Abercrombie & Fitch

[BaroqueRockstar]

Hmm, that started out sarcastic but ended seriously... like all of my writing. Oh, well Put me down as Alex Pushkin (not that your average college kids will know who he is anyway), 27, NYC.

alex pushkin as in aleksandr sergeevich pushkin?
i think that just made my day

 

[it-boy's nature]

as a young high school student with a recent bite from the fashion bug, i can identify with the clutter that is formed in the minds of the A&F consumer.

luckily, i haven't contributed to the madness that is this concept of the all american uniform but i can see clearly how it affects my descions with clothes indirectly.

at my high school we aprreciate and encourage individuality and it is a statment of great admiration when someone wears anything unconventional. but then again we have no other choice being that we share a building with the arts academy, that alone consist of some of the most original outbirst of fashion i have ever been honored to see.

i myself can often fall for the awful ideas potrayed by the horrible overpriced clothes of some retailers,
so i work to eliminate the influence of this crap from my closet, by using me and only me to divide fashion from acceptance and avoid insulting the precious evolution that is fashion.

after all, plenty of us have proven to have knowledge of this, and just with that, a seed has been planted to continue our efforts to rebel tastefully in unison.
-how ironic-?

if you were to quote- roytel montero, 15, boston

 

[MicheleIman]

I am not bashing the brand but merely putting in my input:

A&F isn't for everyone, just like YRB (yellow rat bastard) isn't. You guys who are bashing Abercrombie & Fitch clothes are doing the same thing that you are accusing them of doing. If you are going to bash A&F then you should make a thread and bash every clothing store/line.

 

[ilaughead]

I own quite a bit of A&F clothing. Actually, until about six months ago, that was almost the only brand in my closet. And I stand by why I continued to buy it. A&F represents the American dream to many high schoolers. Everyone wants to be well-liked, wealthy, beautiful, and carefree; and the brand really puts an emphasis that lifestyle. I really can't blame anyone else for falling under that spell.

Abercrombie may be low-class to us, but remember: we're talking fashion, and one of its main characteristics is elitism.

 

[Madhuri]

Mad TV has a hilarious sketches making fun of Abercrombie on YouTube


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3-WzqfbVHU&mode=related&search=

 

[paper bag]

Recently in one of my design classes, one of my classmates did a project on Abercrombie and said that in an interview, the head hauncho...Jeffries? said something like "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.” ugh what a sleazeball.

at first thought youre absolutely disgusted right? but everyone kind of wants that recognition...knowing that youre cool enough for the most terrible, commonplace clothes ever. its like that episode in the first season of sex and the city when miranda goes out to find out if a couple will have a threesome with her just to know if shes attractive enough. haha

in my high school wearing abercrombie was like a statement of being able to afford it and being "cool" enough to have it practically tattood across youre chest.

and everyone looked the same.

 

[reese06]

Welcome to TFS paper bag. And I actually read that article that you're talking about. The head hauncho is really weird looking not that that has anything to do with it. But he's really not a great person and he did say that. But I'm gonna have to go through and read this thread before i post my opinion.

 

[lucy92]

the interview was in salon.com. they still have the story in their free archives if anyone is interested.

he was responding to the allegations of gender/racial disparity. by the way, they settled that class action suit for 40 million dollars.

and yes, the head honcho was a very, shall we say, "interesting" looking man!!

 

[reese06]

http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2006/01/24/jeffries/index.html

link to the interview...it's really a great article i think.

 

[Khoipond89]

Pretty Much all of last year I wore Abercrombie every day all day...I had the Pique Polo, with the logo T-shirt underneath, the Faded Cargo Shorts with the drawstrings at the bottom and a pair of Abercrombie Aged Leather Treads...looking back at that ( Junior Year of High School) I would throw up on myself...I pretty much grew out of it after countless people are seen wearing the exact same thing time and time again...now I'm at a crossraods where I don't know what I should wear..I've however began buying things more towards the Scene ( don't call me that) look with things from Forever 21 Mens...H&M...and Zara...more along the lines of Lacoste Boat Shoes, with Slightly Tighter Straight leg jeans, and a nice Black with white Pinstripe Terry Hoodie...I've kept my slightly preppy tones and adopted a more mature and gladly less logo-ed aesthetic...

I used to LOVE Abercrombie mostly because ( I realzie this now I didn't really understand it before) the people there had the lifesyles I admired and they always looked good...and that this was something that not everyone can get their hands on...now that that's changed I think that why I did too...

hope that helps..

 

[paper bag]

wow that is a really interesting article. All I could think the whole time I was reading it is mid-life crisis...mid-life crisis... this guy is over the top wishing he was a college bro. so wierd. its strange because they say that he wants to base A&F on the all american "A&F guy" which is "cool, he's beautiful, he's funny, he's masculine, he's optimistic..."

...but all of their advertisement objectify both the men and women and tend to make the men seem fragile and feminine. maybe its because the photographer...Bruce Weber I believe, previously specialized in male nudes and "sexual encounters".

the abercrombie empire never ceases to amaze me. it has a lot of dark and twisty secrets no one talks about.

 

[it-boy's nature]

Pretty Much all of last year I wore Abercrombie every day all day...I had the Pique Polo, with the logo T-shirt underneath, the Faded Cargo Shorts with the drawstrings at the bottom and a pair of Abercrombie Aged Leather Treads...looking back at that ( Junior Year of High School) I would throw up on myself...I pretty much grew out of it after countless people are seen wearing the exact same thing time and time again...now I'm at a crossraods where I don't know what I should wear..I've however began buying things more towards the Scene ( don't call me that) look with things from Forever 21 Mens...H&M...and Zara...more along the lines of Lacoste Boat Shoes, with Slightly Tighter Straight leg jeans, and a nice Black with white Pinstripe Terry Hoodie...I've kept my slightly preppy tones and adopted a more mature and gladly less logo-ed aesthetic...

I used to LOVE Abercrombie mostly because ( I realzie this now I didn't really understand it before) the people there had the lifesyles I admired and they always looked good...and that this was something that not everyone can get their hands on...now that that's changed I think that why I did too...

hope that helps..

wait a minute there's a forever 21 mens????? i had no clue!!! do they have a website??? (a little off topic but i'm just that stunned!)

 

[ilaughead]

^^The website's on the Forever 21 site. The selection is rather lackluster, however.

 

[Khoipond89]

wait a minute there's a forever 21 mens????? i had no clue!!! do they have a website??? (a little off topic but i'm just that stunned!)

http://www.forever21.com/mens/default.asp

Just like the Women's it's very affordable...and doesn't hold back much on style..

 

[it-boy's nature]

http://www.forever21.com/mens/default.asp

Just like the Women's it's very affordable...and doesn't hold back much on style..

thanks

 

[kateelle]

I've worked there and from my experience and perspective the majority are all the same. They like to pretend they're not and tell themselves so, but its pretty understood. It was fun for a while as I worked with people I knew, but the people who shop there are a royal pain. I would personally never wear A&F, I'm amazed at people who still wear their clothing after graduating from HS.

 

[coffeeandasmoke]

Kateelle, I'm not sure what store you worked at, but that's not the case, whatsoever in the one I work at. We are all different people, and we accept each other.


I personally love A&F style, as their jeans fit me really well, and I'm a fan of casual luxury. But it is more than just a brand, there is a lifestyle that it markets, and I kind of like the all american aspect of it. So do a lot of other people around the world, otherwise it wouldn't be such a busy store.

 

[leyla m.]

anyone know when the London store will open?

 

[youarearockstar]

the abercrombie empire never ceases to amaze me. it has a lot of dark and twisty secrets no one talks about.

How true.

I've tried my hardest to stay away from this thread. So hard, but I couldn't resist any longer. I honestly, was never interested in the company, and was younger I was one of those kids who was totally against it. I'm from Columbus, and the suburbs are the test grounds for the company, so everyone I knew was heavily influenced by that lifestyle while growing up. However, years and years later, I'm now a manager. For me, its not jeans a t-shirts, for me its a career. Do I think the clothes are great? Not all the time. Do I wholeheartedly believe in the lifestyle? Not all the time. But I believe strongly in running my business. I believe in the opportunities that this company has for aspirational young individuals.

Clothings brands, are just that, they're brands that work harder that I think most of you realize in branding their image. Just because the A&F isn't exactly the first choice of the vast majority of TFS posters (myself included) doesn't mean that it should be treated poorly. There's a certain type of person who epitomizes the Marc Jacobs aesthetic, some people who are sexy enough Versace, and there are some people who embrace the "casual luxury" and all-American aesthetic of A&F. Just because someone chooses one brand to buy into, does not make them better or worse than anyone else.

Now granted, there are some people that are at extremes and reject everything that doesn't coincide with their preppy aesthetic. But is that any different than someone who is extremely concerned with only high-fashion, rejecting any other aesthetic? Both are equally limited and arrogant.

Just my two cents...

 

[Deleted member 7575]

How true.

I've tried my hardest to stay away from this thread. So hard, but I couldn't resist any longer. I honestly, was never interested in the company, and was younger I was one of those kids who was totally against it. I'm from Columbus, and the suburbs are the test grounds for the company, so everyone I knew was heavily influenced by that lifestyle while growing up. However, years and years later, I'm now a manager. For me, its not jeans a t-shirts, for me its a career. Do I think the clothes are great? Not all the time. Do I wholeheartedly believe in the lifestyle? Not all the time. But I believe strongly in running my business. I believe in the opportunities that this company has for aspirational young individuals.

Clothings brands, are just that, they're brands that work harder that I think most of you realize in branding their image. Just because the A&F isn't exactly the first choice of the vast majority of TFS posters (myself included) doesn't mean that it should be treated poorly. There's a certain type of person who epitomizes the Marc Jacobs aesthetic, some people who are sexy enough Versace, and there are some people who embrace the "casual luxury" and all-American aesthetic of A&F. Just because someone chooses one brand to buy into, does not make them better or worse than anyone else.

Now granted, there are some people that are at extremes and reject everything that doesn't coincide with their preppy aesthetic. But is that any different than someone who is extremely concerned with only high-fashion, rejecting any other aesthetic? Both are equally limited and arrogant.

Just my two cents...

You raise many excellent points. And I agree. But for me the problem is when you actually interpret the aesthetic and how it affects its mass youth customer base. It's a a highly misogynistic, anti-intellectual, agist, and racist aesthetic. It promotes a hyper-sexualized, young, caucasian, with unrealistic anatomy. It presents that as the ideal, the standard. If you don't agree with that standard then you don't need to buy the clothes. But it's breeding a large amount of teenagers within this culture. I'm not sure that is a good thing.