American Apparel was bought last month by a small investment firm for $382 million - NY Times

Expect the AA rash to continue to spread rapidly, with stores popping up everywhere. Sales have blown up since 2002.

But how will the sale affect AA's messaging? Will loyal AA customers who expect the socially-conscious "Made In The USA", sexually-charged brand remain just that? Or will the publicly listed firm seek to rebrand the company to attract more of the mainstream US market like the way GAP did in the 90's?

I suspect much of the same from the brand during the early phases of its takeover. They'd be foolish to rebrand themselves after so successfully hijacking the young hipster populace in the US. And with AA founder Dov Charney remaining CEO, there's little to believe AA will market itself any differently.

American Apparel has been the perfect case study for me while focusing DressMonkey's brand identity and messaging. A few hours researching on the internet and reading old LexusNexus articles has exposed the similarities between AA and DM. AA sought out to do to the T-shirt what DressMonkey is trying to do with the blazer - that is, provide a cheaper alternative to a classic, inspired piece of American clothing, by focusing on a simple product (T-shirt), targeting a particular subculture (young hipsters and retro-chic hippies), staying true to to core values (US vertical manufacturing, socially-conscious, and blantantly sex-driven) and brand messaging. The best bit of information I learned however was that Charney sometimes works in his underwear, a habit we at DressMonkey are not ashamed of.

Here is a revealing portrait of the man behind American Apparel - Inc.com