Dear Mike,
To be completely honest, while I have been aware of the clothing company that you preside over I have not heard about you until yesterday. I'm not exactly the sort of guy who follows the fashion industry and its whimsical world of trendy clothes, weird outfits, eccentric designers and underweight models. I read an article about you yesterday and all I have to say is you are a shallow bully and a hypocrite.
The article, posted on the generation Y-themed website Elite Daily, was titled Abercrombie & Fitch CEO explains why he hates fat chicks. In it, you were quoted as stating that you only want good-looking people to wear your brand and that overweight people can never have access to your goods because they are not cool enough to be deemed worthy of wearing your threads. While this may be seen as limiting your demographic, you claim that making your goods available to everyone would make the brand less desirable. Your defence is that your brand (which is primarily marketed towards teenagers and people in their early 20's) is akin to the popular and trendy brand that popular schoolkids like to wear and that, therefore, their ugly and unpopular peers shouldn't have access to them.
You also claim to only hire good-looking people to work in your stores so that they, in turn, can only attract other good-looking customers to enter your stores. Furthermore, you concede to having some XL and XXL sizes in your stores - but for males only since some male athletes like gridiron players are too big to fit into standard sizes.
But large sizes for women are unacceptable, according to you. Why? Because fat 'chicks' will never be part of the 'in' crowd.
Mr. Jeffries, the article noted that other retailers such as H&M and American Eagle cater to people of all sizes but you refuse to follow their lead. On the one hand, good on you for sticking to your vision and your beliefs (shallow as they are), but are you aware that you live in the country with the highest obesity rate in the developed world and that the problem is only getting worse? There are only so many 'thin' and 'beautiful' people (your words, not mine) that you can market your brand towards. Also, by limiting your demographic, you are sure to lose to your competitors sooner rather than later. I can hear the dudes at H&M and American Eagle licking their lips already.
Besides, nobody wants to be told that they are not good enough to wear your brand, which I'd imagine your salespeople are trained to do should the 'wrong' person walk through the doors of your stores. People who are scorned in a humiliating manner such as this WILL talk and that could mean less business and more headaches for you.
Also, Mr. Jeffries, for a guy who thinks he has the right to judge people on their physical appearance, you sure are sorely lacking in that department. No disrespect, but in my humble opinion, you look like Peter Helliar, Oliver Kahn, Donald Trump and an alien rolled into one hideous package. Does your aversion for 'ugly' and fat people stem from childhood bullying or, as the article pointed out, are you only surrounding yourself with good-looking people now to fulfil some childhood fantasy?
I hate to compare you with one of history's greatest villains, but one of the reasons why people laugh at Adolf Hitler today (besides the moustache, comb-over and psycho persona) is that he deemed the Aryan race to be the 'master race' despite not being a blonde-haired, blue-eyed man.
In your case Mr. Jeffries, you're an ugly dude who preaches that only good-looking people should wear your clothes. Talk about hypocritical.
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| Handsome fella, isn't he? |
And need I remind you that in 2004 your 'stay bonus' dropped from $US12 million to $US6 million after the original was deemed too excessive? In 2008 you were deemed by the Corporate Library as the year's 'Highest Paid Worst Performer' after receiving a compensation package worth $US71.8 million.
And in 2009, it was revealed that during the retail recession, you refused to offer discounts and lower prices until your stores posted losses for 17 consecutive months - all the while still refusing to open your doors to everybody. Yeah, well done, Mike.
Finally, Mr. Jeffries, despite the growing obesity crisis there in the US (and other parts of the world), there are still people who are turning their lives around through diet and exercise. And what is the first thing that people who have managed to lose weight tend to do? Buy a new wardrobe. Mr. Jeffries, if you had only been more open and generous with your brand you could have had new customers dropping by for a visit but I'm pretty sure that thanks to your big mouth and superficial views, these people would pass your store, give it the ol' middle finger salute (or hurl a brick through a window) then keep walking. Great insults last a long time, Mr. Jeffries. People never forget them.
And also, just to let you know, a majority of the readers who have left their feedback on the article believe that you are unattractive, an idiot, a jackass, a jerk, that your goods are unimaginative, repetitive and far past their prime and that you really need to keep up with the times and trends. Oh yeah, and also, middle aged men who use the word 'dude' repeatedly are seen as sad and pathetic losers. Can't be too good for the already-tarnished image, buddy!
Yours sincerely,
Bernd.
PS: Nothing personal. Just telling it like it is.
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