American Apparel remains a leader when it comes to youth culture preferences and as it continues to move into various style categories beyond its roots of T-shirts and first layer pieces, consumers are moving along right with the brand. On February 7, 2013, the vertically integrated brand based in downtown Los Angeles reported a comparable store sales increase for January up 10%, including a 7% increase in comparable store sales for its retail store channel and a 24% increase in net sales for its online channel. Wholesale net sales increased 14% for the month of January and total net sales increased 11% to $46.4 million.
“We had strong performance this January across all channels — retail, wholesale and online,” said John Luttrell, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of American Apparel, Inc. “Seeing our momentum carry into 2013 gives us confidence that this will be a strong sales year. Even without relying on additional store openings, our sales could increase by six percent or greater this year,” concluded Luttrell.
“We believe the online segment will grow significantly, driven by technological improvements to our website, coupled with strong demand from our metropolitan adult customer,” said Dov Charney, Chairman and Chief Executive of American Apparel, Inc. “Additionally, it is noteworthy that the imprintable wholesale division of the company is experiencing positive momentum as a result of improved conditions in the ad specialty arena. Increased sales are important to us because we can leverage store and corporate overhead. But more importantly, increased sales allow us to absorb overhead at our factory, which has ample capacity for additional production.”
“Currently, our most profitable stores are in Tokyo, Beijing, London, Sydney and New York,” added Charney. “American Apparel is a brand that appeals in global city centers, and I reiterate that in the long range, we see an opportunity to open hundreds of stores all over the world. In the meantime, our focus is to make our existing business more profitable.”
