American Apparel is at it again

First the business stuff. Billionaire Ron Burkle is showing an interest in the L.A.-based apparel maker, holding a 6 percent stake in the company. Burkle said in a filing that he considers the shares to be undervalued. As his holding was being disclosed, American Apparel said that it had adjusted its credit agreements with a major lender, Lender Lion/Hollywood LLC, which means the company is shelling out a higher interest rate in the hopes of avoiding default.

Not that the place has exactly settled down. Documents leaked to Gawker about hiring practices show pretty much what you'd expect: Honchos were not only obsessed with looks, but particular kinds of looks. One former employee recalls a manager discussing black job candidates: "None of the trashy kind that come in, we don't want that. We're not trying to sell our clothes to them. Try to find some of these classy black girls, with nice hair, you know?" Here's another comment to Gawker:

When I was managing we had to send photos into our store consultant (a high school dropout) weekly... Not only did they police our clothes but our eyebrows, makeup, nails and hair color. They also openly mocked employees by posting photos of them online. Our store consultant also on several occasions told girls to lose weight or told them they were "too top heavy for crop tops"...They routinely denied applications based on looks or shoes.

Emma Silvers, an editorial fellow at Salon who recently quit, sums up her experience this way:

From its advertisements to its hiring policies to its CEO, everything about American Apparel is sexist, seedy and seriously offensive. So, as of this week, I'm quitting cold turkey -- and I'm not the only one. As the company grapples with credit problems, messy management and bad P.R., American Apparel appears, for the first time, in danger of going out of fashion.

She says the corporate culture is dominated by "misogynistic, overgrown-indie-frat boy attitudes about women and sexuality, from policing haircuts to doling out raises based purely on sex appeal." The amazing part about all this is how the place manages to stay in business. On second thought, maybe it's not so amazing.