A store that sells a bunch of brightly colored spandex, body suits, leotards, and some other crap that you are never going to wear, but nevertheless want.
Clara and Violet are in American Apparel.

Clara- Omg, these magenta spandex leggings are adorable!

Violet- You're never going to wear them.....

Clara- It's American Apparel. All the stuff I buy here I dont wear. I dont care. They're cute and I want them.

Clara never wears the leggings.
by you dont know Jacqueline May 17, 2010
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American Apparel is a popular and trendy US apparel manufacturing LLC.

It manufactures, wholesales, and retails all of its products, and is popular in mainstream, urban areas such as San Francisco, New York City, Seattle, and Portland.

Although slightly more priced than similar retailers, American Apparel produces all of its clothes in the United States, pays their workers a decent wage and provides them with healthcare, and utilizes cruelty free practices.

A:"Wow, I love being a cheap redneck and shopping at Wal-Mart! I got this fugly looking neon pink top for only $4!"
B:"You should really check out American Apparel- albeit not as inexpensive as Wal-Mart, their shirts are all organic, made in the US, and by happy workers at minimum wage. I'm pretty sure some child labor in China made your top."
A:"Where's China?"
by KAPELACCC December 11, 2007
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A cool/hip clothing store, often serving hipsters in cities, that sells overpriced t-shirts, leggings, and metallic colored leotards.

The ad's feature scantily clad women generally found on the street just before the photo shoot. The founder of the company has been a known perv who has been reported for sexual harassment many times.
"OMG! Like i totally went to American Apparel the other day, and they didn't have that green jumpsuit I wanted!"

"Dude i can tell those turquoise tights are definitely from American Apparel!"
by Whothehelldoyouthinkiam June 20, 2009
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While it is a designated hipster locale with ads that resemble a Terry Richardson shoot, the clothing produced by American Apparel truly is of incredible quality, created by highly economical means (as opposed to the majority of the other popular labels out these days), with far more sturdy pieces than what you often find at other hip hot spots such as Urban Outfitters. They also do not cater soley to smaller sizes, offering sizes as high as 3x, unlike most other popular stores shooting for the teen to mid/late twenties demographic. Recently, they've also begun a "newsstand" section, wherein they hold various underground literature and art magazines, offering the contributors to these publications international exposure for their work where they otherwise wouldn't be getting it (as American Apparel is one of the only remotely mainstream stores of more than one location carrying these publications currently).

In this case, the old adage, "You get what you pay for," rings true. Sure, it may cost a bit more to buy an article of clothing from American Apparel than from Wal*Mart and the like, but if you honestly cannot admit that American Apparel's clothing is of a far superior quality than those you would find at such other establishments, you're just flat out kidding yourself.
If American Apparel has to appeal to the hipster populus to get kids to buy clothes that weren't made in a sweatshop in Chile for once, that's okay with me.
by theamber February 22, 2008
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The largest clothing manufacturer in the United States. They design, manufacture and sell high quality clothing that fits well and looks good, and is made in America. They pay their workers an average of over $12 an hour, while workers for companies that outsource to the third world often make less than a dollar an hour. Their advertising has no airbrushing, and usually uses normal people at stores or who send their photos to the website. Their photos in-store genuinely reflect what an average person would look like in their clothing.

They're probably best known for their basics: t-shirts, tights, socks, hoodies, leggings and underwear in a huge variety of solid colors and patterns, as well as every size imaginable. Everything fits well, looks good, and lasts pretty much forever. The t-shirts are particularly good for screen printing.

Hipsters will criticize it for becoming popular with the teen audience, but if you think something is bad simply because of who likes it, then you really need to rethink all of your opinions.

Yes, it's priced slightly higher than most other retailers, but only those who have never felt the cozy fit of an AA t-shirt would prefer a $4 bad karma, low quality Wal-Mart shirt.
Person A: "I got the best t-shirt ever at American Apparel last month! It fits as if it's custom-made, and it's still like new after 4 times in the wash!"
Person B: "Well, I got one in the same color last month too from somewhere but it's faded and worn out already. But it's still better because YOU'RE just some mainstream teen who follows trends."
Person A: "If it's sweatshop-free mainstream, it's good."

"I started shopping at American Apparel. It costs more, but it's worth it because it supports the American economy, and it's the only clothing I have that stays comfy and good-looking forever."
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Where Cirque De Soleil gets their costumes. As a matter of fact, this amazing store provides the fabulous garments to circuses all around the world. No wonder it's so popular and overpriced!
Circus Organizer(boss): We're running out of costumes Oswald!

Circus Assistant(Oswald): Look boss, there's a store! I think it's called American Apparel.
by wowsad May 5, 2009
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Popular hipster clothing staple, where solid-colored t-shirts marked "wholesale" are sold for roughly $15 a pop, when the same shirt could be purchased from Wal*Mart for $4. Then again, Wal*Mart doesn't label its clothing as "CRUELTY/SWEATSHOP FREE!" and is, of course, way too mainstream for the ever-hip still-living-off-parents elite.
San Francisco hipster: I just got three solid-colored shirts at American Apparel, and it only cost me $45! Buying stuff wholesale rocks!
by Humberttt October 29, 2007
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