Abercrombie Responds to Sizing Backlash

Mike Jeffries, the ceo of Abercrombie & Fitch (New Albany, Ohio), whose resurrected 2006 comments about the teen chain’s exclusive courtship of “cool, good-looking” kids sparked a firestorm of objections and protests this month, might just be changing his ways, reports Forbes.

According to Change.org, Benjamin O’Keefe, 18, who urged the retailer to expand its size offerings above a size 10 via a campaign he launched on the petition platform, was invited by Jeffries himself to discuss the matter at Abercrombie’s offices today.
 
O’Keefe, who says he battled an eating disorder as a kid and struggled with feelings of worthlessness because he didn’t fit Abercrombie’s slim/uber-sexy mold, will meet with A&F’s senior executives to brainstorm on a solution to what has been widely viewed as the chain’s discriminatory and unsavory no-large-sizes practice/philosophy, he said in a statement.

Abercrombie executives will also meet today with the president and ceo of the National Eating Disorders Association, among others, according to a blog post on NEDA’s website.

“After the overwhelming global response and increased pressure from myself and the National Eating Disorder Association, Abercrombie & Fitch’s senior staff has agreed to meet with me and several others on the team Tuesday to discuss how we can come together to find solutions to change the discriminating practices of Abercrombie,” says O'Keefe. “The message is as clear has it been since day one: Abercrombie & Fitch MUST embrace people of all sizes and apologize for their hurtful statements.”