American Apparel Inc. has brought in an industry veteran to help turn around the struggling company.

The downtown L.A. apparel manufacturer and retailer announced Wednesday in a regulatory filing that Martin Staff, a former chief executive at JA Apparel Corp. and Hugo Boss Fashions Inc., joined the company as chief business development officer. Staff will serve in the position for an initial term of three years and receive a base salary of $600,000 per year.

Staff is the third major executive to join American Apparel in recent months as the company deals with declining sales, debt problems and controversy surrounding Chief Executive Dov Charney.

The company also hired former Old Navy executive John Luttrell to serve as chief financial officer and former Blockbuster executive Tom Casey to service as acting president to improve its corporate operations.

American Apparel said in a regulatory filing on March 17 that it would not be able to file its annual report on time due to last year’s resignation of auditors Deloitte & Touche. The company also said in the filing that it expected to report a decline in sales and a loss for last year because of “declines in comparable-store sales, higher production costs, higher operating costs and an increase in interest expense.”

Meanwhile, Charney came under scrutiny earlier this month after a former employee filed a $250 million sexual harassment against him. The company has denied the charges, calling the suit an extortion attempt.

American Apparel has been working to boost sales by adding more sophisticated clothes such as button tops and pleated pants to its shelves.