Judging Abercombie & Fitch for Their Hiring Practices Essay

1) Why did this crisis occur? Why did Jeffries’s comments trigger such a large response?

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

Discrimination goes much further than just the clothes that a person wears. Many Students are

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.

“Aleah, that is so ugly,” my friends exclaimed as I eagerly pulled out my brand new pants from their perfectly packaged shipping box. “But they’re Michael Kors!” I argued, as though it increased their appeal. The truth was, the price tag read $78.00, and they were completely see through. Within society, there are numerous people who spend thousands of dollars on designer clothing that is not considered attractive street fashion or good quality. Often, the reason clothing is priced highly is because it includes a logo to advertise the brand and proclaim that it is “the cool thing to wear” while pressuring surrounding people to buy from the same designer as an attempt to become cool as well.

Abercrombie & Fitch ANALYSIS REPORT Fundamentals Of Retail Design Group 03 Erik, Herr | I-Chu, Liao | Karan, Shah Kuan-Ling, Tseng | Chen-Hua, Wang ABSTRACT This report intends to analyze the unique brand values, the distinct marketing strategies and the compelling competitive dynamics of Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F), the noted American retailer of casual luxury wear. The purpose of this analysis being to understand the context and motives that drive brand A&F; to draw insights from it‘s past and current strategies and use these to launch a, new sneaker offer‘ within it‘s existing product ensemble. For doing this, we‘ve researched the story of the brand; it‘s original and potential target market, it‘s financial

On May 30, 2000 The Calvin Klein family filed a lawsuit against Warnaco Group Inc for eighteen counts of trademark infringement, trademark dilution and intentional misrepresentation. Nearly a month later Warnaco answered with a counter suit, denying the major allegations and justifying the dilution to falling within the scope of the two parities licensing agreement. The case study brings forth information regarding fashion retailing, distribution practices and even the licensing practices expected within the marketplace, however as a reader one should keep in mind that during the millennium “licensing

How many licks does it take to get to the center of a lollipop? How many times can a company get away with offending the public? These questions have a lot more in common than someone might think. Everyone knows that the clever owl that asks us the lollipop questions, gets impatient with counting and then simply provides us with the answer of the ‘world may never know’. Similarly, the amount of times Urban Outfitters has offending the public or will in the future without receiving any punishment is too large to count, therefore we give the same impassive answer that ‘the world may never know’. In the United States of America, we are lucky enough to have freedom of speech and expression. However good or bad, we have the right to say or wear what we want without punishment. Though it is common sense that companies that sell merchandise are held to higher standards. Unfortunately some do not understand this unspoken rule, not only that but they abuse this right. The argument lies primarily with Urban Outfitters who has produced a multitude of clothing items that offend the wider public! Businesses should not be permitted to produce merchandise that offends the public because it hurts many people(s), encourages a negative mindset, and is used purely for publicity.

The release of 2014 financial statements by American Eagle Outfitters and The Buckle Company require analysis to determine the financial position of the respective companies. A decision between the two companies is needed to decide which company Baruch College Fund should invest in. Findings in our research shows that The Buckle Company beats American Eagle Outfitters in terms of the key performance indicators of return on assets, profit margin, and asset turnover ratio. This information reveals that The Buckle Company is the better company to invest in.

The response was typical “we did not mean to offend anyone and we are sorry.” Now-a-days someone can almost predict the type of apology a company will give after being accused of wrongfully portraying an already dying culture. Victoria’s Secret, Mac cosmetics, and Marc Ecko are targeting a younger impressable

There is an old saying that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. When you hear a group of pre-teens and teens spouting off with profanity and making violent threats to those who don't wear name brand clothes, it is obvious they learned this behavior from somewhere.

Even if the groups of people who shop there aren’t necessarily responding to the “sex sells” approach, they are still advocating it by buying Abercrombie as well as other stores that use sexuality in ads. It is rare to find someone that outwardly objects to this form of advertising; people have come to accept that this has become commonplace in the world of advertisement. This was not always the case though; the prevalence of this style of advertising is fairly new, only starting in the past 10 to 20 years. The difference between advertisements now and in the 60s is one that is shocking when considered in a side-by-side comparison.

In effort to bring in consumers, Abercrombie and Fitch uses indirect strategies to attract and persuade its customers. Large wall photos, uplifting techno songs, and dimmed lighting make for a relaxing ambiance to draw in its buyers. Apart from its in-store attractions, Abercrombie and Fitch use commercial advertising, e-posts, and online music to bring in its consumers. With all of these unique strategies, the Abercrombie and Fitch industry has been proven successful for over 100 years.

Typically, these factories are located outside of the United States, and with cheap and readily available labor, the knockoff designs can be created in a matter of hours and shipped to stores months before the original version. These companies are able to replicate the original designs almost perfectly, and for much less money, as well. In turn, chain retailers like Bloomingdale’s, Urban Outfitters, and Forever 21 then purchase hundreds of these clothes and promptly sell them to consumers way before the original designs even have a chance to make their debut (Wilson). The biggest problem with this is that fashion design is an art form in itself, and with duplicates, the creative and original credit of the designers are lost. American consumers can no longer tell what garments in a store are original and which have been duplicated (“Stop Fashion Design Piracy”). From a moral perspective, this is essentially burying the recognition that independent designers deserve for their work.

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).