The Trainreck documentary series on Netflix uncovers the truths behind real-life events such as Woodstock ’99 and the ”Poop Cruise,” where 4,000 passengers were stranded at sea without power or plumbing, and it has most recently put “cult” brand American Apparel under the microscope.

In the wake of scathing exposés that have taken down the glossy façades of other youth-focused brands like Abercrombie & Fitch and Brandy Melville, Trainwreck: The Cult of American Apparel digs into how this once-iconic retailer rose and fell, and what really went on behind the disco pants and risqué ads.

The documentary features tell-all interviews with American Apparel insiders and former staff, tracing the brand’s journey from “fashion phenomenon to financial flop.” Having interviewed for one of the London stores myself back in the mid-2010s, when the brand was still a high street staple, I saw firsthand just how tightly curated the image was. More on that later.

In case some of you don’t remember American Apparel, the once-popular clothing brand played on the fact that everything was made in America, sweatshop-free. One of the core brands worn by indie sleaze it girls, it was known for its disco pants, athleisure basics, and promotional adverts featuring models that always walked the line between tongue-in-cheek and “basically softcore porn,” as one interviewee says in the documentary.

Launched in 1989, American Apparel was supposed to represent the American dream. Or was it just founder Dov Charney’s dream?

Those featured in the documentary talk about how it felt to be “picked.” When the first store opened, the open call for employees looked like a model lineup. One individual said their resumé was tossed aside, with the interviewer asking, “What would you like to do here?” before giving him a job in merchandising on the spot. It was as easy as that. He had ‘the look’.

And if you had it (meaning, if you looked like the models in the adverts), then you were hired. The interview was more of a ‘vibe check’.

Having interviewed for one of their London stores myself, I saw this in reality. You had to submit a photo with your application, and when it came to the actual interview, I wasn’t asked so much about my retail experience, my interest in fashion, or how I would handle a difficult customer. Instead, I was told you weren’t allowed to wear make-up, nail varnish had to be clear, if any, and I would need to remove my nose piercing.

They took some more photos of me before sending me on my way. At the time, I was sad not to be ‘cool enough’ or ‘pretty enough’. I hadn’t passed the American Apparel vibe check. But since employees in the doc described being hired by the company as “dehumanising,” perhaps it was a close call.

The streaming giant goes behind the scenes of what it was like to work at the fashion company when it was at its most fast-paced (before it eventually ended up filing for bankruptcy), and the sometimes toxic workplace culture that was arguably set by its founder, Dov Charney.

The documentary sees Charney use pretty manipulative techniques to build a “fashion cult” where “Dov was the leader,” as one interviewee says. Charney seemed to copy from his “favourite” book, which he even gifted to staff, called The 48 Laws of Power, which recommends you “play on people’s need to believe to create a cultlike following.”

Clips from the episode saw Charney shouting in employees’ faces, naming a “fool of the week,” and the documentary followed the fallout as he faced allegations of sexual harassment and abuse. He has denied all wrongdoing.

American Apparel was at its height in a time before the Me Too movement. It was indie sleaze at its most sleazy. A time when Tumblr reigned and you didn’t question knee-high socks with every outfit or why Charney was photographing many of these young models himself.

In the documentary, a former employee revealed that the shoots “broke advertising rules,” before adding, while referring to one specific advert where a girl’s legs are wide open, “that’s fashion.” But is soft porn fashion?

These images were often paired with short slogans, “SCHOOL’S OUT” or “STRIP TEES.” Even nowadays, it’s not hard to see that American Apparel’s whole brand was being provocative.

High-cut. Low back. Available in other colors. https://t.co/jr2Ce2ikDm pic.twitter.com/1oNPL86oFQ

— American Apparel (@americanapparel) July 24, 2016

Of course, now, we look back at it with horror, like we do with some many other things from the noughties. But as Daisy Jones notes in Vogue, “the shop was for a brief moment one of the coolest in the world,” until it wasn’t anymore. 

Back then, from the outside, the cult looked shiny, attractive, like something you wanted to break into and become part of the family and furniture. But it’s clear from this Trainwreck episode that once you were in, that sparkle was soon lost.

American apparel was truly an era you just had to be there and on tumblr

— Sab ✨🌙 (@midnighttsab) July 1, 2025

After American Apparel, Charney went on to work with Kanye West’s clothing brand, Yeezy.

Trainwreck: The Cult of American Apparel ends with archival footage of Charney saying, “I’m not sorry about shit.” But it seems he should be sorry about a lot.