American Apparel has its origins in the assumption of the operations of Selma Apparel in 1987 with facilities in Selma and Ft. Deposit, Alabama. At that time the Selma plant produced the long running Battle Dress Uniform (BDU) and the Ft. Deposit plant produced parts in support of that effort.  Shortly thereafter, American acquired a facility in nearby Brantley, AL . producing the M-65 Field jacket. Through the years, those facilities produced some commercial products including boxer shorts, baseball jackets, and various items of hunting gear in addition to the primary military apparel contracts.

In 1995, American Apparel expanded with the Centre, AL facility producing all weather coats as well as the fur lined N3B parka. As more capacity was needed, facilities in Roanoke, Opp and Oneonta, AL were all brought online to fulfill the many government contracts. With the ebb and flow of military contracting and a continuous desire to modernize and improve productivity, the Ft. Deposit and Roanoke facilities were permanently closed and the Oneonta and Opp facilities were closed for some periods and later reopened to support current contracts.

In every facility and product, American has sought to utilize technology, automation and information management to improve the quality, efficiency, and timely delivery of our customers’ products. Good example of this is the centralization of all cutting to CAD based automated process in our Centre facility as well as operation specific material handling at many sewing work centers.