Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for gifting me with an ALC of Kate Flannery’s memoir, Strip Tees. In exchange I offer my honest review.

I totally requested this ARC based solely on the title and cover, so I was thrilled when I realized how great the writing and storytelling was. Kate Flannery was one of the original American Apparel girls who rose to “cult status” in the early 2000’s. This is her first hand account of the chaos and debauchery that went on at this iconic clothing brand. Everyone was clamoring to wear the American Apparel label, which featured no logo but was easily recognizable by its ultimate California casual vibe. Its founder Dov had an unusual approach to managing, marketing and running a business that was more monkey business than anything else. I was gobsmacked by the antics that Kate shared. It’s easy to look back now and recognize all the blaring red flags, but prior to the #MeToo movement this toxic work environment seemed status quo.
Audio read by author was perfect.
I absolutely recommend this audio/ memoir especially if you grew up during the aughts!

It’s so weird to be at an age where the nostalgic memoirs take place during your teens/early 20’s. I idolized the early American Apparel models, they were such cool girls, girls that I could never be. I remember the first AA shirt I got in college, it was so soft & so perfect & I truly believed that it was the whole grail of fashion, absolutely worth the outrageous price tag.

This memoir tells the story of how everything behind the scenes of the company was not as glamorous as we were lead to believe. It can be cringy at times, I won’t lie, but it is so true to what we were lead to believe at that time. Kate Flannery does not sugarcoat her role in everything, she lets herself be the villain many people would think she was.

This is a must read for anyone who came of age in the cool girl days of the early 2000’s, or for anyone just wanting to be reminded of how far we’ve come in the last 2 decades.

This is such an interesting memoir looking at one woman’s time working for American Apparel in the early 2000s. It shows how easily people can be taken advantage of and how ideas like sex positivity and feminism can be warped to excuse abuse and exploitation. I was vaguely aware of the CEO of American Apparel having done inappropriate things, but I never knew the whole context of what happened behind the scenes at the company. So it was interesting to hear Kate Flannery’s story of how she was brought in, the things she saw from the CEO and other employees, how she was at first able to rationalize them as positive things, to finally realizing how exploitative the business actually was.

I did find myself wishing that a bit more time was spent on what she did after leaving American Apparel, that part of the book is over pretty quickly. But overall I think this is a really fascinating read. It’s a great look back at the early 2000s and the ways that media and culture overall treated women. Definitely check this one out if it sounds interesting to you.

I had a physical arc but was happy to have an ALC after finding out the author narrated it. And it was good! As a millennial from Los Angeles, I was curious to see how Flannery recounted the time. She moved to LA fresh out of college and quickly got recruited by American Apparel, a new company popping up with an eccentric boss. This was as much of a memoir as it was an exposé on American Apparel’s beyond toxic work culture. I loved Flannery’s authentic voice: she’s witty, raw, and brutally honest. A quick, interesting read/listen!

This book was a fun and informative read that transported me back in time. The early 2000’s was a weird time when feminism was wrapped in very little clothing, and those in the know were clothed in American Apparel. I was never an American Apparel girl, but I have a bunch of American Apparel clothes in my closet. Not only did I dig the simple quality vintage-like clothing that they sold but I also liked what the company stood for; but I had no idea what was going on behind the scenes. Kate Flannery gives readers a chance experience at what it was really like to be an American Apparel girl. She tells her stories with candor, even though it paints a not so pretty picture of her past. She offers the readers a chance to see what it is like to get sucked into company ideals, all while finding ways to twist your head around to believing that what you’re doing is good. I was shocked to learn the depths of the companies’ problems, and I’ll admit I went back and looked at some of the advertisements and am kind of disgusted in myself for not seeing them as exploitative. I acknowledge that I was also sucked into the misogyny that was called feminism of that time, just like she was. I appreciate that Kate opened to tell her story and I really enjoyed this book. There were moments that I related to her so much that it caused me to reflect on my own past in a similar manner.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for this audio ARC in exchange for a review!

Strip Tees is a memoir of Kate Flannery's early career, where she worked for American Apparel in the early 2000s. In this position, Flannery has to navigate a company with utopian ideals that is rife with misogyny and exploitation.

This memoir was a fast-paced read, and I was almost immediately hooked. The creator of American Apparel, known as "Dove," ran his company more so like a cult. Flannery knows this, immediately comparing the two in the opening of her book. Each decision that she makes - as a very young twenty-something - is immediately backed up with her logic of how it was actually "feminist" to be taking control of her own body and sexuality, in a tone that makes clear her views have since changed.

This book is very interesting to read as a modern feminist, as Flannery does question feminism in a way reflective of her Bryn Mawr background. Is it feminist to allow photos of yourself scantily clad be taken? What about to have them used as advertisement without your permission? Is it ethical to sleep with your boss if its consensual? Flannery navigates these questions she experienced in the early aughts with a post-Me Too lens, and it does make the reader think. Regardless of these questions, however, Flannery makes it known that American Apparel's behavior was unethical and borderline abusive.

This was a very fast read, only lasting approximately 7 hours at regular speed. I listened to it in one day because I needed to know what happened next. I think anyone who is interested in cults or corporate scandal would devour this as easily as I did, and I would highly recommend it. While Flannery reads her book very slowly, I would recommend the audio format if you're comfortable with speeding it up.

For any millennial who came of age in the early aught's, this memoir will take you on a nostalgic ride through the cringe-worthy culture of the time. Part Steve Madden story, part Epstein-level drama, Flannery's story takes us through the inception, rise, and subsequent fall of American Apparel. Her story reflects bravery, and naivete that comes with being in your early 20s, and the overarching desire to want to build a life based upon her merits and not looks. What I appreciated most as a reader was Flannery's ability to recognize, in retrospect, take ownership for her actions and failings at the time, while still holding the predators in her life accountable for theirs. This duality rings throughout the book in a refreshing and thoughtful manner, making it a must-read for me.

I absolutely devoured this book. As a gal who came of age in the American apparel era this story captivated me. I had little idea of the scandal around the company, but had absolutely no idea how cult like and damaging it was. Down to the charismatic leader controlling the minds of several young girls and taking everything at his disposal for granted.

This story is gripping, deeply upsetting and unsettling in nature. Kates humor and honestly really drives this memoir home. Throughout her entire experience with this company she navigated her way through a feminist lens. She was a young woman fresh out of college starting her working career and had no idea the dangers lurking around her. As allegations rise against the “leader” of American apparel she starts to see the demise of it all. Asking her to defy her morals for a career she doesn’t even know if she wants anymore.

I highly recommend this memoir to anyone who is even remotely interested in cults/cult mentality. To people who have fixations with nostalgia and the 2000s with their fashion and references. To feminists readers everywhere please pick this one up when it becomes available to you july 17th.

Thank you to netgalley and Macmillan Audio and thank you to Kate for her fantastic narration and storytelling. I will be thinking of this story and recommending it to anyone who will listen.

An interesting and honest memoir about the people and work culture behind American Apparel. I enjoyed listening to this in audiobook form; it was reminiscent of an in-depth exposé podcast.

I enjoyed this insider story of the American Apparel rise and implosion. It was very much what I thought it would be—tea, nostalgia and some reflection on early aughts LA. Solid 3.5 stars of an easy nonfiction listen. Always nice when the author narrates.

3.5 stars. Thanks to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for the advanced copy of this audiobook, which I received in exchange for an honest review.

I'm a little all over the place with my rating of this book. My enjoyment of it was a 4, though the content left me wanting more and the writing itself was closer to a 3. I am always skeptical of authors narrating their own audiobooks, more often than not an author-narrated audio is not done well. But the narration of this book was absolutely fantastic, and I think enhanced my experience of the book significantly.

I came into this book knowing a good amount about the rise and fall of American Apparel, as I'd listened to a whole podcast series on it. However, hearing the story from one person who was directly involved was very different from the removed, journalistic accounts I've come across before, and I think Flannery does a really good job of helping her readers understand why people (young women especially) get trapped in shitty work environments and how frustrating that utter powerlessness can be. I also liked her framing it as a cult, and I think she could have leaned into that even more.

That said, I was disappointed the book ended where it did. I think structurally it made sense, especially if Flannery's experiences were more of the same over the following several years, but I wanted a bit more of a takeaway. Even a longer section about Flannery's career now, how her work in tv has intersected with her past, it just felt really abrupt the way it ended. I also think that at a prose level, the writing could use some tightening up.

I would highly recommend this audiobook to those who are interested in startup culture and those who want to hear a crazy story about brainwashing and exploitation. This is not your typical memoir-- it's fast-paced, not overly self-aware, colloquial in tone, and easy to listen to.

Thank you to @NetGalley and MacMillian Audio for the audio-ARC

I’m getting old enough that now the nostalgic look back style memoirs all seem to be about my late teen/early twenties… and here is another one. Focusing on the Flannery’s time working for American Apparel, Strip Tees takes us to the pre-Me Too world, where young women were conditioned to think that sexual exploitation was actually sexual freedom. For those that remember the American Apparel ads, this will be a palpable experience.

I was not an American Apparel girl by any definition, but I had a friend that was. I found myself connecting back to the early 2000s and some awkward memories of how exploitative the retail environment was at the time. Flannery lets us into her mind and the decisions she made just out of college that left her feeling trapped at AA. Trapped not only by the culture, but by the shunning she experienced when she attempted to leave by potential employers.

This memoir is a good reminder of how far we’ve come in the last 20 years, and how far we still have to go.

Told in an honest to the era voice, this is at times so cringy, and yet was exactly how it was. It is interesting to read some of the reviews that attack Flannery for her choices. I wonder if those reviewers actually knew what it was like to be young female and trying to find a good job in those sexually charged times, just after the dot com crash…

Read by the author the audio edition is at times heart wrenching, at times funny, and always compelling. I remember people like every one of these characters.

This is the second book I have read recently that deals with the early 2000s and they both had similar themes (The other book was Toxic by Sarah Ditum). This one details Kate Flannery’s experience with American Apparel and how she was sucked into the company ethos of “celebrating” women while she gradually comes to realize that they are playing into CEO Dov’s personal fantasies. While not all the “sex positive” things in the company were predatory, many of them were. It is another story of women’s bodies being commodified under a veneer of empowerment. I listened to the audio of this book and it is read by the author which is something I really like.

Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for this advance audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

I see what the author was trying to do here but with all respect to Kate Flannery, I felt like she was trying to make a mediocre experience into something earth-shattering. I grew up watching Laguna Beach and The Hills so I could perfectly picture the time period but I just didn't find her time in LA all that interesting, even with the American Apparel and Dove stuff.

3.5 stars

In this memoir, Flannery appeals to the late Xers and the early and mid-millennials with insight into her experience with American Apparel and generally finding herself in her post-college/early professional stage of life. Spoiler alert: it isn't pretty.

Readers who are Flannery's contemporaries (raises hand) will enjoy the nostalgic references to the time period, culture, and general vibe. If that Netflix Abercrombie doc caught your attention, you'll love this, too.

It's important to note that there's a lot of sexual harassment, sexual assault, coercion, and more described throughout. Some readers may find this material challenging to cover; others may find it quite instructive and/or relatable.

I came into this because I was in the mood for a memoir and was drawn in further by perceived connections to my own youth and interests. This is a somewhat gritty coming of age story (for this kind of individual), but it doesn't necessarily come with especially impactful punches.

Overall, this is a speedy and engaging listen, and I recommend the audiobook when and where accessible.

BAHHA, so I'm actually a dumbass. I had no idea who this memoir was about. Like no joke, I thought this memoir was written by the Kate Flannery who starred as Meredith in NBC's The Office... Yeah, I was so confused like halfway through the narration. I was like, this doesn't sound like raunchy Meredith Palmer...

SO ANYWAY, I learned a lot. I had an idea how twisted the fashion scene was in the early 2000s, but hearing about it second hand and not from rumors, is enough to make me gag at the sexist capitalist ventures at hand. I was always too young to shop at American Apparel but I was familiar with their brands, and now I'm just now learning of all the misconduct and scandals that have taken place and I'm totally Team Flannery on this one.

Strip Tees is worth the listen or read and it hits shelves on July 18, 2023.

Memoir following a young woman living in LA and working for American Apparel during their rise in the early 2000’s. It’s common knowledge by now how toxic the company was, but I appreciate the author’s honesty… even if it left me feeling little to no sympathy for her at times. This has a very specific audience, but if you’re around my age and looking for some indie sleaze inspired nostalgia, this is it.

This was an easy listen and I enjoyed the narration. I thought it was interesting how AAs culture was seen through her eyes and how it took her awhile to see what was really happening. I was a little disappointed in her actions. I wanted to root for her but it was hard due to choices she made. The ending felt rushed and I would’ve liked to hear more about her life and how she dealt with things after AA.

Strip Tees was easy to read and engrossing. I liked the insight into the author's time working at American Apparel in L.A. There was so much that went wrong, I really rooted for Katie throughout.

Wow, this was so good! Strip Tees is a compulsively readable memoir that reads like a novel. Kate Flannery has such a vibrant voice. She really brought me back to the early aughts, when American Apparel started gaining popularity. As I'm pretty close to the author's age, I could identify with her and the cultural touchstones she mentions. She moves to L.A. at 23 in search of adventure and a new career and is scouted by an American Apparel employee. Flannery immediately becomes enamored with the employees, the clothes, and the energetic company culture.

Flannery starts working at their retail store in Echo Park, but is quickly promoted to be a talent scout and travel. Though she loves the environment, aspects of it give her pause. The enigmatic CEO, Dov Charney, has relationships with multiple much younger female employees which seems to curry favor for their careers. Flannery illustrates so well the thought process so many of us elder Millennials had in our early 20s, women have agency and make their own choices, so is it predatory when they pursue or consent to a relationship with another adult, even if it's someone in power?

I found it fascinating to see how a charismatic leader with a specific vision could execute it and have such devoted followers. Charney sought out young female employees with little professional experience. As a young adult, how do you learn to navigate a career when you have such limited exposure to workplaces? How do you draw personal boundaries when morality seem so malleable by those around you? An intriguing look into the dark world of an enigmatic clothing brand.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by the author. Flannery is an excellent narrator bringing life to her memoir.

Thank you Henry Holt & Co. / Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for providing this ebook / audiobook ARC. All thoughts are my own.