{"id":923,"date":"2014-07-10T09:44:25","date_gmt":"2014-07-10T13:44:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bellwether-asicentral.com\/bellblog\/?p=923"},"modified":"2014-07-10T09:44:25","modified_gmt":"2014-07-10T13:44:25","slug":"in-defense-of-dov-charney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bellwether-asicentral.com\/bellblog\/2014\/07\/10\/in-defense-of-dov-charney\/","title":{"rendered":"In Defense of Dov Charney…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, hey there!<\/p>\n

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and are enjoying a fabulous summer!<\/p>\n

\"DovI was on vacation last week, and had the opportunity to get a call from my friend, Dov Charney, the embattled founder of Counselor<\/em> Top 40 supplier American Apparel. Our chat was off-the-record, but it reminded me of a column I wrote about him in the May, 2013 issue of ASI’s supplier magazine that I edit, SGR<\/em>. What I said then, still stands today:<\/p>\n

In the 17 years I\u2019ve been in the industry as an editor with ASI, the person I get asked about most often, hands down, is Dov. He and I have been friends over 12 years now, as I first met him when I profiled him for Counselor<\/em> magazine. He wasn\u2019t the famous \u2013 some would say infamous \u2013 personality he is now, but even then, I knew he was about as unique and unconventional as they come. He is, and always has been, a human A bomb and spending time with him is like being inside a Dyson \u2013 crazy, exhilarating, breathtaking and confusing. That’s quintessential Dov Charney.<\/p>\n

Now let me acknowledge what everyone is thinking: Yes, he is a lunatic, and yes, he makes questionable decisions to say the least. But he is also \u2013 and I\u2019ll stand by this statement every time \u2013 the most innately talented marketer I\u2019ve ever met<\/em>. While the rest of us are limited to five senses, Dov has a sixth \u2013 the ability to spot trends well ahead of the masses and craft them into products and a lifestyle brand that the hippest of demographics covet. And say what you will about his business acumen, but after a rollercoaster of profits and losses, his sales have been on a steady incline of late, increasing the sales of his promo division from $90.2 million in 2011 to $96.8 million in 2012 to $99.2 million in 2013.<\/p>\n

Whenever he shows up in the news \u2013 and let\u2019s face it: he\u2019s not unfamiliar with the inside of a lawyer\u2019s office \u2013 friends ask me what he\u2019s really<\/em> like. Here\u2019s what I say: It\u2019s simply not in his DNA to ask permission to do what he wants with American Apparel, even now as it\u2019s a publicly-traded company; it wouldn\u2019t even dawn on him to ask, or to care, what people think. And I remind people that a lot of what\u2019s been written about him is sensationalized and exaggerated for effect. In reality, Dov is quite charming, very sweet, more than a little nerdy and, in my interactions with him, utterly harmless \u2013 but with a big intellect, a bigger mouth and personality that could most politely be described as weapons-grade wacko.<\/p>\n

There are a few people in the industry who creep me out to the depths of my soul \u2013 including one head of a Top 40 company with whom I wouldn\u2019t be alone without a taser and pepper spray. Dov Charney \u2013 with his jaw-dropping talent and despite his over-the-top eccentricities \u2013 isn\u2019t one of them. I\u2019d happily spend time with him any day of the week because when he\u2019s creating and innovating, there\u2019s nothing more mesmerizing. And as a Leo, known for our loyalty, I\u2019m sticking by my friend \u2013 whether he\u2019s the genius, the mad man or both.<\/p>\n

More next week from ASI’s Chicago Show, featuring my favorite event of the year, the Counselor<\/em> Awards banquet (aka, the Counselor<\/em> “prom.”).<\/p>\n

Cheers!<\/p>\n

— M<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, hey there! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and are enjoying a fabulous summer! I was on vacation last week, and had the opportunity to get a call from my friend, Dov Charney, the embattled founder of Counselor Top 40 supplier American Apparel. Our chat was off-the-record, but it reminded me of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bellwether-asicentral.com\/bellblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bellwether-asicentral.com\/bellblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bellwether-asicentral.com\/bellblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bellwether-asicentral.com\/bellblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bellwether-asicentral.com\/bellblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=923"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/bellwether-asicentral.com\/bellblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":929,"href":"https:\/\/bellwether-asicentral.com\/bellblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/923\/revisions\/929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bellwether-asicentral.com\/bellblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bellwether-asicentral.com\/bellblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bellwether-asicentral.com\/bellblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}