Ailing teenie-bopper store Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) flipped the lights on, turned the music down, and toned down the aroma of men’s cologne to make stores appealing to customers. The next biggest changes will be that the company will hire sales associates who don't fit the chain's infamous "Look Policy" that has brought derision and lawsuits.
A&F is opening its workforce to those who are not slim, buff and gorgeous eye-candy. The six-pack abs preference among male workers has been relaxed as the company struggles to regain interest among young customers whose preferences have shifted to less pricey, less preppy stores like H&M and Forever 21 that sport no brand.
Apparently, the “Look Policy” is going out the door along with retired former CEO Mike Jeffries, who instituted an “appearance and sense of style” rule when hiring. Hence, A&F was known to only hire attractive young people and dictate their attire and grooming. For example, French-tip manicures were banned along with mustaches, eye liner, and certain hair products.
This got the company criticized for not hiring a workforce that was reflective of ethnic and racial differences and in trouble with the highest court in the land. The Supreme Court reviewed the case of a Muslim teenager who was denied employment because she wore a head scarf. Two similar cases were settled.
As noted, the company is struggling to stay afloat in the face of changing shopping habits of Millennials and our younger siblings of the next generation. The Abercrombie brand is no longer covetable or reflective of this generation and A&E is doing everything not to set us off even farther away.
Bloomberg/MSN reports:
“We’ve put the customer at the center of the business,” said Christos Angelides, president of the company’s Abercrombie brand, who along with Fran Horowitz, the Hollister brand’s head, are among the internal candidates for the CEO job.
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So gone is the legendary “Look Policy” for employees, which banned French-tip manicures, certain hair-styling products and, among other things, mustaches. Clerks will be referred to as brand representatives, not models. They still can’t wear extreme makeup or jewelry, but the rules are gentler. The idea is that sales forces should focus on selling, not on obsessing over their level of accepted handsomeness.
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Sales in established stores have fallen in six of the past eight years. Abercrombie profit shrank 5.1 percent in 2014 and same-store sales tumbled 10 percent last quarter, which included the holiday season.
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The company was mocked for the “Look Policy,” and sued over how it was implemented. U.S. Supreme Court justices heard arguments in February in the case of Samantha Elauf, a Muslim teenager who was denied a job because she wore a head scarf. Abercrombie agreed to pay $71,000 to settle two suits similar to Elauf’s in California in 2013. In her case, the company argued its actions were legal because it didn’t have “actual knowledge” that Elauf wore the scarf for religious reasons. A federal appeals court sided with Abercrombie, and Elauf appealed to the high court, which is expected to rule this year.
For those who grew up covering our eyes from the soft porn ads and billboard of extremely attractive and athletic models that seemed to peddle more than just khakis, jeans, sweaters and tee-shirts, this is a welcome respite. We don't even see the icon Calvin Klein underwear and jeans ads ads anymore.
While we may feel that businesses are in many cases justified if they impose appearance standards, even annoying ones, on those who sell their products, A&F is wise to change the way they do business to keep up with an ever-changing marketplace. Perhaps one day the allure of scantily models will sell jeans again but for now we're about covering it up. But in many instances, social pressure instead of litigation can be brought to bear.