The Netflix documentary White Hot sheds light on Abercrombie

The Netflix documentary White Hot sheds light on Abercrombie & Fitch’s racism

Entertainment News / By /

In the 2000s, there were few everyday fashion brands as cool as Manhattan’s Abercrombie and Fitch. From song lyrics to celebrity wardrobes to some of the world’s most exclusive storefronts, it seemed like the brand would never go out of style.

things have changed. After countless stories of employee abuse ravaged A&F’s reputation in mid-2010, Netflix recently sealed the brand’s coffin with its latest documentary, White Hot, directed by Alison Klayman.

Along with their fame, the brand and its CEO, Mike Jeffries, ushered in a core idea that White Hot explored extensively — that if you don’t look good, you’re not good enough to wear A&F. It wasn’t just about conforming to a particular aesthetic—although that was certainly key—Jeffries’ philosophy targeted everything from body type to race, while shoving several employees under the rug in the process.

Jeffries himself has a big role in the documentary’s film roles – which focus on exposing his obsession with – well, hot white guys. In a now infamous 2006 interview, he said:

“In every school, there are the cool and popular kids and then there are the not-so-cool kids,” Jeffries said. “Frankly, we go after the cool kids.

“We are looking for an attractive all-American boy with a great attitude and lots of friends. A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they cannot belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely. The companies that are in trouble try to appeal to everyone: young, old, fat, thin. But then you get totally vanilla.”

That sounds like fair business practices — but beneath the surface, managers were told to hire with a strong ethnic bias — fostering a toxic work environment that led to a 2015 case in the US Supreme Court for refusing to hire a person Hijab wearing Hijab. Just check out this shot from the documentary, which focuses on a set of directions for hiring managers:

Yes – quite racist.

The prejudice also affected the company’s design teams – the early 2000s were littered with designs that infused Asian stereotypes. One particularly egregious example dates back to 2002 – a T-shirt that read “Wong Brothers Laundry Service – Two Wongs can make it white”.

Of course, Twitter celebrated the documentary’s recent success – with several praising the brave efforts of Carla Barrientos, Dr. Anthony Ocampo and Jennifer Sheahan – three former employees who fought against the company’s racist policies and were interviewed by the production team.

Others came together to share their own experiences with the brand – posting old teenage photos and sharing their regrets about shopping at A&F:

Today, the brand has largely attempted to reverse that image since Jeffries resigned in 2014 after two decades of promoting toxic brand ideology:

For most of us it’s too little too late.

(Selected image credits: Netflix)