Abercromie Lawsuit
 

Abercrombie Lawsuit

I remember when Abercrombie came to Greenville, SC. They set up a table in our Student Union saying they only wanted members from the popular fraternities and sororities to apply. I'm sorry but how in the world would they know who or what was popular? One of my sisters applied (she could have opened up an abercrombie store on her own with all of the clothes she owned from them) and didn't get the job. This is one of the nicest girls I have ever met! Also one of my sister's boyfriends worked there. They made him work in the back because he was too helpful and wanted to help the customers... LOL

ps. racisim sucks :mad:

The company promotes the policy by recruiting from overwhelmingly white fraternities and sororities, and producing catalogs and store promotional materials with mostly white models, according to the lawsuit.

I read a similar article this morning which was worded closer to what you said. This statement also came at the end.

One moment they are described as "upscale" and then they say
"geared to college crowd". Those two statemnts don't always go hand in hand.

I'm mixed about this because I do see the need to keep hiring practices in check. Yet, maybe it's the "Republican" in me that says a company should hire who they want to hire and anyone not liking it can choose not to shop there. On the other side, you have a situation like EXXON where only whites were promoted regardless of ability.

I do think it's kind of funny they made a point about fraternities and sororities, yet I think one of the fraternities does dominate the employees at A&F in Baton Rouge. In Houston, the SXs were all over the popular restaurants. Steak and Ale and Strawberry Patch were almost exclusive in their hiring. If a manager KNOWS the emplyees through an affiliation, is that so wrong? He is hiring people he can trust and enjoy working with. That in turn makes the whole environment "fun" which will be apparant to the clientel. Not to mention draw in more business. Its was all about the atmosphere.

This company is just scandals in spurts.

A few thoughts from my never-humble opinion generating brain...

First - welcome to the USA - good 'ol "what can I sue you for?" country where people LOVE to play hide and seek for a lawsuit wherever they can get one.

Second - to bring in the whole fraternity/sorority reference was ludicrous. Talk about OUT of place - it was like, "um, we are being discriminated against, and oh yeah, could you mention the greek aspect for the hell of it..."

Third - this excerpt made me go hmmm.... "Another plaintiff, Angeline Wu, a Chinese-American, alleges she was terminated from a store in Costa Mesa, Calif after a manager pointed at a poster of a blond-haired, blue-eyed male model and said the store needed more staff members with a similar appearance."

My thought to this remark that was *allegedly* made was that the manager very well could have meant that she (assuming it was such - but hey, if it was a guy, there's nothing wrong with that ;)) was saying "yummy - we need more people who look like him". I know for a fact that I have had this conversation with employees in stores before. Heck, once, the set-up guy at Belks was removing a huge poster of a FINE looking Polo model - he said he was going to trash it, and the CLERK and I were about to go to blows over which one of us could take it home (in this case, the clerk was a guy - *too funny* to see us standing in there fighting over the poster :D) So of course in the context it was presented it sounds all sinister, but it may not have been. And NO ONE mentioned the performance record of these people -- how do we know what they were doing at work?

I guess it boils down to this for me - I don't care if you are green, purple, or rainbow striped -- if you do your job, and you are good at it, then no one should have a problem with you. If it is a true discrimination case, then they deserve to sue and win their case. Unfortunately we have all seen and heard of PHONY discrimination cases -- my father-in-law had one where a female employee who DID NOT do her job, and was warned on several occassions, told him after he fired her "that's okay - I'm a woman and I will just sue you and you know I'll win" -- and walked out. Thankfully a jury saw past her little charade and didn't find in her favor. I just think that the world would be a much happier place if people weren't so freakin' sue-happy!!

Don't ya just love that! :rolleyes: Ugh!

I hope ABercrombie loose so there be less of them in a DMB concert. :D

Pretty much anything in a coutroom is alleged... if Ambercrombie did in fact fire her because of a poor work record, I'm pretty sure they would try to prove that in court. If however, she did not have a bad record, it's going to be pretty hard to convice 12 people that they fired her for poor work. So even though it didn't come up in the article, it would be my guess that they are going to at least *try* to prove that in court with work records.

Quote:

I guess it boils down to this for me - I don't care if you are green, purple, or rainbow striped -- if you do your job, and you are good at it, then no one should have a problem with you. If it is a true discrimination case, then they deserve to sue and win their case.

I agree. Although unfortunately, not all people think the same as you (about the green, purple and rainbow-striped people.)

Out of observation in the various Abercrombie stores I've been in various parts of Texas, a lot of the employees pretty much look the same. Not "all" employees, but a lot of them. That's just my observation though.

I also think that whole "we only want people from the 'popular' fraternities and sororities" deal is stupid, but that's just me :)

We don't have A&F in Canada anymore (back then, they called it "Abercrombie & Fitch"), but I remember when it was a more upscale store.....pretty much a direct competitor to
Polo-Ralph Lauren. Now it's just a glorified American Eagle or Gap..... it's an okay store, but I don't think it's *that* great......

Just my random thoughts............back to the thread....

The case may be bunk, but I hate that overpriced, POS, yuppie-in-training store. Ditto on the whole "upscale does not equal college crowd" statement. Geez, we eat Ramen noodles, wear flip flops and live in PJ pants! No one can afford a 25 buck t-shirt with a slanderous saying on it. :rolleyes:

And not only that, but we also can't afford to buy those thongs for our future 7 year old daughters...:rolleyes: Personally I hate A&F because their sh*t is so overpriced. Not expensive. Expensive implies you're getting something. Give me Banana Republic or J.Crew any day.

AMEN!!! I dont get what is so great about A&F. They're clothes look like they've been worn for 15 years yet they are priced as new....WTF??? If i want to look like that I'll just pull out some of my old faded clothes that i wore in high school. I sooo prefer SAKS, Banana, and Express over A&F ANYDAY!!!

What's this? GREEKS (who are often stereotyped themselves, of course) STEREOTYPING people who wear Abercrombie again?

Yep. I admit. I'm lazy. ;)

I think this whole lawsuit is silly. There are many types of clothing "geared" towards certain races. As someone said earlier, welcome to America where it's okay to sue for anything. Soon we'll be sueing Chinese Food places for not selling American food and crap like that. While I feel bad for the people mentioned in the article, I also wonder why they would want to work there after such a big stink was created?!

That's my $0.02

Abercrombie sucks. I own one sweater, and I bought it through Ebay for $12. I heart Ebay.

I prefer Gap and Banana Republic. Good price and great quality.
Of course, I would buy them all in Ebay also.

I HEART EBAY:D

lol.:p There are Two A & F stores here in Cleveland and I got to the one in Tower City Center. The Staff there is somewhat diverse. I can understand the lawsuit. But the comment about "We want only the Popular Fraternities and Sororities" : just plain dumb.:o

Sounds like that particular A&B shop is a cool club shop. Seriously, if the allegation is true, sounds like the manager is trying re-live his high school glory.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the suit is more about personnel and attitudes toward the staff than the clothing in the store.

I know they are trying to sell a certain image, but I think their hiring practices are sketchy. I have 6 friends that have worked for abercrombie in the past and all 6 were recruited while wondering the mall. And my former manager at the gap used to be a manager at abercrombie and he said that his managers told him to hire people that he would have sex with. I guess only attractive people.

Call me skeptical, I just don't think this is legit. As I heard it on the news, the suit was filed by nine hispanic and Asian employees or individuals who applied for a job. It really sounds like they were could have been conspiring to bring this suit in the first place. I mean, if nine of ANY group of people apply for the same job, some will be turned down. If the majority of applicants are white (which at an A&F store that should be a fairly safe assumption), it shouldn't come as a surprise that most of the employees are white.

For certain jobs you must maintain a certain appearance. Especially in sales. The manager could have been referring to a whole myriad of different things when pointing to the blonde-haired, blue-eyed poster. The Asian girl just assumed that it was a racial thing (or was looking for an excuse).

If it's legitimate, I hope A&F hurts for it. If this is just legal opportunism, trying to profit from calling someone a racist, it's pretty sick.

I have to agree with many posts on here! :) I think some of the Abercrombie clothes are cute but I have a problem with the Abercrombie Kids store selling thongs made for 6 year olds and the very high prices. I prefer Express but sadly I don't get that over here! I wish they sold on the internet! Oh well! I think anyone should be allowed to work at their stores. Before their cataloges became sorta X rated I used to look at them. I remembered the models were from vaious ethnic backgrounds but that was a while ago. And I know their is a difference b/w being an A&F model and a sells clerk. What do you all think?

I also think if you dont like what the company stands, then dont shop there. Moreover from a marketing perspective all the ads I have seen for abercrombie have been white males that are jacked, and petite white women. Even more, I live in DC which is pretty diverse and their must be around 6 stores in the area and I have never seen any other ethnicities on the sales floor.

I began boycotting them when they did that RIDICULOUS shirt a while ago

"Wong Brothers Laundry Service - Two Wongs Can Make it White.'' :mad: :rolleyes:

I am with you. I make too much money to settle for A&F
I shop only at stores where people who make my kind of money shop
Thus, reducing me to a broke college student when I'm done
But the clothes are worth it

I know very few people that buy A&F anymore, mostly because they are so overpriced. A couple years ago, the stereotype at my school was the "Abercrombie frat boy" look, and at the time, it looked like everyone dressed in Abercrombie. Now, people aren't into labels as much, especially when they realize that it' their own money they have to spend. Wh can afford those prices on a regular basis??

Went to A&F last week and dropped 100 bucks on a shirt and a pair of shorts. The prices are outragous but i dont see much of a difference between the prices of abercrombie and the prices of express and banana. the way it is around here is that they recruit you to work there. I was walking through the store one day when a girl who worked there asked me if I wanted a job there, I said no when Ifound out how much I would have made. They pay with peanuts so I dont really know who the hell would want to work there. Also last time i was there a mother with her son asked me for help, i helped her find a pair of shorts cuz I kinda knew no employee's were going to help her. They are pretty rude high school kids that work there. I dont get it cuz I make like twice as much as they do anyway. Maybe I should go back in there and tell them I 'm in the most popular frat on campus, maybe they will offer me another job!

Good point. Hence, I don't shop there. I don't want to fall into some sort of stereotype and I didn't appreciate their asian-motif shirts a year or so ago. Yes, I know stereotypes are wrong but unfortunately they still happen. And even if I didn't care, A&F isn't really my style. I'm much more tailored and classic. I've never ever been trendy. Plus, like WhiteChocolate said, the clothes at places like Banana are worth it. I bought a pair of khakis there over 3 years ago and I still have them. And they've yet to go out of style. I'm not impressed w/ people who buy overpriced trendy things. It shows they don't understand how to invest in things.

I knew a girl that worked for them. She told me that it was pretty much slave labour because you make enough to buy their cloth, and you are required to wear their cloth at work. So whatever you make pretty much go back to your "uniform".

The last time I went to A&F (about 2 years ago), the guy working there told me,

"We lost over a million dollars worth of merchandise in this store. It's pathetically easy to shoplift from here."

Me: "Umm.....why don't you put those little alarms on your clothes. Or cameras in the store. Or something."

Him: "We don't want to ruin the quality."

Hee! WHAT quality? It's f'n t-shirts & holey jeans!!

Then, he proceded to tell me exactly how to shoplift things out of the store. :rolleyes:

Not that this has anything to do with bad hiring practices....just a random A&F gripe. :)

I'm guessing their next move will be home fashions, with a special sale on white sheets with eye holes. :rolleyes: ;)

Well, there's another store worth the boycott!

http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmili...e/bluegrab.gif http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/eek4.gif http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/confangry.gif

Re: Abercromie Lawsuit
 

It's funny you mentioned the store from Greenville, SC because I'm from Greenville and that store has had a LOT of issues. I remember when it first opened up several Afr. Am from the community complained about the store because they had a bad habit of following black people around the store and asking if they needed their bags stappled....From then on I told myself I would never set foot in their store.

Ive never heard of a store stapling bags. I think thats terrible.

LOL!!!

I never did like A&F. I could get the same effect if I got an outfit from Wal Mart and ran over it a few times and slang mud on it.

I have seen their catalogs and ads and stuff and it's pretty clear who they cater to.

CTFU

Where are you from?

You obviously never been to a shop in the hood or owned by foreigners, lol.

THANK YOU!


Except the Walmart outfit would have cost maybe 10 bucks, and not 100.

Why spend 30 bucks on a worn hat where I can just buy a better looking hat and soil it myself?

What's with the torn brims anyway?

The sad thing is abercrombie used to be a good quality company, then they got bought out. I never go in the stores because I can't stand getting blasted by the shitty techno music.

When you work in retail, you ARE required to have a certain look for certain stores - for example, if you are the crunchy granola type you're not going to get a job at Sephora. If you are super preppy you're not going to get a job at Hot Topic. The company has every right to do that - it's part of the marketing and selling. However, race is a different story. You can be either of those things no matter what color you are.

Hmmmmmmmmm-If they don't hire ME at Hot Topic, can I SUE???:D

JACKPOT JUSTICE!!!! Gotta love it!

LMAO at Justamom!