It’s been a little over six months since Mike Jeffries, one of the few openly gay business leaders, resigned as CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch after several quarters of slumping sales and bad press.
Related: Amidst Terrible Sales, Mike Jeffries, A&F’s Gay CEO, Announces He’s Leaving The Company
Over the years, 70-year-old Jeffries, who joined the company in 1992, developed a reputation for expressing his unfiltered douche bag opinions–from claiming the company only hires “good-looking” employees to admitting it doesn’t make large sizes because it fears “fat” and “unpopular” people wearing its logo.
Related: Five Careers A&F’s Mike Jeffries Should Consider Now That He’s Out Of A Job
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
With Jeffries finally out of the picture, the flailing mall clothing chain is desperately trying to rebrand itself as something more than an extension of its leaders ego. Here’s how…
Black clothing
Jeffries had a thing against the color black. He hated it. Loathed it. Believed it to be too formal for the brand, equating it with tuxedos. So he banned it. Not just from stores, but from the Abercrombie offices, as well. Employees at corporate headquarters were forbidden from wearing it to work.
“Management will tell people that Mike hates the color, and so we’re not supposed to wear it,” an employee, who asked to remain anonymous, confessed to Business Insider. “It even applies to coats in the winter.”
Today, Abercrombie has lifted its ban on the color black and now sells it in stores. Ahh, black. So elegant. So slimming.
Those homoerotic ads
When it came to A&F’s marketing campaigns, Jeffries’ philosophy was “less is more.” And by “less,” we mean less clothing.
Under his direction, A&F’s ads featured near-naked or completely naked male models. Often they resembled Jeffries himself in his younger years–blonde-haired, blue-eyed, Midwestern farm boy–and struck pretty obvious homoerotic poses. And the opposite sex always felt like a bit of an afterthought.
While we have to give Jeffries credit for using homoeroticism to sell clothing, ultimately the shock value went stale. The novelty effect wore off and consumers not longer cared. The brand has announced that it’s scaling back on the scantily-clad models and will instead focus on more wholesome images that actually feature the clothing it’s trying to sell.
Honestly, we’re not sure how we feel about this.
The ungodly cologne
You know how you could smell Abercrombie anytime you came within a 1000-foot radius of the store? Well, those days may soon be behind us.
Fierce, the company’s signature fragrance, was one of Jeffries favorite aromas. He loved it so much that he used to have his private Gulfstream G550 jet spritzed with the stuff. He also ordered it pumped through the stores’ ventilation systems, resulting in countless migraine headaches and depleted brain cell counts of anyone who had the misfortune of passing by.
The company has announced that it will be reducing the in-store use of Fierce by 25 percent, which means you should only be able to smell the store within a 750-foot radius from now on.
Anti-bullying campaign
Perhaps the biggest criticism of Jeffries was his open disdain for fat, ugly, unpopular people. He once said, “Abercrombie is only interested in people with washboard stomachs who look like they’re about to jump on a surfboard. A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely.”
In an effort to un-do some of the long-term damage caused by those comments, the company recently launched an anti-bullying campaign called “Are You an Ally?” It also began selling graphic Ts, available in every size, with hopeful messages like “be yourself,” “stay strong,” and “real is the new black,” teaming up with teen star Lucy Hale to produce a PSA.
And, just because, a blast from the homoerotic past:
What do you think? Can Abercrombie survive post-Mike Jeffries, or is it destined for a future episode of VH1’s I Love The 90s? Sound off in the comments section below…
Glücklich
No. More important than the former CEO’s nastiness is the clothing itself which is ugly and over-priced. I strongly dislike clothing emblazoned with a brand logo unless it’s riffing on it. I just don’t care for the look.
The odious Mr. Jeffries’ prohibition of black is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard. Black goes with EVERYTHING and is only as formal as the wearer wants it to be.
Giancarlo85
A&F is basically overpriced clothing with free advertising. I used to wear it… years ago. Then I realized I was basically advertising for the company and not getting paid for it. And basically had to pay them for their poorly made clothes. I pretty much think this is a company that’s on its way out, much like Radio Shack and GAP.
1898
Get rid of the damned cologne completely. I have to avoid an entire wing of my local mall because you CAN smell that crap from 1000 feet away, and when you walk past the store you can actually taste it. I don’t understand how anyone can work there.
Black Pegasus
Good riddance! Jeffries is responsible for negatively impacting millions of young people’s self esteems. Namely, young people of color.
Giancarlo85
Yea, and I do agree Jeffries was a horrible influence on many people… and A&F was indeed an extension of his ego. Bad business model though.
Glücklich
You might also know Mike Jeffries by his drag persona, Jocelyn Wildenstein.
Stache99
Well, I do like my fierce. I’ve still got a bottle of it;)
Cagnazzo82
Ah… so it turns out marketing your clothing solely to naked straight frat-guys while hurling invective at anyone who doesn’t fit the narrow mold doesn’t sell anymore post 1999. Color me shocked.
Hope this store goes the way of Mike. I’m ashamed to say I actually used to wear this brand in the late 90s.
I’m proud to say all clothing purchased from this store has since gone to charity years ago.
I’ll be purchasing from the sane clothing stores not run by narrow-minded egomaniacs from here on out 🙂
VampDC
GOOD! Thank God!
And while the ads were very homoerotic the stores shirtless models always went out of their way to the women in the store.
tham
@Glücklich:
Totally agree.
jason smeds
The naked male form by itself is not homoerotic. It might be beautiful but it’s not homoerotic.
As for Abercrombie and Fitch in general, it basically reflects the body propaganda of the female fashion industry. Not much difference at all. It’s all about a certain look, about marketing a fantasy based on an orthodoxy.
Saint Law
@jason smeds: Women are to blame for everything in your world.
Your mother hated you, we get it. But can you blame her?
Giancarlo85
@jason smeds: You blame women for everything in every single one of your posts. Everybody gets your a hateful, miserable misgynoist, but do you really have to bring it up in every post?
Evji108
Now that A & F is démodé everyone swears they always hated the place, and can’t believe that anyone ever liked the brand and the loud, dark, sexy, cologne-infused shops. The fact is that under Mike Jeffrie’s guidance it was for quite a very long time an enormous success.
The secret to A&F’s success was less about the clothing, and more about how the clothing was sold. A&F delivered a retail experience designed to appeal to impressionable youth well before most marketers had even discovered the concept of creating a total in-store brand experience. The store’s sexy young male and female models created an archetype to which trendy youth aspired, and the rockín’ store environment attracted teens and twentysomethings while at the same time dissuading many of their parents from entering. Every brand image wears thin over time and needs updating. Mike Jeffries should have jumped ship while it was still on top and not waited until it was hitting the skids. Now that A&F is on a losing streak everyone piles on and swears they never liked his cologne or clothes & hated the whole place. Mike Jeffries hears your rants and is weeping all the way to the bank. Boo Hoo.
Cagnazzo82
@Evji108: You left out the factor of those ‘trendy teens’ growing up and realizing how awful their youthful tastes were. Or rather, there are better brands around today not necessarily looking to antagonize or market in an intentionally divisive fashion.
Mike Jeffries can laugh all the way to the bank. Likely he’ll need that money to keep up with his plastic surgery regimen, desperately trying to hold onto a vision of his youth he’ll never get back… no matter how much money he has 🙂
spiffy
And credit has to be given to photographer Bruce Weber for putting out the A&F images. Other bands such as American Eagle had tried to imitate the A&F style; but they didn’t have Weber.
I never purchased any A&F clothing — couldn’t afford it — but I thought part the reason their clothes were so expensive was because they were high quality?
And I never realize the cologne is called “Fierce” — doesn’t seem very befitting of the whole A&F concept, does it? But then again, I haven’t stepped inside their stores in years.
Jason Harris McBroom
Good riddance to bad rubbish! I wore the clothes in my early twenties then when I was about 26 I realized I was overpaying for their clothes and I was a walking billboard for the company! Quite ridiculous. The money I wasted in that damned store is pathetic.
Giancarlo85
@Evji108: He was a short-term success and a long-term failure. His failure to adapt to changing market conditions has led to collapsing profits and multiple location closures. As far as him going to the bank… don’t really care… he doesn’t seem to be a happy person to begin with.
And yes, the cologne was terrible and even when I did shop at the store, I never went near the stuff. I thought it would attract yellow jackets.
Mark Engledow
That never made sense to me: pay a company good money to advertise their products. The bigger the name or logo, it should be the bigger the discount, imo
Xzamilio
Real is the new black? Surprised he even knows what black is… the man thinks “diversity” was a movie starring Shailene Woodley.
Xzamilio
Yes, the beauty of A&F… get the same cheap pair pants at Walmart for 12 dollars but at A&F, they have a hole in them and 5 times that price. I don’t have an exact quote but you were paying more to be a pretentious asshole than for actual quality
Bailey Bednar
I love how he made straight people love a gay clothing line.
Giancarlo85
@Xzamilio: Um well one thing is for sure… you’re not getting good quality clothes at Walmart or A&F lol.
I usually shop at H&M… good clothes at reasonable prices… though some of their stuff quality wise if a bit iffy. Weird store… some clothes are very well made, and some isn’t quite so. Zara (bit more expensive) and Guess (only for sales) are others I like.
J.T.
I, for one, shall miss the shirtless, blond, smooth, ripped, straight fraternity boys. Jeffries was horrible but his taste in men was impeccable.
Cagnazzo82
@J.T.: Lol, will you? Really?
Last I looked it was 2015, not 1995. Those ‘fraternity boys’ (even though they’re not remotely in frats), are literally *all* *over* *the* *net*. Just go to tumblr and you’ll be inundated daily.
Who needs naked men on shopping bags when they’re practically everywhere else.
Also, opinion on my part, but dark-haired guys are much hotter than blondes. 😛
Cam
There is also the factor of styles changing and companies not keeping up. When the more “Hipster” element came in, somebody younger wearing a $110.00 T-Shirt was no longer considered something to be proud of, it was something they would get mocked for. So what you ended up seeing were a bunch of 40 – 50 year old Peter Pan’s wearing tight A&E shirts, and a group of younger guys who wouldn’t be caught dead in them.
Cagnazzo82
@Glücklich: Well, I don’t mind pale in the least, but I love dark-haired guys with beautiful eyes. As far as I’m concerned there is no other types of guys that surpasses that potentially utterly beautiful combination.
Dirty blonds can be pretty fun too though 🙂
Glücklich
@Cagnazzo82:
Dark hair but with pale skin (shivers in a good way). ‘Specially super pale forearms with dark dark fur. But funny – I married a blond. A *Dirty* blond.
Giancarlo85
@Cam: H&M all the way lol… that’s where I see a lot of younger people shop. $10-$15 for nice shirts and better quality… with no logos and crap (mostly). And LOL at those old men wearing A&E shirts…