Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Explains Why He Hates Fat Chicks

[Hammock Parties]

My hero.

http://elitedaily.com/news/world/abe...es-fat-chicks/

Anyone who’s been to Abercrombie & Fitch in the last few years has probably noticed that they don’t carry XL or XXL sizes of women’s clothing because they don’t want overweight women wearing their brand.

According to this popular teen clothing retailer, fat chicks will just never be a part of the “in” crowd.

They take a big risk with this tactic because two of Abercrombie’s biggest competitors, H&M and American Eagle, both offer XXL sizes for men and women.

The largest women’s pants available at Abercrombie are a size 10, while H&M goes up to 16 and American Eagle goes even farther to 18.

Abercrombie’s attitude towards plus-sized women derives from CEO Mike Jeffries. Robin Lewis, author of The New Rules of Retail, spoke to Business Insider about the kind of people Jeffries wants advertising his brand.

“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.’”

Lewis said that the only reason Abercrombie offers XL and XXL in men’s sizes is to appeal to large athletes.

In a 2006 interview with Salon, Jeffries confirmed that the communication between hot people is his primary marketing tactic.

“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,” he said.

Jeffries also told Salon that he wasn’t bothered by excluding fat people. In fact, he said that not limiting his ideal demographic would make his clothing less desirable.

“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.

One might wonder why Mike Jeffries only wants to be in the company of good-looking people. That curiosity will end after seeing what this freak looks like.

After seeing a picture of Mike Jeffries, it can only be concluded that he was never around good-looking people as a kid and is now making up for the glamorous youth he wishes he had.

[kcchiefsus]

What would be the point of fat bitches wearing their clothes anyways? Expensive clothes won't make a cow look good. Or, you can put lipstick on a pig...

[loochy]

Originally Posted by blaise

Oh no, Kirstie Alley ate it.

fyp

[Saul Good]

I guess I don't get why this is such a big deal. They market themselves as clothes for cool, attractive people. That's what nearly every clothing retailer does. You don't see a lot of fat, ugly in advertisements.

Is this one of those deals where everyone knows it's the truth, but we're supposed to pretend to be outraged when someone admits it?

[Bowser]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

I guess I don't get why this is such a big deal. They market themselves as clothes for cool, attractive people. That's what nearly every clothing retailer does. You don't see a lot of fat, ugly in advertisements.

Is this one of those deals where everyone knows it's the truth, but we're supposed to pretend to be outraged when someone admits it?

He basically came out and said X% of the population of this country wasnt good enough to shop in his stores. Of course he has every right to say what he wants about the people who do or don't shop for his stuff, but of course there is going to be backlash.

Are we supposed to feel bad for him that he opened his mouth and inserted his foot?

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by Bowser

He basically came out and said X% of the population of this country wasnt good enough to shop in his stores. Of course he has every right to say what he wants about the people who do or don't shop for his stuff, but of course there is going to be backlash.

Are we supposed to feel bad for him that he opened his mouth and inserted his foot?

I don't feel bad for the guy. I just don't get the faux outrage where everybody pretends to be shocked that Abercrombie wants cool kids to wear their clothes.

Wait until people find out that FUBU only wants blacks to wear their clothes...

[Bowser]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

I don't feel bad for the guy. I just don't get the faux outrage where everybody pretends to be shocked that Abercrombie wants cool kids to wear their clothes.

Wait until people find out that FUBU only wants blacks to wear their clothes...

Heh.

Look at it like this - he employed a type of High School logic, and it blew up in his face. "Ok, you're cool enough to come to my party, but I don't want you bringing those other losers I see you hanging around with to this party. COOL KIDS ONLY!" Ok, doucher, we'll go have our own party over here. Other party is a hit, and cool guy gets laughed at. Cool guy repents later and does his best damage control attempt, but everyone laughs at him.

I guess I just don't get why he felt the need to announce basically what everyone knew. Saying it out loud makes it officially a douchebag thing to do, apparently.

[Just Passin' By]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

I guess I don't get why this is such a big deal. They market themselves as clothes for cool, attractive people. That's what nearly every clothing retailer does. You don't see a lot of fat, ugly in advertisements.

Is this one of those deals where everyone knows it's the truth, but we're supposed to pretend to be outraged when someone admits it?

He has a right to say stupid shit. People have a right to respond to that stupid shit in the manner they feel appropriate, especially when the dumbass doing the talking is an ugly mother****er insulting the looks/bodies of others.

Also, Victoria's Secret finds a way to run ads with thin, sexy women while still selling XL panties, so your comments don't really seem to have much behind them.

[Imon Yourside]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

Dumbass Bruce Jenner-lookin' mother****er.

Yup, that is about as dumb as you can get. Maybe he's losing his mind.

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by Bowser

Heh.

Look at it like this - he employed a type of High School logic, and it blew up in his face. "Ok, you're cool enough to come to my party, but I don't want you bringing those other losers I see you hanging around with to this party. COOL KIDS ONLY!" Ok, doucher, we'll go have our own party over here. Other party is a hit, and cool guy gets laughed at. Cool guy repents later and does his best damage control attempt, but everyone laughs at him.

I guess I just don't get why he felt the need to announce basically what everyone knew. Saying it out loud makes it officially a douchebag thing to do, apparently.

So everyone is okay with excluding the nerds as long as nobody admits it...

I don't give a shit about A&F...haven't set foot in the store since college (wore a lot of it back then, but only have a t-shirt or two still in my closet). If people want to get indignant about this sort of thing, that's their prerogative. It just smacks of hypocrisy when people suddenly get outraged over something they've known about for years...like people who smoke for thirty years and suddenly act surprised to learn that those sons of bitches at RJ Reynolds are putting out a product that can adversely impact your health if you smoke 400,000.

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by Just Passin' By

He has a right to say stupid shit. People have a right to respond to that stupid shit in the manner they feel appropriate, especially when the dumbass doing the talking is an ugly mother****er insulting the looks/bodies of others.

Also, Victoria's Secret finds a way to run ads with thin, sexy women while still selling XL panties, so your comments don't really seem to have much behind them.

Victoria's Secret doesn't specialize in clothing to be worn in public with their brand name plastered across it, either.

[Bowser]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

So everyone is okay with excluding the nerds as long as nobody admits it...

I don't give a shit about A&F...haven't set foot in the store since college (wore a lot of it back then, but only have a t-shirt or two still in my closet). If people want to get indignant about this sort of thing, that's their prerogative. It just smacks of hypocrisy when people suddenly get outraged over something they've known about for years...like people who smoke for thirty years and suddenly act surprised to learn that those sons of bitches at RJ Reynolds are putting out a product that can adversely impact your health if you smoke 400,000.

Oh, I agree. And just for the record, I'm not in the OMGOMG WHAT DID HE SAY group. I just think it's funny that his Holier-Than-Thou act backfired on him. If he would have kept his trap shut, maybe he wouldn't be seeing a decline in his numbers in the graph Pitt Gorilla posted.

[Graystoke]

[Just Passin' By]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

Victoria's Secret doesn't specialize in clothing to be worn in public with their brand name plastered across it, either.

I simply pointed to an obvious example. I could have pointed to any number of companies, as I'm sure you realize. Your defense of the guy is a really poor one.

[jettio]

The upshot of this story is that he does a 2006 interview with Salon that gets published to whatever reaction it received then and that somebody else writes an article or book that is coming out now and the best thing that author has to promote this new work is to quote the old story.

Next thing you know, big publicity and hysteria.

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by Just Passin' By

I simply pointed to an obvious example. I could have pointed to any number of companies, as I'm sure you realize. Your defense of the guy is a really poor one.

I'm not defending anyone. I'm pointing out the hypocrisy of everyone pretending to be outraged to find out that Abercrombie markets to popular, attractive people.