SM tipster Chai Shenoy, brings it to our attention that there has been a settlement in the discrimination lawsuit against Abercrombie & Fitch. From the New York Sun:
SAN FRANCISCO – A federal judge yesterday approved a $40 million settlement of employment discrimination lawsuits charging that a popular clothing chain, Abercrombie & Fitch, avoided hiring minorities and women nationwide in order to preserve the “all-American look” cultivated by the company in its catalogs and advertisements.
After a brief hearing, Judge Susan Illston gave a strong endorsement to the settlement. In addition to offering cash compensation, the deal requires the company to set up a diversity office and to cease the practice of limiting recruiting to certain fraternities and sororities.
“I think this is excellent work,” Judge Illston said. She heaped praise on attorneys for both the company and the class. The judge also paid tribute to the “courage” of Abercrombie employees who were named plaintiffs in the case. “I do think you’ve done a public service,” she said.
The lawsuits alleged that Asian-Americans, African-Americans, and Latinos who were hired by the company were often relegated to stockrooms where those staffers could not be seen by customers. An attorney for Abercrombie referred questions to the officials at the company’s headquarters, who offered no comment. In court filings, the company has denied any systemic discrimination.
Incidentally, A & F is also known for its T-shirt “humor”, which pokes fun at minority stereotypes.
It’s not just minorities they avoid hiring; fat people are also subject to this sort of discrimination. My friend went into an Abercrombie store on his first day of work. He saw someone else walk in, also their first day. Both of them went to the back where they saw someone who happend to be overweight. The new guy said quietly to himself- “whatt?? a fat chick?”
The manager, obviously overhearing this, said- “don’t worry, we usually keep her in the back”
Just a small example of what happens all across Abercrombie stores in the nation.
Unfortunately, overweight people face discrimination at many places other than A&F.
But really, this is way overblown. A&F wanted to hire jocks and cheerleaders because it made their brand image more elite (and it worked). If you didn’t like it, don’t buy their clothes. I sure didn’t. At least it was obvious.
And it’s not like FUBU would have hired any of us…
This is not overblown. This is real. You dont have to buy their clothes (true), you don’t have to wear them if you dont like them (true), but any time you have a co. that profits of stereotypes and blatant racist practices, you have to shut it down…i.e. an old chinese man with skewed caricatures and a logo that reads, ‘wok and roll’, or ‘asian laundry’-
as far as the FUBU comparison, i don’t know if FUBU ever went out of their way to make a “cracker” joke on their shirts-
stop being an apologist!
You know, the other day I thought I saw an “indian-style” tunic with embroidery around the neck in the window of A&F. I think it was that store. Isn’t that ironic (in an Alanis Morrisette way)?
This is well-documented and not at all overblown (not just their ‘t-shirt’ humor, but their hiring practices as well). I’ve yelled at my cousins for shopping at this place ever since the news first broke.
I keep seeing stylish black men in kurtis. They pull it off, too.
not to be confused with the sorry-ass, horrid knock-off kurtis at Old Navy. Oh OOPS, they’re called tunics now so WASPy co-eds will buy them…
DesiWear uses non-desi models and totally plays up their non-desi celebrity clientele.
I so love DesiWear.
And I wont, but there’s more too it…isn’t race/gender discrimination in employment illegal?
Now it wont matter who’s under those white sheets they’re going to make their employees wear!
They have nice clothes, but just so you know, Desiwear is most likely full of $hit when they say this:
I used to do anti-sweatshop work, and this is a really complicated issue. If you happen to actually care about this, make sure you ask desiwear where their factories are, how much people are getting paid, whether they get paid overtime, whether they get maternity leave, and whether they have a union (and whatever else you can think of).
i hate people who exploit socially responsibility to make a buck.
Also, I’ve never heard of “an international minimum wage” campaign. Maybe they’re starting it.
I love the Desi-Wear stuff, especially the Southall t-shirt
Back in college, if you were cool, you wore A&F clothing. I remember going to the A&F in San Diego, LA, and Santa Monica and feeling less American when I went in. The posters, the sales associates (oh wait they had a black man w/blue eyes), and the videos of their beautifully, blonde, blue eyed women/men in the waiting areas all made me feel so dark and dirty. Like I wasn’t cool enough for being dark skinned?!
I am SO proud of these plaintiffs for bring that case against this wretched company. Forget the fact that they use sweatshop workers all around the world to charge something like $25/ethnically wrong tee-shirts and/or pants ($60+), but the fact that they make you feel like shit cause you ain’t white enough? Now that is just wrong.
(Thanks Abhi for posting this.)
Look – there is plenty of hatin to be had against A&F BUT that isn’t the reason to sue. Nobody should sue b/c their clothes are overpriced, or that they’re a 3rd generation rip off of some old real WASPY clothing lines, or b/c they made people with brown skin feel insecure.
IMHO, the only real reason to sue is employment discrimination based on race. (This was the ground for the suit) Let’s put the hatin’ aside. I have no problem with them being successful and loathsome. I have a problem with them being discriminatory.
Abercrombie & Fitch, avoided hiring minorities and women nationwide in order to preserve the “all-American look”
Yeah, I bet A&F really held off on hiring women. Can’t these stupid reporters get their facts straight?
As for A&F, let’s be real here. They want attractive, thin people. Fat people don’t sell stuff as well. Neither do ugly people or short people. Statistical fact. And, when it comes to A&F clothing, probably neither do nonwhite people. A&F is selling to a market that is heavily white.
Benetton is more my gig. Let them hire who they want, we’ll hire who we want, and whoever wins in the marketplace is the one who actually reflects the customers’ desires.
Next thing you know, people will make it illegal to advertise for specific ethnicities for plays or movies. And I gots to have my Asian porn, yo! 🙂 jk…
(btw, FUBU = “for us, by us”, which is pretty exclusive itself, but whatever)
You’re right, my original comment was a bit shortsighted… but I wrote it an unexplained context. Several years back, a female Indian acquaintance of mine (very attractive, and she had dark skin) was offered a job at A&F while shopping there. Consequently I discounted the allegations of racism, because if they actively pursued her they probably weren’t racists.
And my opinion of the Asian shirt controversy was that they were not racist messages – but that issue is neither here nor there. Though they sure did offend quite some crowd!
I used to work for AF and I got info sent to me about the case since I am of South Asian descent and female. (By the way, I still have no idea why they agreed to hire me, considering their “standards.” Or should I say former standards…) For the person who suggested that the news stories were off in implying that women weren’t being hired due to sexism, I’d just like to clarify. According to the papers I received, the issue was brought forth not only for hiring on a discriminatory basis, but also for treating minority employees of their stores (including women, according to one of the parties who sued) unfairly, for example, giving women and minorities positions in the back stock rooms or somewhere away from the main floor. So, the case was definitely Minorities and Women against AF.
No matter what anyone says – racism is something thats inside all of us. We will discriminate based on stereotypes. Stereotyping is a neccessary way for our brain to keep track of everything that happens around us.
In this case A&F wanted a specific image. I don’t blame them. Atleast they did hire a fat someone (even though kept her in the back) – according to one poster here. Maybe you’d get a job in their warehouse if you were a desi. I still can’t see a problem in that.
If it was a chinese company making fun of chinese it wouldn’t have been a big issue. Its just because its an amemrican company that we feel its racism – and that my friends is racism in its real nature 😉
This doesn’t make sense, why would they put (white) women in the stock room.
In all my experience in the retail industry and its almost always the guys who work in the back and women work in customer service or at the cash register.
Don’t believe me, go down to your local grocery store or walmart. See how many male cashiers you can find.
A/F is a pretty crappy company but this lawsuit is ridiculous.
One of the women who brought the lawsuit was a white (I believe) woman, and from what I read, it seemed that she claimed that she personally was delegated to positions in the back or in the stock room or was treated unfairly in other ways. At the AF I worked at in nyc, I don’t think I worked there long enough to say whether all of the white women were treated unfairly. Certainly plenty of women were running cash registers and maintaining the fitting rooms. I will say, however, that me and the black kid were always in the back Kids section, usually with him in the stock room, and me bored as hell in the corner with nothing to do and no customers or coworkers around. Also, I never worked the cash registers.
To remind people of the basic arguments here:
Hey Saurav, Desi Wear uses clothing exclusively from American Apparel who have re-shaped the garment industry by intorducing the highest standards in sweatshop free production. Go to their website americanapparel.net and do a little research on them before you start accusing people of using ethical social standards to make a quick buck – It costs a lot more to use these shirts but it is about having a social conscious, while trying to run a business – blind cynicism is just as destructive as wilful ignorance. Desi Wear isn’t full of shit – you are.
I currently work at A&F, and feel that my store in particular does not discriminate against women or minorities. I am not saying that the company doesn’t, because from the research that I have read it seems that they have. Managers as well as the brand reps recruit people. my store has a staff of approximately 75, and yes most of the less attractive people work in the back. I do feel that the company has made efforts to correct the racism that has occured. 2 of the big pictures have been of black men the last two change overs. While my store does seem to have more guys than girls that work there, we ask more women to work in our store than we ask guys. one possible reason for the disproportional minority workers is because not too many minorities shop in the store, therefore there are less minorities to recruit.
Just so you know Abercrombie did not stereotype against a person’s race. I was a manager at an Abercrombie store and never did I not hire someone because of what color or background they were from. Well let me say this, I cant speak for every store, but I know I did not discriminate against any other races. I also hired lots of women, so I dont know where people are getting that idea. Either way, if you havent worked there and actually seen it for yourself, keep your slander to yourself.
One thing that I can say in defense of abercrombie is that their t-shirt “wok and roll” was not meant to be obscene and I don’t think it was obscene. We have a chinese resturaunt in our student union that is called wok and roll and this resturaunt happens to be a chain. I think people need to quit being so over sensitive. If you don’t like the message that abercrombie displays in their clothing . THEN DON”T WEAR THEM!! Nobody is forcing these protest prostitutes to put their clothes on so they need to get over it and actually protest something that matters. Like the War, World hunger, things that actually affects the world.
Well I am an American citizen who used to work at Abercrombie and Fitch about in the winter of 2001. I am of Pakistani descent and I am male. So obviously this tells you guys that im NOT white! But in that time and still now, I HATED Abercrombie and Fitch but when the second time I ever stepped foot at Abercrombie and Fitch ,at our local mall, I was approached within minutes by a Brand Representative who asked me if I was interested in working at Abercrombie and Fitch! I had told him that I had another job, but he still convinced me to apply! I had NO knowledge of the store but he had told me what to put down. He told me to put myself down as a brand representative and within a week, i got a call back and i was given an interview by a BLACK manager and a white manager and I was interviwed with another brand rep. potential who was WHITE! They had gone through their dress code and what was allowed and what was not and our 50 percent discount. I was also told to start buying clothes right away. Even the manager had told me and the white guy that the seasons would be busy so they had to have people work stock and work the front floor. So he had gave us a heads up about what was expected from our work! So overall to be honest I never saw any racism on to me! I helped with stock when they needed and I also was told to work the floor and greet customers as well as help people use the fitting rooms and find clothes. So AGAIN I never experienced any racism! The ONLY time I saw something was when I would see ALL these old, chubby Mexicans working overnight stock positions. To me, they looked uncomfortable. That was the only thing I ever saw. To be honest we had very attractive, white people work in stock and we had minority managers and AGAIN no REAL signs of racism! The managers were always cool with me and they were cool, although they were strict on me with clothing regulations and there NO tattoos and NO piercings policiesat the time! I liked streaking my hair at times, but even the managers told me I had to check with them before I did anything. But even before getting a job offer from A&F, I heard comments like I had the Abercrombie and Fitch look and even getting a half a dozen comments on being good looking enough to be a model and etc. After that, I was also approached by another upscale, chic, fashion store at the mall called EXPRESS MENS (owned by the same company who owns VICTORIA SECRET), where I was approached by a white manager and was asked if I would consider working at EXPRESS as well! But this time I had turned her down, and it seemed like she was practically whining and asking why I turned her offer down 🙂 I even had the pleasure of meeting Playboy Model and Playmate of the Year Jenny McCarthy, obviously who was WHITE, who told me she thought I was pretty attractive. I feel like racism is in the minds of the people who WANT to think it!
So from all I had to say, I DID NOT REALLY NOTICE ANY REAL RACISM ON TO ME OR PEOPLE I KNEW PERSONALLY!
i currently work at abercrombie & fitch and have been for about a year. as a woman, i was never put in the back stock room, so i dont agree with any of the alleged sexism that is being spoken about. also, many minorities worked on the floor AND we always had at least one minority manager (however, a&f likes to circulate managers to different stores, so mgrs often remain at a store for less than 6 months). the only evidence of racism i see is that non english-speaking minorites work in the stock room. but think about it, would you hire a non english-speaking person for sales? NO! how could they communicate with the customers, make sales, or operate a cash register when all of the menues are in english? i think they should be happy with the job opportunity because many other stores will NOT hire someone who doesn’t speak english. if you want out of the stock room then learn the language!
oh and that hooters and FUBU comparison is so true. white people havent voiced opinions that FUBU (for us, by us) is racist, even though it clearly is and says so in its label. someone please tell me why that’s ok, but hiring people in the image of your consumer is not! stop whining. abercrombie is only considered racist because it is successful, and its consumers are mostly white. anyone knocking a&f should take a closer look at FUBU and other similar companies, because “reverse racism” is really the same thing as racism, only nobody will speak out for fear of being black labeled as a racist.
They do discriminate aganst fat people. They only carry 36 size pants. What about the guy whos a 40? It does not make sense. I am not fat but I am in a sport were my training makes my legs more muscular than most people therefor i need a bigger size. So i sympathize with people who are over weight, sure some should try and become more healthy, but we all know that is hard. It takes time, but then again if you are happy the way you are then why cant you wear the cloths your want!