July 13, 2004
More White-Washing From Abercrombie
Oh yeah, those guys. I’m sure y’all are well aware of Abercrombie & Fitch, right? In the past several years, this clothing brand has caricatured Asian Americans with offensive images, discriminated against people of color in general, pissed off the entire state of West Virginia, and provoked the ire of parent and religious groups. In short, they’re real assholes.
Ignoring demography, they have managed to fetishize preppy whiteness as some kind of all-American ideal in the fashion world (even more so than WASP-y apparel icon Ralph Lauren if that's possible. Don’t be fooled by the sporadic tokenism of their catalogues). And so, their sales have been lackluster in the past couple years, but rather than trying to figure out how to repair their sullied image, they’re gonna make themselves even more exclusive instead:
- Analysts say that his clothes are overpriced. Former employees say in a lawsuit that his company discriminates in hiring. West Virginia's governor is up in arms over a T-shirt that makes fun of his state. And that does not even count the many people long been outraged over Abercrombie's notoriously racy marketing catalog.
So what does Mr. Jeffries intend to do? Exactly the opposite of what his critics demand.
Basically, A&F’s CEO -- Michael Jeffries -- thinks the best course of action is raising the prices of their already over-priced wares even further, denying that any kind of racial discrimination ever took place, while vowing to continue their hiring practices. They may even print more potentially insulting t-shirts. Consequences be damned:
- "The people who are intimidated are not our customers," Mr. Jeffries said, wearing the company's summer "uniform," a striped shirt hanging out over baggy khaki shorts and flip-flop sandals. "We want college kids, the ones who aspire to be the coolest. We've been voted the third coolest brand, after Nike, and, I think, Sony."
Being cool only goes so far, though. Mr. Jeffries freely concedes that it has been a rocky year for the $1.7 billion Abercrombie chain. While overall growth has continued because of expansions, the retailer's sales at stores open a least a year, the measure that many in the industry consider the most important gauge of performance, have been disappointing for many months.
Not everyone thinks that this is a good idea, and at least one analyst acknowledges where A&F is losing their market share to (hint: it’s not all-American white bread style):
- But analysts say that the slump in same-store sales in the last few years indicates serious problems. Burt Flickinger III, a managing director for Strategic Resource Group, a retail consulting firm in New York, says the company is being too aggressive in raising prices.
"Same-store sales are soft, customer counts are a real concern,'' he said, "so they'll try higher price points and lower units as a way of raising profit margins."
Mr. Flickinger cited the trend towards hip-hop and urban wear, which he said was sapping some of the strength of preppy brands like Abercrombie and Tommy Hilfiger.
I won't put the A&F strategy above people, since worse things have been tried and succeeded, but all of this strikes me as incredibly stupid. Wake up, Mr. Jeffries -- your world is shrinking. Read about the full Abercrombie & Fitch travesty in today's New York Times.