In Defense of Abercrombie & Fitch (kind of)

I have never considered myself an Abercrombie & Fitch customer.  I think I’ve owned two or three A&F items in my life and one of those was a pair of socks.  All were gifts.  I have never been a part of A&F’s demographic.  Not due to my size, but due to my place in the social strata.  I was never an outsider; far from it.  But I was also never a part of the core group of “cool” kids either.  I hovered on their fringes, occasionally embraced as a part of the group, but never really belonging completely.  Admittedly, I put A&F clothes on my Christmas list for several years in a row while I was in my late teens and in their target demographic.  Occasionally I got a sweater (or the aforementioned socks).  My parents, rightly, recognized that A&F was an over-priced brand with very little of value to offer their daughter.  

Fast forward fifteen years or so and, like so many others who have read the comments made by the CEO of A&F, I am repulsed by the brand and what it unabashedly proclaims to represent.  It is exclusionary and judgmental.  It values superficiality in its most obvious forms – a slim build and a pretty face.  It is vapidity with a logo.  And yet this is an essay in defense of the company and its brand.  

I think we can all agree that CEO Mike Jeffries is the douchebag to end all douchebags.  His shallow and cruel statements this week reveal that much; but I would argue that he also has a laser-like focus on his core market.  The insipid Trixies and Chads who tote Daddy’s credit card into the pulse-pounding, cologne-soaked A&F storefronts are often the most exclusionary, judgmental, shallow and cruel kids in school.  Jeffries understands this and he understands them.  He said horrible things, but he was honest and he nailed the mentality of his target market.  He recognizes that the cache of the A&F brand is in its exclusivity and any attempt to reach outside of that core erodes the value of the brand.  

John Deere doesn’t market to white collar Wall Street.  FUBU doesn’t market to rich white kids.  Rolex doesn’t market to blue collar workers.  These brands know who their target markets are and so do we; they just don’t have a CEO who unapologetically and publicly tells us who their products aren’t intended for.

Ultimately, I believe Mike Jeffries erred by being so forthright.  Media firestorms are often good for brands (in the long run), but in this case he has put his target market in the unfortunate position of having to defend their buying decision.  This puts the cool kids in unfamiliar territory.  The cool kids don’t defend their choices, because they’ve never had to.  You don’t get to be one of the cool kids by going out on a limb.  You conform.  You play it safe.  If your A&F emblazoned t-shirt is no longer a safe choice, do you wear it? Do you buy another one? Perhaps not.