Clubbish clothing store Abercrombie & Fitch has found itself in a bit of a sitch.
Comments made by the retailer’s chief executive, Michael S. Jeffries, have gone viral and stirred up a storm.
“In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids,” Jeffries was quoted as saying. “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.”
Exclusionary, that is, toward particular people of a particular size: women whose curves exceed a Size 10 or a Large. A few clicks through the online store reveals the company is more accepting of more-ample males. The men’s Shaw Pond Sweater not only comes in XL, but XXL. It costs $98 (so not only would the store appear to exclude thick-of-thigh gals, but thin-of-wallet guys).
And now Jeffries’ remarks have caused an XXXL outrage.
Teenage girls of varying sizes recently protested outside a Chicago Abercrombie & Fitch store with signs that read, for example, “Social equality for all body types.” A petition addressed to Jeffries (“Stop telling teens they aren’t beautiful; make clothes for teens of all sizes”) had attracted nearly 25,000 supporters on change. org. A filmmaker has started a campaign urging Americans to take all the Abercrombie clothes they’ve “mistakenly purchased” and donate them to the homeless. And celebrities, including actress Sophia Bush, have reacted. Bush Tweeted, “Such a letdown to see that Abercrombie, a company geared toward teens, lets their CEO speak like this.”
Only he didn’t speak like this recently. While the comments are currently causing a commotion they originated from a Salon article written seven years ago. (To tell you how “forever” ago that was in fashion years, black nail polish and leggings had just made a comeback.)
Why this sudden backlash for something said in 2006? (If we were conspiratorial, we’d suggest it’s because trendy retailer H&M just released a summer swimwear campaign featuring a plus-size model.)
And, really, why is everyone so offended?
Why does actress Kirstie Alley (wait, the one who is constantly on worst-dressed lists?) feel moved to publicly blast the company: “That would make me never buy anything from Abercrombie.”
As if the 62-year-old actress is Abercrombie’s desired customer. Still her 18-year-old and 20-year-old children might be.
“I’ve got two kids in that bracket, but they will never walk in those doors because of [Jeffries’] view of people - forget women, his view of just people,” she was quoted as saying.
Sure, based only on one quote, Jeffries would seem to have limited social skills and questionable public relations savvy (alienating the majority of your customer base when the average woman is said to wear a size 14?).But he’s engaging in target marketing just like any other business. Mercedes-Benz, for example, doesn’t want middle-class masses cruising in its CL-Class Coupe. But the company would seem to have enough class to keep quiet and just price it accordingly (starting at $115,300), whereas Jeffries ran his mouth.
But again, that was seven whole years ago. And this is now. What does Jeffries have to say in 2013?
The Los Angeles Times quoted a statement from Jeffries that says the “resurrected quote has been taken out of context.”
In it he also says: “We are completely opposed to any discrimination, bullying, derogatory characterizations or other anti-social behavior based on race, gender, body type or other individual characteristics.”
No word - in his statement or on the website - on whether they’ll be extending the sizes of their clothes.
Mainly what I see on their site is the sculpted abdominal muscles of bare-chested young bucks.
Are we sure Abercrombie even sells clothes?
All shapes and sizes, e-mail: [email protected] What’s in a Dame is a weekly report from the woman ’hood.
Style, Pages 31 on 05/21/2013