Boycott Abercrombie & Fitch

 Women don't need any help being body conscience. At times if not most we are overly aware and brutal with ourselves. We torture ourselves by longing to be like the airbrushed size -10 model we see in the magazines. We constantly compare ourselves with each other. Seeing what she has that I want. Thinking I'm not good enough. Not beautiful. We feel guilty when we eat. We dread putting on a bathing suit. The mental torture we put ourselves through is anguishing. We feed this vicious circle with magazine ads, Hollywood and our own insecurities.  If only I could wear this then I be happy. WRONG! The minute you put a pound back you'll feel just as miserable. The battle is NOT on the scale but in our minds. We have to first love ourselves before we can find true peace. The Bible tells us that we are " ....fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."(Psalm 139:14) We are a creation of God and everything that God has created is beautiful. I'm not saying this lightly. I have been to the darkness and back. I have struggled with my self-image for most of my life. So this verse is a daily reminder for me as it should be for you. We don't need anyone else telling us we're not good enough.  This is why I'm so upset to hear the views of Abercrombie & Fitch's CEO Mike Jeffries

Abercrombie & Fitch doesn't carry XL or XXL sizes of women’s clothing because they don’t  want overweight women wearing their brand. The largest size they carry is a 10. They do carry XL or XXL in men, but those are meant for the sporty muscular men.

Abercrombie’s attitude towards plus-sized women derives from CEO Mike Jeffries. Robin Lewis, author of The New Rules of Retail, spoke to Business Insider about the kind of people Jeffries wants advertising his brand.

   "He doesn’t want larger people shopping in his store, he wants thin and beautiful people,” Lewis said. “He doesn’t want his core customers to see people who aren’t as hot as them wearing his clothing. People who wear his clothing should feel like they’re one of the ‘cool kids."

Mike Jeffries views are seen in his 2006 interview with Salon Magazine.

"It’s almost everything. That’s why we hire good-looking people in our stores. Because good-looking people attract other good-looking people, and we want to market to cool, good-looking people. We don’t market to anyone other than that....In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids. Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely. Those companies that are in trouble are trying to target everybody: young, old, fat, skinny. But then you become totally vanilla. You don’t alienate anybody, but you don’t excite anybody, either.”


 Apparently in his eyes the only trait one must have to be beautiful is to be thin. If you want to be cool then you gotta be thin. I'm appalled! That's the type of attitude that has brought on this dysfunction of self-image. We've allowed others to determine our self worth. God has already told you your worth! "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16) That is how much He values you! His is the only outside opinion that counts!

I'm very disappointed in Abercrombie & Fitch's practices. They are contributing to this destructive trend of distorting beauty. Hopefully one day they'll see the harm they are doing.

In the meantime remember that (to quote one my favorite movies):

"You is Kind. You is Smart. You is Important." And You is Beautiful no matter your size!