On a Scale of 1 to Disappointed...

American Apparel is really annoying. Their advertising campaigns are porn people with eating disorders, they charge upwards of $30 for cropped Ts you could make yourself with a Hanes and a paint pen, and their stores are always run by uber stuck-up hipster bitches. They have somehow managed to take an awesome idea - sweatshop free, U.S. made clothing - and turned it into the bastion of all that is condescending and overpriced. They also kinda hate women; recently a "best ass" competition was held and... need I mention the ad campaigns again? Yes, they're (likely) consented to but they are also definitely not helping to promote the image of women in the media. Needless to say, I dislike that store a lot. However, I'm also a huge hypocrite; every once in awhile I really need a gold lame´ bandeau bra, and with one on every corner in New York it's like the drug store of random clothing necessities (I hate myself every time I check out but... what are you gonna do?).
So although I don't condone the way they run their company or operate their stores... would I like to see them shutter their doors forever?
AA is running entirely in loans right now, and their latest - a paltry $80 mil - needs to be paid off by June. And with a reported 7% decrease in sales for the first quarter as compared to last year's figures, it doesn't look like a lemonade stand and some discounted v-necks will pull them out. Especially as their stocks fell 40% yesterday, when multiple news stories came out revealing the company's serious financial woes.
Is the company totally fucked? ehhh. Probably not. As a 20-something fashion-conscious female, I'm well aware of just how much money that pit of despair rakes in; they got my money, they got my best friends' money, and they got all the paychecks of the residents of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. And that's just in New York. Maybe sales are down but they still make tons of cash and the founding idea isn't too far down the tubes to be saved; re-structure their budget and make a few tweaks to their body image promotion and they could be back on track. Someone out there with enough cash to invest knows this. It's doubtful that everyone in the financial world is unaware of the potential market this place harbors; I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that come June, AA will be just as brazenly nude-tastic as ever.

But if not, on a scale of 1 to disapppointed... I'd give it a 3.