Comments on: Abercrummy & Fitch settles

By: John

John — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 18:45:42 +0000

They do discriminate aganst fat people. They only carry 36 size pants. What about the guy whos a 40? It does not make sense. I am not fat but I am in a sport were my training makes my legs more muscular than most people therefor i need a bigger size. So i sympathize with people who are over weight, sure some should try and become more healthy, but we all know that is hard. It takes time, but then again if you are happy the way you are then why cant you wear the cloths your want!

By: amy

amy — Thu, 23 Mar 2006 23:09:12 +0000

i currently work at abercrombie & fitch and have been for about a year. as a woman, i was never put in the back stock room, so i dont agree with any of the alleged sexism that is being spoken about. also, many minorities worked on the floor AND we always had at least one minority manager (however, a&f likes to circulate managers to different stores, so mgrs often remain at a store for less than 6 months). the only evidence of racism i see is that non english-speaking minorites work in the stock room. but think about it, would you hire a non english-speaking person for sales? NO! how could they communicate with the customers, make sales, or operate a cash register when all of the menues are in english? i think they should be happy with the job opportunity because many other stores will NOT hire someone who doesn't speak english. if you want out of the stock room then learn the language!

oh and that hooters and FUBU comparison is so true. white people havent voiced opinions that FUBU (for us, by us) is racist, even though it clearly is and says so in its label. someone please tell me why that's ok, but hiring people in the image of your consumer is not! stop whining. abercrombie is only considered racist because it is successful, and its consumers are mostly white. anyone knocking a&f should take a closer look at FUBU and other similar companies, because "reverse racism" is really the same thing as racism, only nobody will speak out for fear of being black labeled as a racist.

By: Former Employee

Former Employee — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 09:21:46 +0000

Well I am an American citizen who used to work at Abercrombie and Fitch about in the winter of 2001. I am of Pakistani descent and I am male. So obviously this tells you guys that im NOT white! But in that time and still now, I HATED Abercrombie and Fitch but when the second time I ever stepped foot at Abercrombie and Fitch ,at our local mall, I was approached within minutes by a Brand Representative who asked me if I was interested in working at Abercrombie and Fitch! I had told him that I had another job, but he still convinced me to apply! I had NO knowledge of the store but he had told me what to put down. He told me to put myself down as a brand representative and within a week, i got a call back and i was given an interview by a BLACK manager and a white manager and I was interviwed with another brand rep. potential who was WHITE! They had gone through their dress code and what was allowed and what was not and our 50 percent discount. I was also told to start buying clothes right away. Even the manager had told me and the white guy that the seasons would be busy so they had to have people work stock and work the front floor. So he had gave us a heads up about what was expected from our work! So overall to be honest I never saw any racism on to me! I helped with stock when they needed and I also was told to work the floor and greet customers as well as help people use the fitting rooms and find clothes. So AGAIN I never experienced any racism! The ONLY time I saw something was when I would see ALL these old, chubby Mexicans working overnight stock positions. To me, they looked uncomfortable. That was the only thing I ever saw. To be honest we had very attractive, white people work in stock and we had minority managers and AGAIN no REAL signs of racism! The managers were always cool with me and they were cool, although they were strict on me with clothing regulations and there NO tattoos and NO piercings policiesat the time! I liked streaking my hair at times, but even the managers told me I had to check with them before I did anything. But even before getting a job offer from A&F, I heard comments like I had the Abercrombie and Fitch look and even getting a half a dozen comments on being good looking enough to be a model and etc. After that, I was also approached by another upscale, chic, fashion store at the mall called EXPRESS MENS (owned by the same company who owns VICTORIA SECRET), where I was approached by a white manager and was asked if I would consider working at EXPRESS as well! But this time I had turned her down, and it seemed like she was practically whining and asking why I turned her offer down I even had the pleasure of meeting Playboy Model and Playmate of the Year Jenny McCarthy, obviously who was WHITE, who told me she thought I was pretty attractive. I feel like racism is in the minds of the people who WANT to think it!

So from all I had to say, I DID NOT REALLY NOTICE ANY REAL RACISM ON TO ME OR PEOPLE I KNEW PERSONALLY!

By: Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 22:34:25 +0000

One thing that I can say in defense of abercrombie is that their t-shirt “wok and roll” was not meant to be obscene and I don’t think it was obscene. We have a chinese resturaunt in our student union that is called wok and roll and this resturaunt happens to be a chain. I think people need to quit being so over sensitive. If you don’t like the message that abercrombie displays in their clothing . THEN DON”T WEAR THEM!! Nobody is forcing these protest prostitutes to put their clothes on so they need to get over it and actually protest something that matters. Like the War, World hunger, things that actually affects the world.

By: A+F supporter

A+F supporter — Thu, 03 Nov 2005 23:07:29 +0000

Just so you know Abercrombie did not stereotype against a person’s race. I was a manager at an Abercrombie store and never did I not hire someone because of what color or background they were from. Well let me say this, I cant speak for every store, but I know I did not discriminate against any other races. I also hired lots of women, so I dont know where people are getting that idea. Either way, if you havent worked there and actually seen it for yourself, keep your slander to yourself.

By: justin

justin — Sun, 10 Jul 2005 16:01:44 +0000

I currently work at A&F, and feel that my store in particular does not discriminate against women or minorities. I am not saying that the company doesn’t, because from the research that I have read it seems that they have. Managers as well as the brand reps recruit people. my store has a staff of approximately 75, and yes most of the less attractive people work in the back. I do feel that the company has made efforts to correct the racism that has occured. 2 of the big pictures have been of black men the last two change overs. While my store does seem to have more guys than girls that work there, we ask more women to work in our store than we ask guys. one possible reason for the disproportional minority workers is because not too many minorities shop in the store, therefore there are less minorities to recruit.

By: snm

snm — Fri, 29 Apr 2005 16:11:35 +0000

Hey Saurav, Desi Wear uses clothing exclusively from American Apparel who have re-shaped the garment industry by intorducing the highest standards in sweatshop free production. Go to their website americanapparel.net and do a little research on them before you start accusing people of using ethical social standards to make a quick buck – It costs a lot more to use these shirts but it is about having a social conscious, while trying to run a business – blind cynicism is just as destructive as wilful ignorance. Desi Wear isn’t full of shit – you are.

By: Ennis

Ennis — Wed, 27 Apr 2005 18:55:45 +0000

To remind people of the basic arguments here:

Liu says she was fired after corporate officials visited the store, and, according to her, didn't like what they saw: "A corporate official had pointed to an Abercrombie poster and told our management at our store, 'You need to have more staff that looks like this.' And it was a white Caucasian male on that poster." Anthony Ocampo says blacks, Asians and Latinos were sometimes hired by Abercrombie, but weren't given the opportunity to work in sales. "The greeters and the people that worked in the in-season clothing, most of them white, if not all of them, were white," says Ocampo. "The people that worked in the stock room, where nobody sees them, were mostly Asian-American, Filipino, Mexican, Latino." The lawsuit alleges that Abercrombie hires a disproportionately white sales force, favors white employees for the best positions, and discourages minorities from even applying for jobs. But lawyer and conservative talk show host Larry Elder says too often cases like these end up in court. "Abercrombie & Fitch ought to have the right to set their own policies, for good or for ill. Look, there's a restaurant called Hooters. Hooters requires you to have certain kinds of physical accoutrements," says Elder. "Will that do? And I think people understand that. Should they have a right to hire waitresses because they want to attract a certain kind of clientele who want to ogle at the waitresses? I think so." [cite]

By: Former Employee

Former Employee — Wed, 27 Apr 2005 18:27:26 +0000

One of the women who brought the lawsuit was a white (I believe) woman, and from what I read, it seemed that she claimed that she personally was delegated to positions in the back or in the stock room or was treated unfairly in other ways. At the AF I worked at in nyc, I don’t think I worked there long enough to say whether all of the white women were treated unfairly. Certainly plenty of women were running cash registers and maintaining the fitting rooms. I will say, however, that me and the black kid were always in the back Kids section, usually with him in the stock room, and me bored as hell in the corner with nothing to do and no customers or coworkers around. Also, I never worked the cash registers.

By: epoch

epoch — Wed, 27 Apr 2005 15:12:18 +0000

giving women and minorities positions in the back stock rooms or somewhere away from the main floor. So, the case was definitely Minorities and Women

This doesn't make sense, why would they put (white) women in the stock room.

In all my experience in the retail industry and its almost always the guys who work in the back and women work in customer service or at the cash register.

Don't believe me, go down to your local grocery store or walmart. See how many male cashiers you can find.

A/F is a pretty crappy company but this lawsuit is ridiculous.