When I first saw the article I was as shocked as everyone else. Abercrombie and Fitch was so obsessed with their “image” that they refused to sell plus sized clothing. Their strategy of marketing to the “cool” kids has led them to discriminate against people due to their weight. While the store sells plus sized men’s clothing, it is designed to only to “fit the muscle bulk of strapping sportsmen.”
In a 2006 interview with Salon, CEO Mike Jeffries said, “That’s why we hire good-looking people in our stores, because good-looking people attract other good-looking people, and we want to market to cool, good-looking people. We don’t market to anyone other than that.” He went on: “In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids. Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely.”
Not only do the “popular kids” and “not-so-cool kids” labels sound like they were taken straight from the 1950s or an episode of Gossip Girl, they goes against everything that our society tries to teach children. In a world that is making great strides towards making everyone feel welcome, one of the most popular clothing brands in the country is deciding that certain people can’t wear their clothes.
Jeffries’s statement that he wants the “all-American kid” is quite confusing. Since when is someone all-American if they can fit into a “large”? According to Jeffries, Governor Christie isn’t all-American, Oprah isn’t all-American and countless other people are not “all-American” because they can’t fit into a large. (Oh, and pregnant women. Jeffries’s statements have led this reporter to conclude that pregnant women are not cool or all-American, since they too cannot fit into Abercrombie’s clothes.)
The outrage that these statements created is evident if one scrolls through the company’s Facebook page. Every post for a new sale or new arrival is met with comments pledging to never shop at the store again. While the outrage is there, it is a stretch to think the company would be hurt by people boycotting the store. The message to take from this is not to condemn people for wearing the company’s clothing, but to see that what the company is doing is wrong. There will always be ignorant people in the world who think they can pick on the “not so cool kids”, but it is important to remember that the actions of one person should not dictate who you are, or what you think is cool.