Incidentally, American Apparel was *absolutely* key to the ‘90s t-shirt glory, but as a wholesaler not retailer

A lot of it had to do with free trade agreements and the fall of the Carolinas-based U.S. cheap textile industry, giving rise to cheaper options from elsewhere or better domestically

AmAppy got by in those days off the U.S. military, only domestic manufacturer left capable of delivering big contracts.