Why Abercrombie and Fitch Won't Go Out of Business

No one wants to be the fat kid. But many of us are. In fact, studies show that obesity rates have nearly doubled to 35% in the last twenty years (perhaps we'll discuss gluttony another day). Americans are getting fatter, but we loathe ourselves for it.

Enter Abercrombie and Fitch. The clothing retailer has made a business out of clothing the thin, cool, sexy kids. Not the fat kids like many of us. A&F doesn't even make clothes the majority of people can fit into. Their womens' line stops at size 10, even though the average woman in America is size 12. CEO, Mike Jeffries, explained his marketing strategy in a 2006 interview.

"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."

Some people have fought back against Abercrombie and Fitch lately. My favorite is a campaign to give away Abercrombie apparel to the homeless. Nothing tarnishes the brand's young sexy image like seeing it on a drunk Vietnam vet. Forbes Magazine recently predicted Jeffries' insensitive comments would "wreck the brand." That won't happen. Fitch has staying power, and here's why.

Envy and Pride. These traits that have been plaguing us since the time of Cain and Abel. It hasn't gotten any better since. People want what they don't have. If they have "it", they want to be envied, to be given worth by having whatever "it" is. 150 years ago "it" was a full figure, at least for women. Since the masses were underfed, people who could afford to be fat were at the center of society. If A&F were around in 1870, they wouldn't have sold any sizes under seven. You don't want the brand tarnished by twiggy emaciated laborers. In 2013, food is abundant and cheap. It's easy to be fat. It takes discipline, and usually money to maintain a thin sexy figure. So being abnormally thin has become the desirable trait. If everyone could do it, it wouldn't be desirable anymore.

I admire brands like Dove, who make a concerted effort to idealize normal healthy women. In the end, their efforts will have little impact on our view of body image. People will still envy what they can not attain to. As long as food is cheap and abundant, filled with high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils, then thin will remain the enviable status. 

The cure isn't in stopping obesity. If we get everyone to a healthy weight (which would be great) we will just change our perspective and find someone new to envy. The cure isn't in learning to love our bodies, no matter how healthy or unhealthy they may be. Self-Idolatry is no more healthy than our idolizing of others. The cure is love. I don't say this out of a vague sentimentality. I say it because the Bible says it. 

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud." (1 Cor 13:4)

Abercombie and Fitch will continue to make money selling immodest clothes to undersized women, until we learn to love each other, accepting each other as people made in the image of God. Love requires that we rid ourselves of pride when we have what others desire, and envy when we want what others have. I don't see that happening any time soon, but I long for it as I long for the kingdom to come.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/abercrombie-wants-thin-customers-2013-5#ixzz2TNJ7O1Bd

http://www.forbes.com/sites/daviatemin/2013/05/13/abercrombie-and-fitch-v-dove-or-how-a-ceo-can-wreck-a-brand-in-1-interview-7-years-ago/