Bad Cases: The Case Of Abercrombie And Fitch

Abercrombie & Fitch is one of the leading clothing companies in the world. They manufacture

Recognized for good-looking, all-American, and typically white male and female clothing models, Abercrombie & Fitch has develop into a special type of model of late-a model of asserted employment discrimination (Stephanie 2005). The clothing idol lately cleared up two private class actions and a civil action law suits by the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") by consenting to compensate more than $40 million to African American, Hispanic, and Asian plaintiffs who claimed that Abercrombie discriminated against them (Stephanie 2005); Abercrombie in addition entered into a agreement with the EEOC recognized as a Consent Decree. In Gonzalez, et al. v. Abercrombie, et al., West v. Abercrombie, et al., and EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, Inc., the plaintiffs disputed that they were either restricted to low visibility, back-of-the-store kind jobs or laid off and fired on the basis of their race or ethnicity.

Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F), an American retailer that concentrates on upscale casual wear for young consumers, which was founded in Manhattan, New York City in June 4, 1892 by two young minds of David T. Abercrombie and Ezra Fitch. Beginning with a rough journey of selling sporting outfits and excursion goods such as fishing and hunting equipment, A&F had to file bankruptcy in 1977. Soon thereafter, the company was revived after Jake Oshman, owner of Oshman Sporting Goods, bought A&F in 1978. A&F was relaunched as a mail-retailer company specializing in hunting wear and novelty items, but was bought by The Limited ten years after its revival. The gradual shift to focusing on apparels for young consumers began when A&F was a subsidiary of Limited Brands, and since then, A&F has grown to become one of the largest apparel firms in the United States. In 1998, A&F launched Abercrombie Kids, targeting consumers from age 7-14, which further increases its revenue. In 1999 to early 2000s, A&F’s sales skyrocketed as it hit its zenith, by portraying A&F clothing as the “coolest thing” through billboard-winning song that compliments A&F in the lyrics, as well as other advertisements. Furthermore, A&F launched a subsidiary called Hollister to tackle similar age group of target audience but with lower income. This expansion to dominate the market of teenagers through consideration of other demographic factor, namely income, was exceptional for A&F’s revenue. Presently, A&F focused on

The root cause in the Abercrombie and Fitch case was the company’s practice was to focus their recruiting and hiring of a sales persons around their image, which was around the mantra of “an all American Classic look” and they shied away from individuals that did not fit that mold. Due to this behavior, the company was hit with a lawsuit in 2003 that alleged they violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by placing a targeted focus on their recruiting and hiring that essentially excluded or limited its minority and female workforce population (Wikipedia, 2017).

The company Abercrombie and Fitch has been sued countless times because of the rules the government has imposed on hiring and firing people. Abercrombie is trying to target attractive looking people to their line of cloths. During an interview Salon Jeffries the CEO of Abercrombie stated… his business was built around sex appeal… “He believes that good-looking people attract other good-looking people”… If a clothing line

A considerable problem in today society is discrimination. Whether it’s based upon race, age, sexuality, or even looks, discrimination is a serious dilemma. Marshal Cohen, a senior industry analyst with the NPD Group, believes that hiring people who are “walking billboards” is critical and essential to a company’s success. The companies who hire based on looks, fail to realize that there are shoppers who do not care about the appearance of the store employees, just as long as they are receiving good customer service. People cannot completely control their appearance and brands like Abercrombie and Fitch, Hollister, and American Apparel should take notice to that.

The case EEOC. V. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, went all the way to the Supreme Court. The vote in the Supreme Court was 8 to1. It seemed that it was an easy decision for the judges. They did send it back to the lower courts. It went back and forth between courts but at the end the EEOC and Ms. Elauf won. Justice Scalia that over saw the case wrote” Ms. Elauf did not make a specific request for a religious accommodation to obtain relief under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” (Liptak)

There have been multiple lawsuits involving the company and their unwillingness to hire and allow Muslim women to wear a hajib, stating it does not reflect their dress code. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces federal laws that prohibit employers to discriminate against religion, among other things. A young girl, Samantha Elauf, was not hired at one of the stores because she wore her head scarf to her interview. Abercrombie & Fitch has since “altered its dress code since 2008, allowing workers “to be more individualistic.” (Liptak,

This is a difficult question. Was changing their entire market strategy and including a new mission statement merely a rouse to increase profits after an embarrassing lawsuit or truly a desire to earnestly promote diversity? We can only speculate on this. However, the cold facts are that 50% of Abercrombie’s store associates are people of color, 75% of their Executive Vice Presidents are female, they have been listed for ten consecutive years as one of the best places to work for LGBT employees, and they have donated over $110,000 in diversity scholarships. In addition, their new catalogues are incredibly diverse and no longer adhere to one body type or racial profile. So, regardless of their motive, Abercrombie has definitely taken huge precautions

Being court ordered to hire recruiters in charge of searching for potential employees who are considered to be minorities is just one strategy Abercrombie will use to diversify their future staff. The company was told to stay away from “targeting specific fraternities and sororities” when recruiting, as this was one way to insure the company could continue to portray their previous “predominately white staff” (Vu 254). In this particular case, Abercrombie is making it evident that as a company there is a bias towards employees who appear to not be of white lineage. Whether looking through an Abercrombie catalog, or taking a look at the models featured on their website, it is obvious that the company may not have learned their lesson. By continuing to promote the clichéd company standard of substantially white, athletic, good-looking models on their advertisements, Abercrombie will inevitably continue to attract similar looking clientele and job pursuers. Hiring employees for Abercrombie who hail from a wide variety of different background and ethnic groups would not only likely bring new shoppers into their stores, but would also result in a decline in appearance-based discrimination suits filed by ethnic minorities.

The case between the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) vs. Abercrombie & Fitch revealed how a company’s culture may infringe on people’s rights. In 2008, Samantha Elauf a 17-year-old Muslim woman applied for a sales associate position at Abercrombie & Fitch Kids store in Tulsa, Oklahoma. During the interview process, she wore a black head scarf, also known in her culture as a hijab. Ms. Elauf was not asked about her headscarf or religion during the interview nor did she mention she was Muslim and wearing the headscarf (hijab) is part of her religious practice. Additionally, during the interview, Ms. Elauf chose not to request accommodations to wear the headscarf at work due to her religion and culture. The interviewer and hiring manager, Heather Cooke gave Ms. Elauf a score that deemed

The “Look Policy” at Abercrombie & Fitch violates the wearing of “caps” stating that this look is too informal for the image the company desires to project. In response, the EEOC sued Abercrombie & Fitch on Elauf’s behalf.

The retailer announced their decision to continue a plethora of store closings after suffering a $63 million loss for Q1 of 2015, worsened by the fact that their losses exceeded the expectations of market analysts (Investopedia). Following the absence of CEO Mike Jeffries as of June 2015, Abercrombie’s stock dipped to its nearly annual low of $19 per share. The company continues to increase promotional efforts while offering uncharacteristic discounts in an effort to lure consumers back into their stores despite weakening profit margins. Abercrombie & Fitch has also furthered its efforts to expand and improve its e-commerce site to develop a more user-friendly shopping experience in the wake of over 200 required store closings nationally. While Abercrombie’s Executive Chairman, Arthur Martinez, attributes the company’s losses to a transitional phase that will likely take several quarters to reflect results of their strategic efforts, analysts continue to suggest that its unlikely consumers will return to the brand despite its new incentives (Forbes Contributor). Currently, Abercrombie’s dismal annual report and small scale efforts to rebrand itself makes it a risky investment option, albeit has potential to improve in the future given their focus on improving their online presence and providing a better return for investors.

While the company may be seeing the start to its decline, past years are proof that Abercrombie and Fitch have made a good name for themselves. How does the industry operate one might ask? There are many sides to the coin when it comes to determining how this company functions, but let’s start with its

According to Keyton, organizational culture is "the set of artifacts, values, and assumptions that emerges from the interactions of organizational members" (Keyton, 2014, p. 550). Over the past few years, past and potential employees of the clothing brand Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) have taken to the media to explain the negative organizational culture that exists within the company. The management values and company policies that create this “image-obsessed culture” have led to multiple human rights lawsuits, which has damaged the reputation of Abercrombie & Fitch globally (Benson, 2013).