http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/47742-abercrombie-and-fitch-controversy-over-who-business-caters-to/
“It’s almost everything," he said. "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.”
“In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there
are the not-so-cool kids,” he continued. “Candidly, we go after the cool
kids. We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude
and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes],
and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely. Those companies
that are in trouble are trying to target everybody: young, old, fat,
skinny. But then you become totally vanilla. You don’t alienate anybody,
but you don’t excite anybody, either.”
Yes, Abercrombie and Fitch is excluding people by not making sizes available for average and larger sized women, and even some men. So what?
Big and tall stores exclude people. Jewellery stores carry certain types of high end jewellery and not lower end.
Restaurants have certain types of menus. Are they excluding people? Certainly they are.
They are all running a business. It is certainly their prerogative to decide what types of merchandise to carry. We get to decide whether we want to shop there. If there was a big enough market, then someone will fill the gap and make it worthwhile to cater to that market. Abercrombie and Fitch has decided that it isn't in its best interests. That is their call to make.
Businesses make the decision to carry certain sizes and clothing lines all the time. They pay their own bills and they get to make that call.
Being "cool" or "not cool" has always been a fact of life. Anyone who went to high school understands that. Abercrombie doesn't want to sell to everyone. Walmart and the major retailers already cover that market. Is every store supposed to be exactly like Walmart? Certainly not. They have the right to form their brand and sell whatever they want. We don't get a say. It isn't our right that because we are a different size, or height, that the store that sells the cool clothes has to cater to us because our feelings are hurt. That is the world we live in.
Are fatter, bigger, plus sized people able to get stylish clothes at some stores if they are willing to pay for them? Yes, certainly. They can even get some sizes online from Abercrombie and Fitch. But, no store is obligated to supply them. We wish they would, but we don't have the right to demand it. In this world, we think we have all sorts of rights to all sorts of things, but we don't.
It is not like black kids being excluded from attending certain schools. Or "whites only" restaurants and businesses. Or back of the bus stuff. Those were real discrimination and civil rights issues. This is clothing and not being catered to. There is a difference.
There are already plenty of things to be concerned with and complain about in this world. GMO's, the debt, gun violence, the unemployment rate and losing jobs to China. Nine hundred people died in a building collapse in Bangladesh because human rights were violated. That is something to speak up about, if you are inclined to do so. The list is endless. This issue doesn't ever get close to getting on that list.
If you want to hurt Abercrombie, don't shop there for anything. Not even for clothes for slimmer people you know. Eventually, you will hurt them where it counts, in the profit margin.
Otherwise, people need to stop whining about every little thing in our society. Grow up and stop thinking you can have anything just because you think you should. Life and the world just doesn't work that way. We learned that in school. At least some of us did.
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