After years of highly sexualized advertising aimed at minors, retailer Abercrombie and Fitch has launched a new clothing line in their latest catalog which features fully clothed and diverse models.
Lifezette is reporting on the dramatic shift in the company’s marketing program which routinely caused controversy for its risqué catalogs full of half-naked teens. Their new line of clothing, named “True Blues” features diverse models and a much more sophisticated look. So what caused the change?
CEO Mike Jeffries stepped down.
“Jeffries stepped down in December 2015 — and much of the sexualized imagery went with him,” writes Rachel Littauer for Lifezette.
Jeffries was infamous for his heavily sexualized agenda, Littauer reports, and believed sex appeal is “almost everything.”
As he told Salon in a 2006 interview, “That’s why we hire good-looking people in our stores. Because good-looking people attract other good-looking people, and we want to market to cool, good-looking people. We don’t market to anyone other than that.”
This perverse ideology got the company into a lot of trouble. Some of the retailers catalogs were so full of sexualized imagery the company earned the nickname “Abercrombie and Filth” and were the subject of numerous boycotts over the years.
The theme carried over into the company’s hiring practices which featured shirtless male models who would cavort around outside the stores with the hopes of luring buyers. The company’s “look policy” at one time required employees to have certain fingernail lengths, hair color, and wear only Abercrombie clothing.
The hiring of mostly white, blonde, tanned and toned models led to a 2003 lawsuit against the company for hiring only white men for managers and brand representatives.
A 2013 lawsuit mandated that the company allow women to wear hijabs while working.
A transgender employee named Maha Shalaby, a female who identifies as a male, was forced to wear women’s clothing while employed at the store in order to comply with the company’s “look policy.” He was fired in 2012 for violating that policy, which led to a $35 million dollar lawsuit.
As a result of these repeated missteps, Abercrombie’s sales have been mediocre, with the company reporting a quarterly loss of $40 million in May, 2016.
But the company appears to be making a sincere effort to turn itself around, most notably with the hiring of new creative director Ashley Sargent Price, formerly of J.Crew who says the new “True Blues” line is aimed at an older audience.
“Denim has always been a part of our brand heritage, and we have put together a collection inspired by current trends and heritage pieces. We are listening to our customers, and believe they will love the new collection,” Price said in an interview.
The new denim campaign was shot in New York by Matt Jones and stylist Deb Watson and everyone is fashionably clothed.
As a result, parents across America can breathe a sigh of relief that they will no longer find obscene catalogs in their mailboxes!
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