Mike Jeffries, CEO of Aberombie & Fitch, should be ashamed of his rude comments. But clearly he doesn't give a damn. He publicly stated how he doesn't want fat girls wearing his clothing. He only wants skinny, beautiful, popular, all American guys and girls wearing his clothing. Fat girls aren't part of the popular crew. It's obvious when a retailer doesn't want larger people in their clothing because they don't offer their sizes. I work in fashion so I hear the same lame excuse, "It will cost more to make a larger size". I feel plus size women should be given the option to pay more then. But what it comes down to is they don't want to make clothing for plus size women because it's "more complicated" making plus size clothing. As a tall woman I've always had issues with many clothing retailers not providing styles that were long enough for my height. Here are some of his quotes:
“He doesn’t want larger people shopping in his store, he wants thin and beautiful people,” Lewis said. “He doesn’t want his core customers to see people who aren’t as hot as them wearing his clothing. People who wear his clothing should feel like they’re one of the ‘cool kids.’”
“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 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,” he told Salon.
Mike can control overweight girl/women from wearing his clothes but what about the unattractive ones? Will he train his employees to understand his view of beauty and to sale clothing only what he finds attractive? Its understandable that certain designers want to uphold an image of their brand but can you image if Wal-Mart said they only want fat, loud, unattractive people shopping at their stores. Or if hair salons said they only want customers with hair past their shoulders. Why is it ok to discriminate in the fashion industry? This is the only industry where its ok to do so, its called "fashion." What do you think? Is it ok that Mike can carry his feelings about weight and beauty to his business? Or should he have kept it separate like church & state?
Much Love & Fashion Fun,
Tea Todd
The not so good looking Mike Jeffries
Image from lipstiq.com
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