‘Made in Bangladesh’: American Apparel releases controversial new ad starring topless former-Muslim model

DHAKA, March 8 (NsNewsWire) — American Apparel has sparked controversy once again with a new ad starring a topless former-Muslim model from Bangladesh.

The bold image, which appears in Vice magazine’s U.S. and Canada editions, stars 22-year-old Maks, a merchandiser for American Apparel, who was born in Dhaka but has lived in California since the age of four.

The words ‘Made in Bangladesh’ are printed across her chest – referring to the woman, of course, not her jeans, a means of raising awareness about American Apparel’s fair labor practices – all its clothing is made in downtown LA.

The powerful image is accompanied by a description of Maks, revealing how she was raised a strict Muslim but ‘distanced herself’ from her Islamic faith as she grew up, in search of her ‘own identity.’

The words explain that the bare-chested beauty ‘doesn’t feel the need to identify herself as an American or a Bengali and is not content to fit her life into anyone else’s conventional narrative.