We've all seen the ads. We've walked past the store in the mall (and, if you are anything like me, got violently ill). Some of us may have even been INSIDE the store, for whatever reason.
Abercrombie and Fitch.
Clothes for the yuppies. (in my opinion)
A&F CEO Mike Jefferies has recently said, in an interview, that they won't carry plus size clothing for women because "He doesn't want larger people shopping in his store, he wants thin and beautiful people", according to Robin Lewis co-author of The New Rules of Retail and CEO of newsletter The Robin Report. Jefferies goes further and says he doesn't want his core customer base to be people that would be considered "uncool". His clothes are meant for the "cool kids"
“It’s almost everything. That’s why we hire good-looking people in our
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......In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then
there are the not-so-cool kids. 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."
That's what Jefferies told Salon magazine in 2006.
Okay, I get it.....you don't want someone like me to wear your clothes. That's awesome and completely okay. But what about that plus size girl still in high school? She's getting picked on already by her peers, now some CEO of some clothes line is basically doing the same thing? It's sickening...it's pathetic.
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| Mark Jefferies; CEO of Abercrombie and Fitch |
Kids are growing, they go through all different stages; chubby stages and thin stages, they're short then put on growth spurts. So then are those exact same kids only acceptable at certain points in their lives and not at others?
ReplyDeleteI have a son who's naturally thin. He doesn't eat well and doesn't exercise. I have another one who's shorter and built stockier. He's not overweight because he belongs to a gym and works out. Two very different kids. Both worthy of love and respect.
So very, very true. It's absolutely ridiculous the way people are trying to put our kids into this box.....they aren't MEANT to be the same!
DeleteThis whole story makes me sad. Kids have enough to deal with as it is, and sure as hell don't need to be told that they're only beautiful if they fit into overpriced clothing peddled by a jerk.
ReplyDeleteI know. I was picked on as a kid and, when I was a teen, I remember how badly I wanted to wear their clothes and how it made me feel that I couldn't. I don't wish that on anyone.
DeleteThis coming from a man who looks like he has had way to much plastic surgery to stay "cool" Ug makes me sick..there are people with body issues that will be sent over the edge from his stupid comments.
ReplyDelete