Dov Charney considers overseas factories as American Apparel flounders without him

London - It seems as if Dov Charney’s predications that American Apparel would go down without him have come to bear fruit. The US apparel company filed for Chapter 11 for the second time in less than a year yesterday, as its new owners failed to succeed in turning the company around.

The eccentric founder of Made in the USA fashion label previously told FashionUnited that he believed the new owners lacked the vision needed to guide the brand, as well as a true understanding and appreciation foe the brand’s values. “The hedge funds which took over American Apparel are not from Los Angeles, nor do they have a background in manufacturing, retailing or apparel branding. I do not believe they have a full understanding of what the brand represented or the philosophy behind it,” said Charney. He believes that the retailer’s latest bankruptcy filing proves that the company was unable to run without him at its helm.

“This company can’t survive without my leadership,” Charney said in an interview with Bloomberg on Monday. “They didn’t know how to run it. They took a company that could have lasted a century and crashed it into the wall.” Although the company achieved varied results under his rule, sales took a dramatic turn for the worse after he was ousted as CEO from American Apparel in 2014. “At what point do they say we made a colossal mistake and destroyed the largest US apparel company?” added Charney, who is busy working on his new clothing start-up business, based in Los Angeles.

Although the apparel entrepreneur has shared numerous behind the scenes snaps of himself and his team working in creating his unnamed label in LA, he is said to be considering opening a factory in London or Paris to create t-shirts for his new company as it continues to develop for its customers in Europe. “When Asos need T-shirts they don’t want to run around India or Bangladesh. If Kanye West needs T-shirts, he wants them in his shop [quickly],” he said to The Guardian. At the moment Charney currently works with a team of about 50 people, following a business model he has described as “rapid reaction urban manufacturing,” aiming to provide fast turnarounds for online retailers.

Photos: Dov Charney Facebook and American Apparel Oxford Street