Abercrombie and Fitch does not want their brand on fat people

[elaine amj]

This just cements my decision to continue boycotting A&F. My DD is a tween and lately we've been shopping at Aeropostale (on their great sales when bottoms and hoodies are $10 each). We both like their style, and she adores their comfy sweats (since all she will wear is hoodies and jogging pants). A&F would likely fit her well too - but I have avoided them since they came out with the padded kids bikinis (which I think is ridiculous!). Never discussed this with DD as yet because she does not care about brands at all but I will definitely explain more as she gets older if she is interested.

While I know companies have their target markets and I'm not naive enough to think that companies don't think of these things, but his flat out arrogance and overall marketing approach just make me cringe and I hate the thought of supporting them with my money.

I'm not any kind of activist nor do I typically boycott brands. But the thought of padded bikinis for 7 yr olds turned my stomach and everything I have read of A&F turns me off even more. So for them, I'll make an exception.

 

[Poohforyou]

Mom of a ten year old & I have to say I don't get what the issue of a thing is...no one is seeing it so what does it matter the type of underwear? My daughter has VS cheeks tees and things and prefers the thing as it doesn't give her a huge wedgie during gymnastics and cheer practices. The only person who knows what is under her clothing is her (and me).

Are you saying your 10 yo wears Victoria's Secret thongs?

 

[Caseheidi]

Isn't this the same company who public ally asked a guy from Jersey Shore to not wear their clothes publicly? That sees confusing as they just described that group of people as who they want in their clothes?

 

[FireDancer]

You seem to have no problem making comments about overweight people on other threads.

It just depends on the thread and I just don't care about this guy one way or the other.

If the comments by this CEO didn't hurt the company 7 years ago when he made them they won't now. I have a feeling the people offended by them aren't their target market anyway so they don't care if they shop there or not. Heck, they explicitly told them not to shop there.

 

[A_Princess'_Daddy]

You have to spill it! Who was the #1 biggest jerk?

Sheldon Adelson. Talk about forgetting where you came from!

I'm sure there are bigger jerks out there, I just haven't worked with them yet. I must also say that 99.9% of the people with whom I've worked are truly good people, which is partly why these few stand out.

 

[Peachkins]

I don't really care what the target customer is for A&F. Every smaller type of store like this has a target customer base they are trying to reach, and of course that will exclude people. My problem is what the CEO is saying and the message he is sending to young children. I find it wrong on many levels and counterproductive to the anti bullying movement in schools. Before hearing his feelings on why they offer the sizes they do I wouldn't have had an issue with DD wanting clothing from here. Aside from the smell of the store. But after hearing this my money will never support a company who wants to embrace and market this type of a message.

This is one of the reasons why I haven't gone in the store even before all this other stuff came up. I can't stand the smell outside the store- I can't imagine having to go in and shop in it.

 

[pixiewings71]

I am shocked, and while I've never actually purchased anything from their stores now I know that I never will. Not even at the thrift shop, if someone gives a gift to one of my kids that will be fine but I will never spend my money at that store. Just disgusting!

 

[EMom]

I don't get the thong thing?? Granted, I don't have daughters, but what is so wrong with wearing thongs?

Most females I know, including myself, wear them to eliminate panty lines, not to be "sexy" - nobody knows what I have on underneath my clothes except for ME...

I can often tell a woman is wearing a thong. They just leave different "lines." Not to mention the times when a woman kneels or bends over and her pants move down, while the thong stays put. That's always a pleasure to see.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

I have not had much to do with this company. My kids never liked it. I think all I have ever bought from them was hoodie and T for my niece's Christmas gift.

However, I will find other gifts from now on. I think this is a horrible message to send. I wouldn't even care if they just didn't stock certain sizes because in reality some styles look better on some sizes than others and you can only stock so much, etc. But to have your CEO openly saying that they do not stock over a size 10 (for women) because they are the "cool" brand and fat people are never cool? I think that is just atrocious.


Here is the quote from the CEO that really bothers me:

"In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids, he told the site. 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 dont belong [in our clothes], and they cant belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely. Those companies that are in trouble are trying to target everybody: young, old, fat, skinny. But then you become totally vanilla. You dont alienate anybody, but you dont excite anybody, either, he told Salon."


http://elitedaily.com/news/world/abercrombie-fitch-ceo-explains-why-he-hates-fat-chicks/

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/05/07/abercrombie-fitch-wont-stock-size-xl-women_n_3229909.html

I'm curious. Are others of you shocked by this? Does this change how you feel about the company? Will it prevent you from shopping there (or encourage you to shop there, I suppose)?

Edit. Even worse, he's a senior citizen and doing it. Oh my!!!!
Wow. That CEO sounds like someone trying to be cool now that he's middle aged because he missed out on being cool in high school and got swirlie after swirlie and dumped in the trash can. But for his feeble attempt at coming across as hip and edgy, he came across as lame or worse, a total jerk.

As for his company, we've never shopped there and never will. So they're not going to lose a dime from us. Paying triple what the thing is worth just because it's supposed to be hip and edgy isn't our cup of tea. I know they've had problems with discrimination issues and problems with making their employees buy sets of clothes from them to work there. So all the more reason not to shop there.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

I haven't read all of the posts or the article. I started to get really mad at A&F.

Then I thought "wait, it's a business not a government agency. They have the right to target whoever they want." Is Catherine's exclusionary because they don't carry clothes for smaller women? Is Ferrari exclusionary because only the rich can buy them? Yep. But no one is ranting against them. The only difference is they aren't coming right our and saying it. Every free market business has a choice to market and provide products to whomever they choose. A&F just made the mistake of saying it publicly and obesity is a very sensitive topic.

 

[robinb]

I can often tell a woman is wearing a thong. They just leave different "lines." Not to mention the times when a woman kneels or bends over and her pants move down, while the thong stays put. That's always a pleasure to see.

Thanks to you I have this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44f5VH4DLmg stuck in my head.

 

[Colleen27]

Mom of a ten year old & I have to say I don't get what the issue of a thing is...no one is seeing it so what does it matter the type of underwear? My daughter has VS cheeks tees and things and prefers the thing as it doesn't give her a huge wedgie during gymnastics and cheer practices. The only person who knows what is under her clothing is her (and me).

I'm with you on that one. As far as I'm concerned, underwear choice is nothing more than a question of personal comfort and that's true whether it is granny panties or boy shorts or thongs.

Why does a 10-year old have to worry about panty lines?

Because visible underwear are inappropriate at any stage. My DD has some not-quite-thong but still rather skimpy underwear as well as some boy shorts to wear under certain items that are prone to underwear showing through (ie white baseball pants). Regular underwear in her baseball uniform frankly calls attention to her rear end, and I don't think there's a such thing as too young to teach kids how to avoid certain universally bad looks like that one.

It just depends on the thread and I just don't care about this guy one way or the other.

If the comments by this CEO didn't hurt the company 7 years ago when he made them they won't now. I have a feeling the people offended by them aren't their target market anyway so they don't care if they shop there or not. Heck, they explicitly told them not to shop there.

I think a lot of the people upset about this hold the pursestrings for their target demographic, though. I've gotten the link no less than a half-dozen times on my FB newsfeed today, all from mom-friends. As CEO of a brand that caters to middle class white suburban kids he should be at least somewhat conscious of the concerns and hot buttons of the "soccer mom" demographic. It flew under most people's radar 7 years ago but I do expect there will be some fallout now that it has gone viral.

 

[OceanAnnie]

It just depends on the thread and I just don't care about this guy one way or the other.

If the comments by this CEO didn't hurt the company 7 years ago when he made them they won't now. I have a feeling the people offended by them aren't their target market anyway so they don't care if they shop there or not. Heck, they explicitly told them not to shop there.

I disagree with the target market reference. People can have compassion for others without having the same experiences.

 

[jen0610]

I have not seen them but my daughter still gets her undies from Justice because she loves their yoga type boyshort ones. She does however have a few friends who have thongs underwear and I wonder what the heck their mothers are thinking or where they purchased them from. If I had my way she would still be wearing monogrammed undies with eyelet lace around the leg.

Why does a 10-year old have to worry about panty lines?

DD15 has had a thong pair of underwear since she was 11. She knows they are to be worn for one reason and one reason only. She competitive dances. One of their rules is under the costumes, no underwear just your tights. But for those girls that have that time during competition/recital weekends, they are allowed to wear a thong if they so choose. DD, knock on wood, has only had to use hers once in the past 5 years. But she does have a pair just in case. Her first pair was the smallest sized jr's pair I could find, because I couldn't find any in the girls section.

 

[mfd25wife]

I will not buy clothes there because I once worked for a printing company that printed their "magalog". It's a magazine that basically shows what the company sells but since you can't order from it, it's called a magalog. Anyway, the problem I had with them is that the models are all really young in both the catalog and magalog. The magalog could not ship out of the factory without being in a black plastic that could not been seen through. You could only buy it from behind the counter in the stores and were supposed to be 18 to do so. So yeah, I wasn't going to buy my tween/teen at the time clothes from a place that showed everything except genitalia. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what clothes they were advertising in them since most were in some interesting poses and very little if any clothing. I remember a picture of a young man whose only covering was a tree branch. Because of my job, I had to sometimes see the pages, but I avoided them when I could.

 

[bethy]

But the thought of padded bikinis for 7 yr olds turned my stomach and everything I have read of A&F turns me off even more. So for them, I'll make an exception.

As an aside, I am SO GRATEFUL when I find a girls' swimsuit with a padded top. My tween only fits in girls' sizes but needs more coverage on top than a non padded suit can provide. There is an early stage of breast development where coverage is especially critical to "smooth" things over. Sorry if TMI!

 

[robinb]

Because visible underwear are inappropriate at any stage. My DD has some not-quite-thong but still rather skimpy underwear as well as some boy shorts to wear under certain items that are prone to underwear showing through (ie white baseball pants). Regular underwear in her baseball uniform frankly calls attention to her rear end, and I don't think there's a such thing as too young to teach kids how to avoid certain universally bad looks like that one.

Seriously? While I wouldn't suggest that a child wear red underwear under white pants, I also wouldn't worry about panty lines in 5th grade! It's a little too "I see London! I see France!" for me.

 

[JosieCat]

They can target whomever they choose, but having their CEO all but say, "girls over a certain size are not now, nor ever will be cool. Boys are a different story, though." is what sticks in a lot of folks craw here.

They are not trying to campaign against obesity, or promote healthier lifestyles, they are saying if girls do not fit a certain, small ideal, they are less worthy/desirable/cool than those who do fit that.

And, I don't agree with that idea. I will target my money to other companies who do not spout those kinds of ideas.

 

[robinb]

DD15 has had a thong pair of underwear since she was 11. She knows they are to be worn for one reason and one reason only. She competitive dances. One of their rules is under the costumes, no underwear just your tights. But for those girls that have that time during competition/recital weekends, they are allowed to wear a thong if they so choose. DD, knock on wood, has only had to use hers once in the past 5 years. But she does have a pair just in case. Her first pair was the smallest sized jr's pair I could find, because I couldn't find any in the girls section.

My DD's dance studio has the same restriction during her recital. A thong is a great solution to a real need. FTR, I was talking about children 12 and under, not teens. I wouldn't think twice about a 15-year old wearing a thong.

 

[Imzadi]

Isn't this the same company who public ally asked a guy from Jersey Shore to not wear their clothes publicly? That sees confusing as they just described that group of people as who they want in their clothes?

Yes, it's the same company. They consider the Jersey Shore people (in the reality show) low-lifes and also not who they want to represent them.

On the one hand, I am offended on behalf of fat people.

On the other hand, I went into a store, I think it was called Charlotte Russe? And they only seemed to have junior size clothing in sizes 5, 7, & 9 only.

If that's what they want to do, and that is their target demographic, then whatever. They can do that. They have a right to market to whoever they want. Same for A&F. I just won't shop there.