Viral video sticks it to Abercrombie & Fitch

Viral video sticks it to Abercrombie & Fitch


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

LOS ANGELES — Backlash against Abercrombie & Fitch over an interview with the company's CEO has reached a fever pitch across the Web. The latest backlash comes from a new viral video that asks viewers to take to the streets to "rebrand" the clothing company by outfitting the homeless.

In the interview, which took place in 2006 but only recently became widespread, CEO Mike Jeffries told Salon the secret to A&F's success: “Candidly, we go after the cool kids. … A lot of people don’t belong (in our clothes), and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely.”

Jeffries made no apology for this mindset, stating plainly that his business strategy is based on sex appeal: "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,” Jeffries said.

The company took additional heat for refusing to make XL- or XXL-sized clothing for women, but it's another claim about Abercrombie's practices that's taking center stage this week.

According to gather.com, in 2010 an unnamed A&F district manager said the company had declined requests to donate unused clothing to nonprofits and that any damaged clothing is sent for "immediate disposal," leading to claims that the company would rather burn its clothing than donate it to the less fortunate.

Man in need poses with his new Abercrombie & Fitch t-shirt from Greg Karber.
Man in need poses with his new Abercrombie & Fitch t-shirt from Greg Karber.

"Abercrombie & Fitch doesn't want to create the image that just anybody, poor people, can wear their clothing. Only people of a certain stature are able to purchase and wear the company name," the manager is quoted as saying.

Self-described "writer, performer, video-maker, cultural critic and entrepreneur" Greg Karber took particular offense at this claim, saying in a YouTube video that it's time to "rebrand Abercrombie & Fitch."

In the video, Karber pokes fun at Jeffries and lambastes the company's exclusionary practices before stating, "We're going to change their brand."

Karber scoured second-hand stores in the Los Angeles area for donated Abercrombie & Fitch clothing, remarking that he worried his difficulty in finding them may have been because A&F was "sending representatives to thrift shops to buy up all the clothes and, thus, keep them elite."

After acquiring a stash, however, he set off for Skid Row, an area of downtown Los Angeles that contains an enormous population of homeless people, and began distributing the clothing to the homeless. But he didn't leave it at that.

"I'm just one person, and I can't clothe the homeless or transform a brand by myself," Karber says in the video. "I'm going to need your help."

He ends with a request for viewers to find all the Abercrombie & Fitch clothing they've "mistakenly purchased" and donate it to their local homeless shelters.

Karber also tells viewers to spread the word on Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #FitchTheHomeless.

"Together, we can make Abercrombie & Fitch the world's No. 1 brand of homeless apparel," he says.

The video has received more than 1 million views overnight and is being reported on by media outlets across the country and online. #FitchTheHomeless is trending all across the world, particularly in Europe and in the Northeastern United States, and the movement is garnering enthusiastic support.

It's unclear just how far the campaign will go and whether or not actual clothing donations will start coming in. The lack of comment from Abercrombie & Fitch, however, has so far kept the movement rolling.

Related links

Related stories

Most recent Lifestyle stories

Related topics

LifestyleScience
Lindsay Maxfield

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast