Last week, I shared a fairly punchy piece about Abercrombie & Fitch. It was fun to write and I was keen to get it up and out. And yet, after hitting ‘post’, I found myself continuing to mull it over and, as the week rolled on, to take into consideration some of the points raised in my LinkedIn comments. So, here’s a bit more on it all, just to round things out.
Rana Brightman – an incredible strategist and self-described “Gen Y shopper in her 40’s” – chimed in to say that she had recently bought some jeans from the A&F store in Carnaby Street and was “sold”. Certainly the quality of A&F’s clothes always seemed pretty high. Sure, the t-shirts may have had racist and sexist slogans on them, but the cotton was sooooo soft. Seriously though, doubling-down on quality and – one can assume – maintaining their hard-won supplier relationships, would have been a must whilst the company navigated its challenges. Think of it like a mixing board – they could turn down the brand identity, but the quality needed to stay right up high.
Jon Rowlandson – a creative director – identified more elements in the mixing board and said he felt like they were heading in the right direction with “the models they cast, the staff they hire, the styles they push, [and] how the business operates”. I’d agree with this. The models featured on their site and the range of sizes and fits available online and instore reflect a broader (and real) commitment to diversity, that’s a far cry from the white waifs of previous eras. This is good, but it’s hardly revolutionary, when you’re competing against Good American and Paige. As Jon goes on to say, A&F will need to remain “squeaky clean moving forward, single-minded and fronting up to the inevitable criticism [...] if it is to truly recover”.
The final comment was from another John (with an ‘h’ this time). I can’t quite figure out if he was trolling me, or Abercrombie & Fitch, but he said they might want to figure out “the sex-trafficking stuff” stuff. I mean, yes. That is always going to be a thorn in their side, and a major barrier to revolutionising their brand in any form. But if there’s one thing we can rely on when it comes to capitalism and patriarchy, it’s that many people have short memories and most A&F consumers won’t have even heard of Mike Jeffries (who left the company in 2014) and the allegations against him.
Returning to Jon’s (no ‘h’) words, the idea of A&F being “squeaky clean” is fascinating to me. And is a good segue into my own additional thoughts on the brand, which were all about sex. Or the lack thereof in today’s fashion landscape. As I type, I’m listening to Justin Timberlake’s SexyBack, which is wild on so many levels. In 2006, this track was Timberlake’s first solo hit and spent seven weeks at number one. But listening to it now, 18 years later, with all that we now know about JT, and the music industry’s treatment and depiction of women, and the now-obsolete idea that women should dress, act and behave to please men, and even the idea that it’s a binary choice between being a man and being a women, it all seems (to borrow Harris’ rhetoric) very weird. Watching the music video for the track makes me want to scream, “No Justin, please do not bring sexy back, we’re good”.
Similarly, the A&F identity of old can never and should never return, but if any brand has the opportunity to “bring sexy back” on its own terms for a contemporary audience, it’s them. Because, while there’s a lot in their archive that have become skeletons in their cupboard, there’s a spirit there that would be fun to have back in the world, especially for Millennial shoppers in their forties. I’d love to see a bit of wit and sexiness from a great jeans brand, especially in a world of dull and uninspiring brands like Everlane, Madewell and, god forbid, Gap. And if they want to sell me a “going out, out” top with a built-in bra at the same time, fine. Bring it on. I go out for dinner sometimes.
So let’s see. Maybe they’ll do the real work on their business and keep it clean enough in their culture to rough things up a bit with their brand, maybe they won’t. Meanwhile, I’m happy to know that Rana’s out there rocking her jeans and feeling good. It’s the little things that count.
Thanks to Rana, Jon and John for their comments, and also to Ben Phillips for pointing me in the direction of this piece, which provides a useful insight into the nuances of bringing sexy back in the 2020’s.
Oh, and don’t blame me if you’re humming that song all weekend. It’s problematic as hell, but still slaps.