Inside American Apparel

American Apparel workers work in 2014 on the brightly colored garments that have a cult following among young shoppers. The products are manufactured in downtown Los Angeles.

A sample garment hangs in the American Apparel factory in Los Angeles in 2014.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

American Apparel workers in Los Angeles in 2013.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

American Apparel garment workers sew orange thread in the Los Angeles headquarters in 2014.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

An American Apparel worker collects red fabric in the company’s downtown Los Angeles factory in 2013.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

An American Apparel worker inspects fabric in the company’s downtown Los Angeles factory in 2013.

Spools of thread are seen at the American Apparel factory in downtown Los Angeles in 2013.

Visitors to the sprawling American Apparel factory in Los Angeles don’t have to look far to be reminded of the image the company is trying to sell.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

The American Apparel headquarters in downtown Los Angeles in 2015.  (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

A worker is framed in a window as the lights burn bright into the evening at the American Apparel factory in downtown Los Angeles.  (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

A shopper makes her way into an American Apparel store on Melrose Ave. in Los Angeles on Oct. 5, 2015.  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Former American Apparel chief executive Dov Charney in the downtown Los Angeles factory in 2012.  (GARY FRIEDMAN / Los Angeles Times)

Paula Schneider, the new CEO at American Apparel sits on one of the cutting room tables where she talks about the future of the company on Feb. 27, 2015.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)