
May 2009: American Apparel founder Dov Charney speaks at a rally in this file photo. (Reuters)
Embattled American Apparel CEO Dov Charney could be facing more legal troubles for his use of a sexually suggestive shirt proclaiming "teenagers do it better" in his merchandise catalog, according to legal experts.
Currently facing a $250 million sexual harassment lawsuit, Charney's company designed the shirt in collaboration with Ey! Magateen (NSFW), a publication that features young boys, aged 16-21, in highly suggestive poses.
“Since this shirt is done in collaboration with a publication that depicts minors nearly naked, in sexually suggestive poses, Charney could find himself on the wrong side of a criminal investigation into child porn,” California-based criminal defense attorney, David Wohl said. “Whether or not he could be seen as aiding and abetting in the transmission of child porn is not clear at this point, but he would be ill advised to collaborate, on any level with the ‘Magateen’ publication.”
Merchandise choices aside, Charney's professional history has included multiple harassment claims, employee discrimination and hiring of illegal immigrants.
Charney, for his part, has previously denied any discrimination within his company and has labeled sexual harassment allegations against him as a “blatant attempt to extort money from my company and exploit my transparent persona.”
Regardless of whether he faces legal ramifications for the design, the company's image will likely take a serious hit.
“American Apparel CEO Dov Charney apparently is so fixated with sex at the workplace that he doesn't understand teens should just say no -- both to premarital sex and to buying his lousy clothing,” a disgusted Dan Gainor of the Culture and Media Institute, told FOX411’s Pop Tarts.
“The ‘do it’ slogans have always been off-color humor alluding to sex,” Gainor added.
Similarly, in the Twitterverse, many folks were not amused by the slogan.
“REALLY, American Apparel? Someone please burn down their stores and offices, already,” tweeted one person, while another wrote: “That CEO dude is such a tool. Beyond a tool.”
Still, leading Hollywood-based celebrity stylist, Philip Bloch defended Charney to a point.
“He uses teens because that's his market. It is just words, and it could be interpreted as being an incredibly empowering statement (‘Teen Power’) but the creepy part is it's coming from him considering his history,” Bloch said.
American Apparel and an attorney for Charney did not respond to our request for comment.














































