American Apparel: giving you your favourite T-shirt in 20 colours! (American Apparel Store)

Member Name: natasharadical

Product:	American Apparel Store
Date:	06/01/09 (116 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: lots of great basics to choose from that you'll wear all the time

Disadvantages: snooty assistants

Over the past couple of years, the popularity of American Apparel has increased quite considerably, and it is a shop often name-checked by magazines such as Elle and Vogue when they are talking about where to buy your "staple" garments. This is because American Apparel is a shop which predominantly stocks what I would term 'luxurious basics': loads of cotton T-shirts and vests in varying styles & in many colours, without patterns on them. Though this is what they stock the most of, they also sell other items such as cardigans, leotards (and general 'dance wear'), skirts, jeans, dresses and shorts.

American Apparel first opened a shop in my city about a year ago. It has a very clean and modern feel to it due to its white decor, spacious floor, and bright lighting. The lighting can feel a little harsh though. The changing rooms are a decent size with big mirrors which offer you a great view of whatever you're trying on. The music in the shop is generally a little try-hard; they will either be playing obscure dance music, or they will try to be ironic by playing 80s music. The shopping experience there overall is a pleasant one, marred only by the fact that the staff are almost always extremely pretentious and quite unhelpful. This has been the case in every American Apparel shop I have been in. Their rudeness is tolerable if you're shopping with friends, but when alone it can make for quite a disconcerting experience.

I always find the shop to be well-stocked though, and it's the clothes I go there for anyway, not the shopping experience! When going there for the first time after hearing many good things about the shop, you may at first be confused by all the fuss, since all the garments look...well...plain. To get past this, just grab some things from the rails and try the damn things on! You will find yourself being seduced by the fact that almost everything in the shop comes in around 10 colours. Then, you will be mesmerised by how soft the clothes feel, and how they flatter your body. Be warned though: some things sold here are quite clingy and are not for the body conscious.

I find this a great shop to go to when you're looking for things to wear with a statement piece you might have bought somewhere else. For instance, I like to wear a beautiful embellished top with a plain black high waisted skirt from American Apparel. Or I'll dress down jeans & heels with an American Apparel oversized cotton T-shirt. That's not to say that they don't stock their own statement pieces though; the brave of you could try out their shiny gold leggings!

Most shops sell womens, mens, and kids clothes. Some of the clothes are unisex, which is fine by me as it means I've got more to choose from.

The prices are reasonably expensive considering most of the clothes are quite basic pieces. The reason for this, though, is that the company pays its manufacturing employees well and doesn't use cheap labour. When taking this into account, I think their prices are justifiable. The price of a T-shirt will generally vary between £12 and £18, skirts are on average £25, and knitwear is usually between £20 to £30. Because so many of the things in the shop will go with other things in your wardrobe, you will find yourself wearing items over and over, which reduces the cost-per-wear considerably.

The garments are generally good quality; everything I've bought so far has retained its shape and hasn't ripped or anything. I haven't tried their thinner, looser tanks or T-shirts though, which look a bit more flimsy.

I would highly recommend trying out the clothes from American Apparel- just stride on past the sales assistants and pretend they're not there!

Summary: a shop which provides the essentials of your wardrobe!