Abercrombie THIS, bitch!

Certainly by now, you've heard of the Abercrombie and Fitch debacle? The one in which CEO Mike Jeffries unabashedly admits that A&F clothes are for the cool kids and the fat chicks need not apply? If you need a refresher, you can read this:

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/technology/news/abercrombie-fitch-ceo-mike-jeffries-slammed-over-comments/story-fni0bzod-1226644223630

There has been a huge backlash over this douchebag's CEO's comments, including this nicely-written letter by Amy Taylor:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-taylor/open-letter-fat-chick-mike-jeffries-ceo-abercombie-fitch_b_3249798.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

So, here's my Abercrombie story:

I never paid much attention to A&F. But once my kids hit a certain age, I noticed their friends wearing this brand and I thought I might like to buy my kids a ticket to the "cool kid" club so I went to the store - once, and only once - and perused the racks.

Let's just say that my style of shopping is to head immediately to the sales/clearance racks. At A&F they were hard to find. I did finally find some "sale" and "clearance" signs, which amounted to a t-shirt for a little girl on sale for $20.

For $20 at Target, I was able to buy my little girl four t-shirts! Cute ones, too, albeit not with an A&F logo. Now, I've never been a fan of name brands. When my kids were growing up, I made fun of the neighbor ladies who bought their child's wardrobe at Gymboree, citing the "quality" and that the clothes would "last forever." Um, yeah, but your KID won't last forever. In fact, they grow so fast, that one year my daughter's feet jumped four shoe sizes in two months, and another year my son grew out of his jeans every two months as he got taller and taller. So am I glad I bought them bargain (but still cute) clothes? You bet!

I've also never been a huge fan of clothing with writing on it. When my daughter was ten and playing softball some stupid well-meaning parent decided to order sweats for all the girls with the team name across the butt. Now, I don't know about you, but I didn't want anyone looking at my ten-year-old's butt anyway, so I didn't see any need to emblazon it with words. Thankfully, the team name was a lot less inappropriate than the 11-year-old I saw wearing similar pants with the word "hottie" on the butt.

I like a smart-ass t-shirt with a sarcastic saying as much as the next person, but when my kids were younger, I avoided "writing" on clothes as a general rule, which immediately nixed Gap, Old Navy, and stores like A&F from our closets. But at some point they asked for specific things - like the Gap sweatshirt my daughter requested in 3rd grade. It was $40 and I had never spent that much on a single item of clothing for a kid before. But she had never asked for anything brand-name before so I decided to indulge her. Of course I bought it two sizes too big and she wore it for three years. Old Navy won me over with their cheap-o prices, but I still tried to avoid the logo stuff.

The thing is, I love clothes. I love having cute clothes for myself and my kids. But I am NOT willing to spend $40 on a t-shirt. And I'm certainly not willing to wear clothes from a store that discriminates against real people. There are enough bullies in the world - now we have to have CEOs of companies tell us we're not cool enough to wear their clothes? And if we don't fit into a size large we're too fat? Ouch. I'll keep my money, thanks.

I don't care where I get my clothes. I buy what I like, what fits well, is comfortable and stylish. I just dropped a whole $24 on six new-to-me shirts at a thrift store. I wore a dress to work the other day that I paid almost nothing for, and got many compliments. I frequently get nice comments about my style. No one knows or cares where I got my clothes or how much I paid for them. And yes, I do have some brand-name clothes, but only because I bought them second-hand. I have NEVER paid retail for a designer brand.

I did acquire an Abercrombie and Fitch t-shirt eventually. It was on sale for $2 at my local thrift store and I bought it for my son. He wore it for a while and I re-donated it. No one ever told him he was cooler because of it.

Today I came across this little gem:

http://www.upworthy.com/how-does-the-worst-human-being-of-retail-sleep-at-night-after-he-sees-this-he-wont

I love the idea that this guy suggests - gather up all your A&F clothing, buy it from the thrift shops, and donate it to the homeless. Will they be cooler or skinnier wearing clothing from a discriminatory store upscale retailer? Not a chance. Will they have clothes to keep them warm and dry? Yep. Will Mike Jeffries cringe every time he sees a homeless person wearing his iconic brand? I hope so. Oh, wait, clearly he won't ever see a homeless person. I doubt he very often gets out of his pristine world where the beautiful people reside.

But that doesn't mean we can't make sure he suffers for his callous comments. #FitchtheHomeless. And don't shop at Abercrombie. You'll just look like an asshole wearing the brand. Or maybe you already do.