During
my high school years, I observed the stereotypical crowds that are often
depicted on movies. The cheerleaders, jocks, band geeks, nerds, and even the
skateboarder/rocker kids. One group that stood out the most was the popular/cool
kids, who dressed themselves in expensive preppy designer clothes (Abercrombie
& Fitch, Hollister, American Eagle, etc.). As an average student from a low
income family, I didn’t have the funds or confidence to wear those particular
name brands.
Recently,
Abercrombie & Fitch CEO, Mike Jeffries, explained the reasoning behind the
company’s refusal to cater toward plus sized individuals. If you walk into
their stores, you will notice that the chain does not carry XL or XXL sizes of
Women’s clothing, while competitors such as H&M and American Eagle do. The
largest pants size is a size 10 at A&F, compared to a maximum size 16 at
H&M and size 18 at American Eagle. Jeffries does not want larger individuals
shopping in his stores, and would rather see thin and beautiful people in his
clothing. When staffing his stores, he uses the “good-looking people will
attract other cool good-looking people” philosophy, and refuses to market on
another basis. Surprisingly, Jeffries is not bothered by excluding “fat people”.
Needless
to say, Jeffries comments caused uproar in the media and general public.
Personally, I never felt cool enough to wear the preppy clothing brand. A
response to the Abercrombie controversy included a YouTube video by Greg
Karber. In the video, Greg asks the public to go to their local thrift shops
and purchase all of the second hand A&F clothing they can find and
distribute it to the homeless. Additionally, Greg asks people to use the FitchTheHomeless
hash tag to document the movement. As someone who was teased during high school
for not being cool, I fully support this movement.
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