Shop Report

#1
This clothing company has made its mark within the fashion industries with its basic, plain T-shirts. Walking down the centre of Oxford Street, you cannot miss the bright, neon lights that shine from the banner of this shop. The simple, basic designs and colours of this brand is what make it instantly recognisable to the public. The window display isn’t as stylised as places like Topshop; it shows are a few mannequins wearing clothes that fit the trend with a line of colourful legs hanging in the background. Sometimes you’d think that there were walking mannequins, because the staff are dressed exactly like them. The shop design seems pretty much similar in every branch; same racks, same arial black font, same lighting and same mannequins. You would probably forget whether you were in the Covent Garden branch or the Oxford Street branch.  

Seeing that American Apparel is known for its colourful basics, the clothes are colour co-ordinated, which helps the buyer pick out the item they want. The limited edition collections and the original basics are placed relatively far apart from each other. AA seemed to have brought in shoes to their store, because I remember, the last time I visited the store in New York and in London, they only sold a few vintage shoes. Again, the shoes are also colour co-ordinated and lined up neatly on racks. The walls of the shop are covered in a mask of metal square railing that contrasts against the simple, one-coloured clothes. This interior design made me felt like I was trapped and caged in, which may be a good method to get customers to stay in the shop and shop a little more.  Above each design of clothing, there is a photo of a model wearing the item so that the customers can see what it looks like on the body and this allows them to imagine what they would look like wearing it. Most people tend to buy the item if the model looks good wearing it.

The company seems to have really succeeded in creating casual, cool clothes using a simple concept. The clothes crosses all types of people, however the ads seem to aim at the younger generation with its provocative and slightly grubby images. American Apparel, in my memory, started off rather humble but now they seem to be campaigning with half naked models in their ads making their whole image fixed on youth and sex. It’s quite unsettling to know that the women in the ads weren’t models but most of them were customers and a few employees. Now I understand why photos are taken of you at the AA job interview. From experience, they look a lot at your image rather than your CV. These sexed-up ads certainly do grab more attention to the viewer but knowing that Dov Charney (CEO) sexually harassed more than three female employees, only makes me think of the images as sleazy and slightly pornographic. He says "We make sexy T-shirts for young people", but no, I think he meant he makes T-shirts for sexy, young people.

The designs that are hot on trend at the moment are chiffon shirts, full length skirts and spandex leggings. Originally known for its colourful, cotton basics, they have cleverly created a policy where if you buy 3 of the same style, you get 15% discount. This instantly makes buyers want to grab three hangers instead of the one. However, like McCabe, I would ask myself, "Why pay ￡30 for a plain white T-shirt when you can pay less in Gap"; the only difference would be that AA uses higher quality fabrics that would last longer and therefore it may be worth going slightly upmarket. Although the prices are quite high (considering the design of the clothes), every year American Apparel holds a 90% discount sale. Last year, the sales in Brick Lane turned ugly after a scuffle broke out, which then closed the doors on the first day. Having been there for 3 hours andd eventually unable to experience even a taste of the sale, I went again this year. This year they changed their name to 'American Apparel Flea Market' and their ￡35,000 spent on security really paid off as people acted more orderly. I also braved out the cold in the queue as I couldn't pass up a bargain like this and ended up saving ￡150 if I had payed full price in-store.

A lot of the clothes are made using organic products such as natural cotton/ cotton spandex in order to minimize its impact on the environment. I like the company’s approach to ecological behaviour by recycling fabric scraps and dying tee with low impact dyes creating organic colours. 

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#2
Most people say that it is ‘love at first sight’. When I first discovered this shop, it was love at first sight for me too. Tucked-away on Carnaby Street, you can’t fail to spot the range of printed T-shirts, sweaters, skirts, accessories and stationary that roar out to you with bold prints and block colours. 

The small shop is very well arranged and neatly curated, much like a modern-boutique creating a more pleasurable experience. Each piece of item and its place in the shop is considered.  I almost got the feeling that I had entered a gallery or museum because the items were presented on white walls like pieces of art. Opposite to American Apparel, the patterned items contrast against the one-coloured walls. The vibe is very positive and energetic, which is enhanced by the raw light bulbs that hang from the ceiling. The glass window opens up a clear view to the whole shop hence the shop is a design in itself. There is a perfect balance of colour within the shop, some of which is toned down by the blacks. 

When visiting the store, I discovered that there was one thing missing and that was music, however it certainly made me concentrate on shopping more! The shop assistants seemed very bright and talkative, fitting in to the overall atmosphere of the shop. Although they were ‘working’, they seemed to be pretty chilled-out, which also allowed me to feel relaxed while shopping.

The men’s clothes are all displayed on the left hand side of the shop whilst the women’s clothes are placed on the right hand side. Hence the unisex accessories are placed right in the centre of the shop like an island. Beside the women’s clothes are racks for stationary, which sells things like diaries, tape, notebooks, travel journals and postcard books. What I love about these is that all the writing is in handwriting font and the illustration are all the creation of illustrator Gemma Shiel making it personal and arty. It has certainly got its own identity. Her illustrations are not only used in her brand but you can also find them on items at Tate Modern.

The humourous nature and illustrated pop graphics are what defines the look of this brand making it fun to wear but also fun to look at. Three words to describe the designs are playful, contemporary and quirky. Some could say that the clothes look childish because of the dominant primary colours but I think what make the clothes energetic are the colours and rather than childish, I would call it young and edgy.

Zips on some of the sweatshirts open up to tongues that hang out, but the most epic one of them all must be the Guts jumper (￡65). It’s simply the greatest item of clothing manufactured ever. If you unzip the cartoon colon people won’t be able to keep their eyes off your belly area for sure. The designers of this brand actually put some thought into the cut of the tees instead of just going with the usual American Apparel cuts. Although the prices are slightly steep (similar to American Apparel), varying between ￡30-110, they have amazing bargains during the sales.

It’s inspiring to know that Lazy Oaf actually begun as a one women team back in 2001 in a mini studio in Shoreditch but now it stocks 150 places worldwide with its own shop in central London.

The brand is becoming more and more known and what’s exciting is to know that recently the Mini Skirt (￡38) was seen worn by Cher Lloyd’s buddy/backing dancer in her latest music video, With Ur Love (featuring Michael Posner). Not only that, Cher Lloyd was also discovered wearing the 3D pyramid Necklace (￡25) in a press shot, making it become a ‘want’ item.