Recently
American retail store Abercrombie and Fitch has been under fire after the
a
uthors of the new novel “Rules of Retail” revealed negative comments by their
staff. In 2006 CEO, Mike Jeffries, stated that they
will only be catering for a certain type of customer; namely skinny customers. I’m
not even making this up. He basically said that any girl who fits into a size
large isn't welcome at their clothing store. Thus they don’t stock XL or XXL
sizes in women's clothing.
Even
though these comments were made years ago it is clear that the clothing brand
still operates under than philosophy. It makes me sick to think that this is
actually a marketing tactic. They are encouraging young people to be exclusionary
and for people to judge those who do not look a certain way.
"A
lot of people don't belong [in our clothes], and they can't belong. Are we
exclusionary? Absolutely."
Jeffries
went on to say that they only cater for a ‘cool’ crowd, thus implying that
being ‘cool’ as anything to do with your appearance. Well, this is 2013 and
most of their customers are no longer in high school.
I
don’t know what else to say. As someone who, according to Jefferies decription,
would not be allowed to shop at Abercrombie and Fitch I’m a little put off by
this concept. I think that no one should shop there if that is their philosophy.
I’d rather wear comfortable, larger clothes than any of that pretentious crap
they have to offer.
Andrea
Neusner, from the Huffington Post, wrote this absolutely wonderful reply to Jeffries
remakes. You go Andrea Neusner:
Dear
Mr. Jeffries:
Thank
you for clarifying the reason you do not carry sizes larger than a 10 at Abercrombie. Your
customer is an "attractive, all-American kid with a great attitude and
lots of friends." I am a mom of 3 daughters, ages 17, 13, and 10. They are
all thin, attractive, all-American kids with great attitudes and lots of
friends. They shop at Abercrombie. I believe they are your target audience.
Please
find the enclosed clothing, purchased at our local Abercrombie/Abercrombie and
Fitch stores. My thin, popular, cool kids will not need them anymore.
Not
only will I not let my kids shop at Abercrombie again, I will not let them wear
what they already have in their closets. Normally I donate our unwanted
clothes, but in this case, I wouldn't want any unsuspecting thin, cool person
to send the message that being exclusionary is OK.
Sincerely,
Andrea Neusner
reactions to
these comments:
"XL
girls have XL personalities and they don't need to be wearing this basic shit…"
No comments:
Post a Comment