American Apparel CEO Dov Charney Shaves His Mustache, Bares His Soul

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[Image via Portfolio]

Portfolio Magazine's cover story this month is a seven-page profile of American Apparel's Dov Charney, and while the whole thing would have been a lot more compelling before the economipocalypse struck, it's kind of fascinating. The salacious details (Charney has an assistant in charge of updating his MySpace page who "lives in [his] mansion and calls him Daddy") are balanced against a look at American Apparel's role in L.A.'s immigration wars.

Sexiness is still one of Charney's major platforms, but he's really dialing up the political engagement again with his "Legalize L.A." campaign, which attempts to help immigrant workers but also hints that not all of his employees are here legally. This has gotten him in trouble with the government and caused him hiring problems. He's also had to fire workers who turned out to be undocumented, but he left each with $30,000 in stock options. Is there any other company in the world that offers fired factory workers severance worth $30,000? That's even more surprising than the existence of Johnny Makeup, MySpace assistant.
· Barely Legal[Portfolio]
· Conde Nast's Portfolio Overlooks The Financial Crisis [Gawker]