Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries has come under fire for comments made six years ago. Picture: AP Source: AP
IF EVER there was a warning about being careful with what you put on the internet, Abercrombie & Fitch should act as a cautionary tale.
Comments made by Abercrombie & Fitch's CEO Mike Jeffries seven years ago about how "uncool" kids and "fat women" shouldn’t be wearing the brand's clothes have come back to bite him, inspiring a robust protest and a viral campaign.
In an interview with news website Salon in 2006, Mr Jeffries said he only wanted "good-looking people" in his stores.
"Because good-looking people attract other good-looking people, and we want to market to cool, good-looking people. We don't market to anyone other than that."
Mr Jeffries' comments alienated almost everyone and have earned him the tag of "worst human of retail" on social network sites. And almost seven years later people are still angry.
His comments reignited protests this week in front of a Chicago store after a writer and entrepreneur attempted to give the clothing brand a dramatic re-brand by donating Abercrombie & Fitch clothes to the homeless.
Greg Karber created a viral video of himself going through thrift stores to find old A&F products and donating them to street dwellers.
In the video he states that people can help by "looking through your closets, your friends' closets and your neighbours' closets for A&F clothing, give them away to a homeless shelter and share what you're doing on Facebook and Twitter".
When asked why it took him seven years to come up with the viral campaign, Mr Karber told news.com.au that while Mr Jeffries' comments were made some years ago "they recently resurfaced and upset a lot of people, and I was one of those people".
"A&F is the high school bully of the retail clothing world," Mr Karber said. "They like to exclude certain groups of people to create a false sense of exclusivity".
"People deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, and making money doesn't excuse hateful speech or actions."
Mr Karber said he came up with the idea for the viral campaign last Thursday and by Friday he had it all on camera.
"I edited it over the weekend, and it went viral on Monday. New media can act at a speed clothing giants cannot."
The new backlash against Mr Jeffries reached fever pitch overnight with actors such as Kirstie Alley criticising the store and Mr Jeffries:
"Abercrombie clothes are for people who are cool and look a certain way and are beautiful and are thin and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah," Alley said on Entertainment Tonight. "That would make me never buy anything from Abercrombie."
The backlash also escalated on Twitter, Facebook and even on YouTube where one poster started a "Fitch the Homeless" campaign asking customers to re-brand the popular retailer by giving their A&F clothes to the homeless.
A&F sells men's clothes in XL and XXL sizes but refuses to sell the equivalent sizes in its women's range.
Jeffries said six years ago how "uncool" kids and "fat women" shouldn't be wearing its clothes. Picture: AP Source: AP
Mr Jeffries also told Salon he only wanted "cool kids" to wear A&F clothes.
"In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids," he said. "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.
"Those companies that are in trouble are trying to target everybody: young, old, fat, skinny. But then you become totally vanilla. You don't alienate anybody, but you don't excite anybody, either."
The incident just goes to show that once something is on the internet, it's there forever.
Today Mr Jeffries released a statement on the Abercrombie & Fitch Facebook page.
"I want to address some of my comments that have been circulating from a 2006 interview. While I believe this seven-year-old, resurrected quote has been taken out of context, I sincerely regret that my choice of words was interpreted in a manner that has caused offense," he wrote.
"A&F is an aspirational brand that, like most specialty apparel brands, targets its marketing at a particular segment of customers.
"However, we care about the broader communities in which we operate and are strongly committed to diversity and inclusion.
"We hire good people who share these values. 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."
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