Shares of American Apparel Inc. fell 22 percent Tuesday after the Los Angeles fashion company said it launched an underwritten public offering of $30.5 million of shares of its common stock in continuing efforts to deal with its dire financial challenges.

The money will be used to cover interest due next month on its senior secured notes, the company said. Tuesday’s closing price was the company’s lowest since 2011. The manufacturer and retailer has been working with advisers to restructure debt and find other financing alternatives.

It said the net proceeds from the new stocks offering would be used for working capital and for general corporate purposes, such as a cash interest payment on its senior secured notes that is due next month.

The underwriters have a 30-day option to buy as much as $4.58 million in additional shares. The stock offering announced Tuesday is being managed by Roth Capital Partners, with assistance from Brean Capital.

Earlier this month the company said it would be late filing its year-end report with the Securities and Exchange Commission because the company needs to focus on more urgent issues. Those include retaining its listing on the small-cap NYSE Mkt Exchange. The exchange could start delisting proceedings by April 15, the company said Tuesday in the prospectus for the share offering.

The retailer said today that funds raised from the offering could help it secure a waiver on the requirements from lender Capital One Financial Corp.

The retailer also said Tuesday that its net loss widened to $107 million, or 97 cents a share, in 2013, from a loss of $37 million, or 35 cents, the previous year. That pushes total losses since the beginning of 2010 to about $270 million.

Chief Executive Dov Charney did not respond to request for comment from other media.

American Apparel currently has more than 110 shares outstanding and an $83 million market cap. Shares on Tuesday closed down 17 cents to 59 cents.