Abercrombie and Fitch gets the cold shoulder

The Abercrombie and Fitch CEO, Mike Jeffries, has recently been caught under fire after his comments (made back in 2006) towards the brands target audience.  He said, “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.”  This statement is still reinforced today with clothes sizes only going up to a womens size 10 and mens 34- not even available for half the nation!

Of course the recent uproar about these comments have had a huge affect on the brand, and righty so in my opinion, with a drastic loss in its first quarter earnings- falling by 17 percent. 

Abercrombie and Fitch has seen a range of protesters expressing their outrage.  A change.org petition is just one of these examples, calling on the brand to ‘stop telling teens they aren’t beautiful; make clothes for all teen sizes’, with 72,455 signatures currently in support of the campaign.  Another creative demonstration comes from a man named Greg Karber who has begun his own campaign ‘FitchTheHomeless’ which involves giving out the brands clothing to the homeless.

Celebrities have also jumped in on the act, trying to encourage people to boycott the brand through social networking sites.  Actress Kristie Alley started the movement with her immediate response to the comments and revelation that the brand sells no clothes above a measly size 10, claiming her children ‘will never walk into those stores because of his view of people’.  Miley Cyrus have promised to burn all her Abercrombie and Fitch clothes, and Ellen DeGeneres has produced a sketch comparing the brand’s clothes to baby clothes (viewed over 3 million times on youtube.)  Personally, I think it’s about time we all stood against this kind of attitude- Abercrombie and Fitch clothing is hardly exciting and looks over priced; not exactly fitting with what the ‘cool kids’ would choose.