29, 2010.
- ^ American Apparel CEO: Tattered, but Not Torn CNBC.com Jane Wells 4/10/12 “The company is also trying to recover from a litany of lawsuits against Charney, including a sex slave lawsuit that was thrown out last month”
- ^ a b Nolan, Hamilton (April 2011). "American Shakedown? Sex, Lies and the Dov Charney Lawsuit". Gawker. Retrieved May 2, 2011.
- ^ NAKED SHAKEDOWN: DOV CHARNEY IS THE VICTIM! HollywoodInterrupted.com December 2008
- ^ Chaudhuri, Saabira (December 2, 2008). "American Apparel Aims to Bring Down "Celebrity Ambulance Chasing" Lawyer". Fast Company. Retrieved March 28, 2008.
- ^ Heller, Matthew (October 28, 2008). "Fashion Mogul 'Fakes' Arbitration in Harassment Case". On Point. Retrieved November 21, 2008.
The 'confidential arbitration' was in fact a charade. One of Nelson's attorneys, the 2nd District said, later described it as 'a 'fake arbitration' designed to produce a press release calculated to blunt negative media attention.'
- ^ Slater, Dan (November 4, 2008). "The Story Behind American Apparel's Sham Arbitration". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved November 5, 2008.
The court went on to say that 'the proposed press release is materially misleading — among other things, no real arbitration of a dispute occurred and [the] plaintiff received $1.3 million in compensation.'
- ^ Stein, Sadie (October 31, 2008). "Tangled Webs: Dov Charney's Court Case is Totally Complicated". Jezebel. Retrieved November 4, 2008.
In response, Ms. Nelson's lawyer, Mr. Fink, devised a settlement agreement whereby his client would agree to certain stipulations amounting to a confession that her charges of sexual harassment were bogus, and that she had never been subject to any harassment or a hostile work environment.
- ^ "Money-hungry vixen sent me dirty emails', claims American Apparel CEO being sued". London: The Daily Mail. April 2011. Retrieved May 2, 2011.
- ^ "Ex-workers say American Apparel posted nude pix online". Reuters. April 2011. Retrieved May 2, 2011.
- ^ Nesvig, Kara (October 4, 2007). "Unkempt, Urban, Ubiquitous". Minnesota Daily. Retrieved April 28, 2008.[dead link] Archived at americanapparel.net
- ^ Sexy marketing or sexual harassment? – Dateline NBC | NBC News
- ^ ‘Jewish hustler’—potty mouth and pervert—means no offense | Jewish Journal
- ^ Claudine Ko, "Meet Your New Boss," Jane Magazine, June/July 2004 http://www.claudineko.com/storiesamericanapparel.html
- ^ "The company calls it "a social situation which...unfortunately was exploited in order to sell magazines." American Apparel CEO Trial Starts Today CNBC. Margaret Brennan. February 28, 2008.
- ^ "I've never done anything sexual that wasn't consensual", Charney says. The reporter, Claudine Ko, confirmed his take on events to BusinessWeek." Living on the Edge at American Apparel
- ^ "Within the context of a flirtatious conversation about sexuality and the pleasure Charney derives from masturbation with a willing partner, he decided to demonstrate for Ko, and it became a repeated motif in their later encounters. The article left a lasting impression of him as a boss who can't keep it in his pants", The New York Times "And You Thought Abercrombie and Fitch Was Pushing It"
- ^ "I was a younger man" he says, wearily. "The lines were blurred between paramour and reporter." The reporter has said that her tape recorder or notebook was in full view at all times and that the relationship was professional." Portfolio profile of Charney[dead link]
External links
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- Living people
- Canadian retail chief executives
- Canadian Jews
- Canadian fashion designers
- Businesspeople from Montreal
- Tufts University alumni
- Anglophone Quebec people
- Jewish fashion designers
- Companies that have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
- 1969 births
- Canadian company founders
- Canadian people of Israeli descent
- 21st-century Canadian businesspeople
- Choate Rosemary Hall alumni
- Canadian expatriates in the United States