Dov Charney is ready to take on American Apparel

THE controversial founder of racy clothing brand American Apparel is starting all over again with a new company.

A young model poses for American Apparel.

DOV Charney is weeks from unveiling his next act.

The ousted chief executive and founder of struggling hipster retailer American Apparel has lined up investors to start a wholesale clothing business in South Central Los Angeles.

“We could be six weeks away from making ourselves available to wholesale customers,” Charney told The New York Post.

The company — whose name he’s not revealing — will sell blank T-shirts and other basic apparel to the screen-print industry.

That’s pretty much the same playbook he used to launch American Apparel 25 years ago. Charney, who isn’t identifying his backers, will also compete with American Apparel, which has a significant wholesale business.

Charney waged a bitter battle to get his company back, including numerous lawsuits and even an attempt to buy the company out of bankruptcy — only to be thwarted every step of the way by American Apparel’s board and investors.

“I don’t want to be remembered as the guy who was thrown off the bus,” Charney said. “My company was stolen from me, and I want my new business to steal American Apparel spiritually.”

A young model poses for American Apparel.

His new initiative comes not long after the retailer emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February. The company is struggling to gain traction and continues to deal with contentious labour issues.

This week the company laid off hundreds of workers, including supervisors, at its Los Angeles factories, according to the union that is attempting to organise the company.

Those fired workers were also offered severance agreements if they agreed not to sue the company.

The amounts varied based on the employee’s hourly rate and were equal to two weeks of pay, a spokeswoman for American Apparel said.

This comes on the heels of a work stoppage in February that grew so rowdy that management asked workers to go home for the day.

Charney said his company would consist of former American Apparel executives and hourly workers, and will pay a so-called living wage.

But he also acknowledged the challenges of competing against companies that use offshore manufacturing, benefiting from rock-bottom wages.

“We’ll be focused on equipment and technology that is highly automated,” he said, “because we want to be competitive without resorting to low wages.”

This article originally appeared on New York Post and was reproduced with permission.