American Apparel Inc., a fast-growing casual clothing retailer known for its provocative advertising and domestic "sweatshop free" manufacturing, plans to open its first Hawai'i store in Waikiki.

The Los Angeles-based designer of clean and simple styled attire, including T-shirts and underwear, aimed at young metropolitan adults is headed into a growing retail core on Kalakaua Avenue near Lewers Street, according to a local real estate broker familiar with the deal.

An American Apparel representative did not respond to several requests for information about the planned store, but the company lists the store at 2142 Kalakaua Ave. on its Web site as "coming soon."

Adding a store in Hawai'i, a major international tourist destination, is part of an aggressive American Apparel expansion plan that has produced about 180 stores in 13 countries over four years.

The move also would introduce kama'aina and visitors to a new brand from an avant-garde company that has been described as one of America's most successful fashion retailers, while adding to a major influx of new retailers to Waikiki in recent years.

The 2142 Kalakaua site is on a block already heavily populated with fashion retailers that include Gucci, Hugo Boss, Diesel, Max Mara, Fossil, Oakley, Chrome Hearts, Prada, TOD's, Coach and Yves Saint Laurent.

Just makai, Hard Rock Cafe plans to open a new restaurant and retail store next year near the new Waikiki Beach Walk shopping complex and the diamondhead end of a renovated and repopulated Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center.

"That's a great strip of retail," said Cory Beall, vice president of local retail development firm The Beall Corp. "We're very bullish on the west end of Waikiki."

Beall, who helped establish a Lucky Brand Jeans store nearby last year, said American Apparel is an exciting retailer that joins a host of fashion-forward retailers moving onto the block.

While many kama'aina consumers likely haven't been exposed to the brand, local designer Christina Patino believes American Apparel will make an impression on local shoppers, especially those in its main target market of women and men ages 21 to 32.

"They are influencing," she said. "I think it's exciting for us."

Patino, who regularly buys blank wholesale American Apparel tops and adds her own prints or embroidering for her iKandy women's clothing brand, prizes the manufacturer's clothing for its quality, fit and vast color selection.

"When you hear 'Made in U.S.A.' you think quality," she said.

American Apparel was established in 1998 as a clothing maker and wholesaler by Canadian entrepreneur Dov Charney, who relatively quickly built his business into the largest garment manufacturer in the United States.

Charney's factory, an 800,000-square-foot building in down-town Los Angeles, employs several thousand largely immigrant workers and is capable of producing more than 1 million T-shirts a week.

The setup makes American Apparel unusual for its size given that most giant apparel manufacturer/retailers make their products overseas to take advantage of cheap labor.

American Apparel reportedly pays its factory workers $10 to $12 an hour, well above the minimum wage, but is better able to control quality and respond more quickly to demand in the fast-changing fashion industry.

The company also has stood out for its risque advertising, usually featuring employees and friends modeling merchandise in photos often taken by other employees, including chief executive Charney.

Last month, American Apparel merged with a public shell company with shares listed on the American Stock Exchange as part of an investment deal to help the retailer add new stores.

"This is an exciting time for American Apparel — acquiring the necessary financial foundation will give us the opportunity to realize our bigger dreams," Charney said in a statement about a year ago announcing the merger plan.

According to the company, as many as 800 stores are envisioned in the long term, while as of November there were more than 20 signed leases for new stores and other store sites under development.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com.

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