New Bedford has been no stranger to Netflix documentaries in recent years, starring in films that usually focus on true crimes, like Big Dan’s rape case or self-proclaimed “codfather” Carlos Rafael’s illegal overfishing scheme.
The latest connection between the Whaling City and the streaming giant is far tenier, but just as controversial, as New Bedford’s early-millennium pop group LFO are given a shout-out in new doc White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch.
The documentary focuses on the clothing retailer’s massive success in the second half of the 1990s and how it fizzled out in the early 2010s as the brand’s “cool kids” vibe and sense of exclusion fell out of favor with shopper audiences.
The basic premise is that Abercrombie & Fitch’s then-CEO Mike Jeffries promoted a culture of exclusivity centered on the “all American” kid, which critics say meant they were scouting models as well as young store associates , thin, attractive – and white. Store manuals at the time, for example, banned dreadlocks as an employee hairstyle, and managers were asked to rate their employees on how “cool” they found them.
Of course, most of this was unknown to the legions of young shoppers eager to be a part of the latest fashion trends, and Abercrombie & Fitch was ubiquitous by the turn of the millennium.
When Abercrombie & Fitch became big business, pop group LFO – the initials stood for Lyte Funkie Ones – were poised to break through. Rich Cronin had put the group together with Brian Gillis and third member Brad Fischetti in New Bedford. LFO had paid their dues, opened for NSYNC and attempted chart success with their first singles. Gillis later left the group and was replaced by Devin Lima.
In June 1999, LFO released Summer Girls, the group’s biggest hit. Two months later, it reached #3 on the Billboard 100. The song contains a number of non-sequitur pop culture references, and Cronin often mentions in the lyrics how he “likes girls who wear Abercrombie & Fitch.”
The documentary briefly mentions the LFO hit to demonstrate how much the retailer had infiltrated the American consumer zeitgeist at the time.
Patrick Carone, former associate editor of the retailer’s “Magalog” A&F Quarterly, said it was the big moment for the brand.
“The high point, when we finally all knew we’d made it, was when LFO came out with ‘Summer Girls,'” he said. “It came out right in the summer like alright we’re doing something right.”
It was the culmination of Jeffries’ plan to see Abercrombie & Fitch as the pinnacle of American retail.
“That was probably the coolest thing that ever happened to Mike Jeffries. In that moment, he knew he had done what he wanted,” said Dr. Kjerstin Gruys, former merchandiser at A&F.
Jeffries left the company in 2014 amid declining sales as it appeared A&F’s exclusionary approach had been anticipated.
“At some point, the kids who learned that being bullied isn’t cool grew up and decided they didn’t want to spend money in a place that made them feel bad,” Gruys said. “So, Abercrombie & Fitch, some of that aura has gone, precisely because exclusion was at the root of their success — and exclusion itself isn’t that cool anymore.”
In the film, a spokesperson told the filmmakers that Abercrombie “has evolved into a place of belonging rather than fitting in.” former leadership.”
As for LFO, the group broke up in 2002 but later had a brief reunion for a few months in 2009. Cronin battled leukemia on several occasions beginning in 2005 before passing away in 2010 at the age of 36. Lima was diagnosed with stage four adrenal cancer in 2017 and died a year later at the age of 41.
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