Dov Charney

Patriotism isn't easy. Just ask L.A.'s garment makers. Three years after combining their names to create Venley, a company that produces T-shirts and other basics in a downtown Los Angeles factory, onetime fraternity brothers Nick Ventura and Kevin Gressley find manufacturing clothes in the U.S. to be an expensive and frustrating undertaking. Like many other apparel executives in the U.S., the pair pay more than the minimum wage, Ventura said. Sometimes, the same amount of money Venley shells out for locally made fabric gets Wal-Mart Stores Inc. an entire outfit sewed abroad.

Dov Charney's loss for the day came to about $400,000, but he couldn't have been happier. While his workers gathered to march through downtown Los Angeles on Monday, Charney was a few miles away in his seven-story garment factory idled by the immigrant protest. The iconoclastic chief executive of American Apparel Inc. not only gave 3,300 of his employees the day off, but he also supplied them with T-shirts emblazoned with a pro-immigration message.

American Apparel Inc. is getting a desperately needed financial lifeline. A group of Canadian investors has agreed to inject up to $45 million to help the trendy Los Angeles clothier — and its iconoclastic chief executive, Dov Charney — stave off a potential bankruptcy filing. The retailer has been buffeted by declining sales and a sagging stock price — not to mention a public-relations firestorm stemming from sexual-harassment lawsuits filed by former employees against Charney.

American Apparel Inc. said sales declined and it lost money in 2010, and it warned that several risk factors this year could force it to seek bankruptcy protection if business doesn't improve. In its 2010 annual report, filed Thursday, the Los Angeles clothing company — currently embroiled in two sexual harassment lawsuits that former employees filed in March — reported sales of $533 million last year, a 4.6% decline from 2009. It also reported a net loss of $86.3 million for 2010 and said it expected an operating loss for 2011.

A former employee of the troubled Los Angeles clothing firm American Apparel Inc. accused the company's chairman and chief executive, Dov Charney, in a lawsuit of holding her captive and forcing her to perform sexual acts. The suit, filed in a New York trial court in Brooklyn, seeks $250 million in damages. It accuses Charney of sexual harassment, retaliation, gender discrimination and creating a hostile workplace. The suit also accuses the company's other eight board members of failing to protect the employee, Irene Morales, from an executive they should have known was a "sexual predator.

???Two American Apparel Inc. board members have resigned, Chief Executive Dov Charney said. The move was expected after the Los Angeles clothing maker reported last week that it had appointed two new board members, one of them effective immediately, the other effective "upon a future board vacancy. " Charney denied speculation that the two outgoing directors, Mark Samson and Mark Thornton, had been forced out because they disagreed with the company's decision not to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the spring during a liquidity crisis.

American Apparel Inc. Chief Executive Dov Charney is shooting down reports that the Los Angeles clothing company is looking for a buyer. "I'm not surprised that there would be interest in the company, and at times, there has been, but it's not accurate," Charney said. "We're not looking, and it's not going to happen. " On Wednesday, a report on private equity online forum peHUB said American Apparel had hired advisor Rothschild to help it explore a potential sale, citing three sources familiar with the matter.

The first Los Angeles Fashion Awards were held Friday at the Orpheum Theatre downtown, hosted by red carpet pundit Melissa Rivers. Created by a fashion publicist and an event planner, the annual event is being held to "elevate the industry," said co-producer Jennifer Uner. Petro Zillia designer Nony Tochterman won an award for innovation. Rose Apodaca, West Coast bureau chief for Women's Wear Daily, was recognized for her role in communicating L.A. style to the world.

Los Angeles retailer American Apparel Inc. said Wednesday that it had laid off several hundred employees companywide. The layoffs were the result of a reduction in the company's expansion plans and a recent $15-million upgrade to its machinery and equipment that boosted worker productivity, spokesman Elliot Sloane said.