The demise of Abercrombie & Fitch

Abercrombie & Fitch has been criticized for years. Now, allegations of abuse are coming to light. Abercrombie & Fitch Case Study at a Glance.

follow me

Former Abercrombie & Fitch boss Mike Jeffries was charged in New York on Tuesday with aggravated sex crimes against aspiring models. This revealed yet another scandal surrounding the brand. However, the fashion giant's decline has been ongoing for years. An overview of how Abercrombie & Fitch dug its own grave. Three points:

Abercrombie & Fitchs “Too Cool for You”-Attitude

The name Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) was founded in 1892 as an elite men's sporting goods store. After Les Wexner purchased the company in 1988, the company became famous for its moose polo shirts. Les Wexner also owned Victoria's Secret, which he handed over to Mike Jeffries in 1992.

Leslie Wexner had a close relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.Image: trapezoid

Mike Jeffries went on to build A&F into a globally recognized brand: stores with dim lights, thick perfume and rows of half-naked, toned male models.

This look had a clear marketing idea because: it was cool at the time, no diversification. They only want to appeal to a small group of people with their products in order to create an illusion of exclusivity for consumers who fall within that range. Customers who don't adapt should get the impression that if they buy clothes from Abercrombie & Fitch, they will adapt at some point.

Mike Jeffries himself told Salon in 2006: “We wanted the cool kid. We wanted an attractive, all-American boy with a great attitude and a lot of Friends. Many people are not suitable. [in unsere Kleidung] and cannot belong. Are we exclusive? anyway. ”

Mike Jeffries in 2007: When he was a principal at Abercrombie & Fitch.Image: Imagery

Fat shaming and racism

However, A&F relies not only on exclusivity marketing but also on beauty ideals. Until the mid-2010s, the brand only hired “young and attractive” models as store associates. The definition of “young and attractive” was recorded in an instruction manual, and employees' appearance was rated weekly. If they stop following the guidelines, they will be fired. Many people of color were also not allowed to work inside stores, only in warehouses where they were not visible to customers. It's all revealed in the Netflix documentary White Heat: The Rise and Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch.

However, fat shaming and racism are evident not only among employees, but also among customers. If you are fair, thin and young, you will be popular.

The employees were allegedly told to be distant and even rude to (the wrong) customers. Dozens of former employees confirmed this on platforms like Reddit: “I only worked at A&F for two months because the work environment was so toxic. We had to tell customers who weren't young and thin to leave the store. Unless they looked It looks very rich,” said an A&F employee in 2017.

Two teenage girls pose with A&F models.Picture: www.imago-images.de

Benjamin O'Keefe was one of the first to publicly criticize A&F's stance, launching a viral petition to boycott the brand in 2013. The petition is titled “Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries: Stop telling teens they're not beautiful; make clothes for teens of all sizes!” and received nearly 80,000 signatures. “Discrimination is their hallmark. They're rooted in discrimination at every level,” O'Keefe said in an interview while filming the Netflix documentary.

sexual abuse

A&F Period prime time Half-naked, shaved, toned men have become part of everyday life. Even then, some activists dared to condemn the sexualization of young people. But it was only today, after the charges against Mike Jeffries, that the accusations were taken seriously.

A semi-nude model at the opening ceremony of A&F in Paris in 2011.Image source: Associated Press

New York District Attorney Bren Pease said Tuesday that Jeffries abused his power, wealth and influence to exploit men for his own and his partners' sexual pleasure. He capitalized on the appeal of the Abercrombie brand, which young people saw as “a ticket to success in the modeling industry.”

The lawyer further wrote that between 2008 and 2015, at least 15 people were victims of abuse. The prosecutor's office is currently investigating Jeffries, his then-partner Matthew Smith and a third person of the same type. middleman It should be.

Breon Peace at the Mike Jeffries abuse case press conference.Image: trapezoid

In the South Caucasus republic of Georgia, which borders Russia, the pro-Western opposition and the nationally conservative, pro-Russian government party are arguing over the preliminary results of parliamentary elections.

In the South Caucasus republic of Georgia, which borders Russia, the pro-Western opposition and the national conservative ruling party are fighting over the results of parliamentary elections. The electoral commission declared victory for the ruling party led by Bidzina Ivanishvili, the country's richest and most powerful man, with about 54% of the vote.