The controversial brand that hipsters love to love, American Apparel are quietly preparing to launch a brand new web radio station called Viva Radio.

Offering a curatorial mix of live and prerecorded programming, the station will strive to become a "user-friendly resource to discover new music, and unearth some shining audio moments from days past." Operating 24/7, Viva will not only provide content to AA's 100+ shops around the world, but will help extend the brand's unique worldview beyond it's foundation at retail, the countless print and outdoor ads, the company's ongoing "amateur photography" project on their website, and their newish Mexican newspaper project, which is available for free in all their shops.

Contributors to Viva Radio draw from all corners of popular culture, from former Rolling Stone editor Ben Fong-Torres to Butt Magazine editor Jop van Bennekom, disco blogger Bumrocks and DFA DJ Tim Sweeney.

The programming will originate in studios AA is currently building in their LA factory/office and in a converted movie theater in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Emerge is fascinated by the ongoing construction of the American Apparel lifestyle. Not just a compassionate, pro-labor choice or sexed up analogue to the Gap, AA continues to add new layers to it's already powerful brand, and Viva Radio is sure to make AA even more inescapable in hipper quarters worldwide.

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