American Apparel Debuts Plus-Size With Many Puns

The folks at American Apparel love them a good pun.

The also, apparently, love their shapely customers. Jezebel noted that the retailer has debuted plus-size, which means size XL. Which for American Apparel is about a size 12/14 -- so giant!

Not.

To introduce the new, so-husky size 12, American Apparel is letting customers judge each other's bodies in a contest called "The Next Big Thing."

Curvy gals are encouraged to upload a photo of themselves and write a blurb about why they are "bigger, better and more booty-ful than the rest." Then people can log onto americanapparel.net and rate each girl from one to five on how, er, booty-ful they are.

Sound sort of messed up? At least American Apparel is even acknowledging the existence of women sizes 12 and up. The retailer received some bad press last year when it told customer April Flores, who inquired about plus-size items, “That’s not our demographic.”

Blogger Lillian Behrendt heard about April's anecdote and published it on her website, writing:

"I am in my early 20′s. I will wear stupid pants. So will just about everyone else who is my age. Stupid pants are an important part of human development. By not catering to the enormous market of plus-sized/fat/whatever young people, American Apparel, the INDUSTRY LEADER in stupid pants (not to mention stupid shirts, stupid shorts and stupid nipple-baring leotard things) is missing out on a lot of money."

Now American Apparel is cashing in and making a spectacle of it in the process.

Want to enter yourself in "The Next Big Thing" contest? Or just shop for clothing in sizes 12 and up (if, of course, you can "fill these babies out")? Head to americanapparel.net.

Here's a preview:

(Via Jezebel)

Comments

[jeffcarroll]

03:18 AM on 09/09/2011

Classy as usual.

[hornedcog]

11:41 PM on 08/31/2011

I am pulling for them.

[bced21]

04:38 PM on 08/29/2011

American Apparel is over priced fruit of the loom....lol...what a rip....

[realitybaby]

04:03 PM on 08/29/2011

why are their shots so child pornish?

[hornedcog]

08:30 AM on 08/29/2011

More cushion for the pushin' of their products?

[deluk]

04:29 AM on 08/29/2011

Oh dear.....

[Pupadup4oBama]

11:06 AM on 08/28/2011

These girls look great!
They obviously feel good about themselves. That is something that is sorely lacking in today's society.

[TheLibraryOfCodex]

01:20 AM on 08/28/2011

I prefer small fannies.

[Harvey32]

12:28 AM on 08/27/2011

I like big butts and I can not lie
my other brothers can't deny
That when a girl walks in with that itty bitty waist
And a that round thing in your face
You get sprung

[junhax]

07:44 PM on 08/26/2011

I don't get how someone can be mad at a company. If they don't have your fit, then go elsewhere, which is a great freedom to have. If no companies make your size, then go start a business. Clearly there is a market that isn't being attended to.

[cestpasvrai]

07:33 PM on 08/26/2011

I'm a size 2. Which is a medium in American Apparel's sizes.

A lot of people have beef with this company, and it's valid, but I still adore their clothes.

[papallugeteam]

03:00 PM on 08/26/2011

I'd like to buy clothing made in the U.S., but the generally skeevy vibe American Apparel promotes doesn't cut it for me. Their loss, I guess.

[flowerofhighrank]

02:56 PM on 08/26/2011

As a man, I would pay a good price for khaki slacks and white oxford buttondown shirts that are made in the USA. I wear a XXL/XXXL Tall shirt and 42/44 inch waist slacks. No, I'm not a shrinking violet. I'm built like a lot of the guys who built this country. In 1905, if you were building the railroads and you needed to get some track laid, you hired two guys like me...or 18 hipsters with frosted tips and pointy shoes. I'll keep looking and hoping to find a company that values my business enough to make clothes for me in this country at a fair price. American Apparel isn't that company.

[Max Shaw]

02:15 PM on 08/26/2011

I hate everything about this company.

[OliviaBolivia27]

01:36 PM on 08/26/2011

I WANT to like American Apparel because they actually make their clothes in the US, which is extremely rare. But...their ads are unbelievably degrading to women. And now this? Asking women to degrade themselves, and then patting themselves on the back for including a "plus size"! Amazing.

[papallugeteam]

03:02 PM on 08/26/2011

well said!

[saysaycollins]

04:06 PM on 08/26/2011

absolutely perfect response.