Abercrombie "Banishes" Girl With Prosthetic Arm To Storeroom,Didn't Fit "Look" P

speedboatchase

A biased article yes, but what an awful place

http://jezebel.com/5289492/abercrombie-banishes-girl-with-prosthetic-arm-to-storeroom-because-she-doesnt-fit-the-look-policy

Just in case their racism, sexism, and general awfulness hasn't been enough to turn you away from Abercrombie & Fitch after all these years, here's another glimpse of the inner workings of the horrible store.

When I previously (and gleefully) wrote about the economic troubles that Abercrombie was having a few months back, I mentioned that my personal hatred for the store comes from the fact that one of the women I was in the intensive inpatient unit with during my treatment for anorexia was heavily recruited by the store just days before her hospitalization (she was incredibly underweight) because she had "the look" they wanted. Turns out that this horrific "look policy" doesn't just revolve around being stick-thin; according to Riam Dean, she was forced to work in the stockroom, as opposed to on the floor, at Abercrombie's London flagship store because her prosthetic arm didn't fit the company's attractiveness standards. You stay classy, Abercrombie!

When Riam applied to the store, they took a photograph of her and gave her a handbook that listed the company's expectations, as far as physical appearance goes. According to the Daily Mail, the handbook "stipulates that staff must represent a 'natural, classic American style' and instructs them on everything from how to wear their hair (clean and natural) to how long they should wear their nails (a quarter of an inch past the end of the finger)." Apparently, Riam's prosthetic arm wasn't "natural" or "classic" enough for the store- they made her buy a cardigan to wear in order to hide her arms while working.

The cardigan, however, wasn't enough to satisfy the Abercrombie team. As Riam recalls:


"A worker from what they call the "visual team", people who are employed to go round making sure the shop and its staff look up to scratch, came up to me and demanded I take the cardigan off. I told her, yet again, that I had been given special permission to wear it. A few minutes later my manager came over to me and said: "I can't have you on the shop floor as you are breaking the Look Policy. Go to the stockroom immediately and I'll get someone to replace you. I pride myself on being quite a confident girl but I had never experienced prejudice like that before and it made me feel utterly worthless. Afterwards I telephoned the company's head office where a member of staff asked whether I was willing to work in the stockroom until the winter uniform arrived. That was the final straw. I just couldn't go back."
She is now suing the company, which, by the way, already paid 2.2 million dollars to employees who felt that that the company was unfairly forcing them to buy Abercrombie's clothes in 2003. Oh, and did I mention they paid a 40 million dollar settlement in 2004, after being accused of discriminatory employment practices? Because they did! This is a company that continues to be called out for their sexist, racist, discriminatory practices, and by issuing half-ass apologies and paying off their accusers, they expect us to forget the nastiness at the core of this operation. Sadly, all of this only makes Riam's story as unsurprising as it is upsetting.

Xavi6

I'm surprised she was even hired in the first place. Ever been to an Abercrombie store and seen the women that work there? :eek: Not a flaw between them.

dlambirl

Thats shocking!!

joey54

I knew abercrombie were bad but I didn't knoe they were that bad! I for one will no longer purchase their goods and at the risk of free advertising for them I will no longer be wearing the hoodies I have.

anotherlostie

Is this a surprise to anyone who has ever been in an A&F store? The body beautiful and perfection are what they seek in their staff.

tinkerbell

Isn't this already posted on Boards? I thought I commented on this in After Hours last night ...

dingbat

I worked in Abercrombie about 10 years ago*; their work manuals are a great read. Sickening, but a good entertaining read nonetheless



*as a security guard - definitely not a greeter or similar. Still got to hit on all the female staff members though

chocgirl

Doesn't surprise me at all, even the customers all look the same. It's their marketing policy they don't want anyone who doesn't fit their aesthetic ideal wearing their clothes nevermind working for them.

joey54

I would be extremely worried if Abercrombie were to open a store in Dublin. Just imagine the type of Dublin girl they would get to work there! All you'd hear when you entered the Shop would be loike roysh and OMG!!

PrivateEye

The Abercrombie brand is one of the most annoying things in fashion to be honest. You're selling clothes to middle-class American jocks but using gangs of half-naked lads in all your advertising?

You're selling the EXACT same cheaply produced crap in London at much higher prices, to people only wearing it because the group mentioned above are, on the other side of the world?

It all looks like crap too, and its the kind of rubbish your cousin comes home with from America for some unbeknown reason. There's nothing different with regards their clothes than from somewhere like Dunnes, look at the designs they go for.

When I was in one of their shops years back, they had all the staff literally DANCING on the stairs. If you needed help with anything, you'd be waiting until the fu<king spectacle that was unfolding on the stairs ended. The company makes me rage to be honest, WHY are people in Univerities in particular after flocking to a brand that takes pride in h aving some ignorant view of what young people should look like. If you google, you'll find the above story is not particularly exceptional.

Also, Hollister and Abercrombie should be a 'not tonight Son' offence at nightclubs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKmBqYPR890

If the above is 'Too Long, Didn't Read' just watch.

joey54

PrivateEye wrote: »

Also, Hollister and Abercrombie should be a 'not tonight Son' offence at nightclubs.

Unfortunately I don't see them bringing this in. Would be good though!

chuci

why would anyone want to work there. the clothes aren't even that nice poorly made and as cheap as chips in America, not exactly selling to the high classes. as for the girl amazed she was hired with a prosthetic arm in the first place.

lala stone

PrivateEye wrote: »

The Abercrombie brand is one of the most annoying things in fashion to be honest. You're selling clothes to middle-class American jocks but using gangs of half-naked lads in all your advertising?

You're selling the EXACT same cheaply produced crap in London at much higher prices, to people only wearing it because the group mentioned above are, on the other side of the world?

It all looks like crap too, and its the kind of rubbish your cousin comes home with from America for some unbeknown reason. There's nothing different with regards their clothes than from somewhere like Dunnes, look at the designs they go for.

When I was in one of their shops years back, they had all the staff literally DANCING on the stairs. If you needed help with anything, you'd be waiting until the fu<king spectacle that was unfolding on the stairs ended. The company makes me rage to be honest, WHY are people in Univerities in particular after flocking to a brand that takes pride in h aving some ignorant view of what young people should look like. If you google, you'll find the above story is not particularly exceptional.

Also, Hollister and Abercrombie should be a 'not tonight Son' offence at nightclubs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKmBqYPR890

If the above is 'Too Long, Didn't Read' just watch.

haha! totally! like the tops literally have the words written on them.. thats it.. thats not exactly the height of fashion is it?!!

when i was there... pumping music..sooo loud and girls in bikinis!! this was NYC in jan!!

jbl123

chuci wrote: »

why would anyone want to work there. the clothes aren't even that nice poorly made and as cheap as chips in America, not exactly selling to the high classes

+1
I have a cousin who lives in New York. She says the Manhattan women are always laughing at the foreign tourists who flock to Abercrombie, Hollister and American Eagle stores there. They consider these brands cheap, boring, unfashionable.

She said what really surprised them are how much the Europeans like places like Forever 21, Charlotte Russe and so on. In Manhattan those are considered about the level of Penny's or Dunnes...lol.

BTW that youtube skit is sooooooo funny and spot-on.

lala stone

jbl123 wrote: »

She said what really surprised them are how much the Europeans like places like Forever 21, Charlotte Russe and so on. In Manhattan those are considered about the level of Penny's or Dunnes...lol.

because they are cheap, fashionable and not available in Europe

chuci

lala stone wrote: »

because they are cheap, fashionable and not available in Europe

they are not that fashionable.I do like american eagle but abercrombie you see the poeple here wearing it all the time. D4 heads with their AC&fitch jumpers with their trackie pants tucked into their uggs shudder.

lala stone

chuci wrote: »

they are not that fashionable.I do like american eagle but abercrombie you see the poeple here wearing it all the time. D4 heads with their AC&fitch jumpers with their trackie pants tucked into their uggs shudder.

No places like forever 21 etc are fashionable! Not the other A&F muck

event

i am always amazed that people get so annoyed that people choose to wear a certain type of clothes

kowloon

The state of the CEO tells you all you need to know.

He has a fake head.

eth0_

lala stone wrote: »

because they are cheap, fashionable and not available in Europe

They're not cheap in Europe and they're CERTAINLY not fashionable.

barleybooley

Does this mean that Farrell and Brown(e?) will be doing the same? Everything else they do seems to be a la A&F to an embarrassing level...

dingbat

joey54 wrote: »

I would be extremely worried if Abercrombie were to open a store in Dublin. Just imagine the type of Dublin girl they would get to work there! All you'd hear when you entered the Shop would be loike roysh and OMG!!

You'd be surprised... the Abercrombie look is aimed at being "natural" rather than the trowelled-on makeup/fake tan with the whole backcombed big hair extravaganza...

Either they wouldn't get hired (a good thing) or they'd be forced to change their look (also a good thing).

Brilliant.

lala stone

eth0_ wrote: »

They're not cheap in Europe and they're CERTAINLY not fashionable.

again see above NOT on about A&F

tinkerbell

barleybooley wrote: »

Does this mean that Farrell and Brown(e?) will be doing the same? Everything else they do seems to be a la A&F to an embarrassing level...

F&B are a total rip-off of A&F stuff. Their clothes are ridiculously similar and insanely over-priced. €80 for a top, I don't think so.

As for A&F, I love A&F but I will only buy it when I'm in the US. I went into the London store and all they did was change the $ sign on the price tag to £ which is absolutely ridiculous.

Greenmachine

tinkerbell wrote: »

F&B are a total rip-off of A&F stuff. Their clothes are ridiculously similar and insanely over-priced. €80 for a top, I don't think so.

As for A&F, I love A&F but I will only buy it when I'm in the US. I went into the London store and all they did was change the $ sign on the price tag to £ which is absolutely ridiculous.

Still over priced junk even at US $ prices.

bnagrrl

kowloon wrote: »

The state of the CEO tells you all you need to know.

He has a fake head.

Is it just me or does anyone else think he looks like Sloth from The Goonies?

AlyTheHedgehog

speedboatchase wrote: »

A biased article yes, but what an awful place

http://jezebel.com/5289492/abercrombie-banishes-girl-with-prosthetic-arm-to-storeroom-because-she-doesnt-fit-the-look-policy

Yep, this exactly one of the reasons I hate A&F,God damn pr*cks.

I can't understand why all those D4 heads (particularly girls) love to wear these over-priced pieces of s**t. I hope to God they don't open a store here, it will be the world as we know it!

Furthermore, I think it's disgusting that they treat their employees like that regardless of if they're amputees or not.

Sleipnir

She won her case for wrongful dismissal however I find it astonishing that the court did not find against A&F for discrimination.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Abercrombie-And-Fitch-Lose-Wrongful-Dismissal-Case-Against-Law-Student-With-False-Arm/Article/200908215360619?lpos=UK_News_Carousel_Region_2&lid=ARTICLE_15360619_Abercrombie_And_Fitch_Lose_Wrongful_Dismissal_Case_Against_Law_Student_With_False_Arm_

idontknowmyname

She won £8k for it. Just googled the CEO guy, he's 61!! Looks like he's made way too many trips to the plastic surgeon, looks like a freak!

Limerickgal82

"She said what really surprised them are how much the Europeans like places like Forever 21, Charlotte Russe and so on. In Manhattan those are considered about the level of Penny's or Dunnes...lol. "


Forever 21 has really nice stuff . I always buy loads there when i go to the states. Im shocked that people can be so snobby about stores like these in this day and age. People shop in the states for value for money and this store covers everything . There is also a difference between Penney's and Dunnes To be fair. Penney's is the one of the best places you can get at the moment as your charged a fair price for what your buying.

Faith

I'm locking this thread because it's ancient, but for some reason it keeps getting bumped.

Twee.

Zombi thread closed! And going off topic.