October 23, 2012--Abercrombie & Fitch
I go back far enough to remember when Abercrombie & Fitch devoted an entire floor of its Manhattan flagship store to bar equipment.
There were at least a dozen different kinds of cocktail shakers, bar glasses (including some with etched hunting scenes, dogs, and golfing images), and bar carts of various sizes and complexity so you could wheel your martinis and gimlets from room to room to patio.
When I was being bad, I thought A&F was the WASPiest store in the world. Needless to say, I never bought anything there. In my old neighborhood the only acceptable thing alcoholic was the syrupy sacramental wine served at Passover that we sipped from our great grandfather's silver cup. No need for etched shot or highball glasses.
Years went by and I thought very little about Abercrombie & Fitch. But then one day, while window shopping in trendy Soho in New York City, I noticed streams of skinny young things walking around in Abercrombie & Fitch t-shirts and soon thereafter I became aware of sexy ads for A&F in magazines such as Vogue and GQ.
What happened?
As the culture shifted and there was no longer much demand for crystal decanters much less for A&F's big-game hunting equipment--pith helmets and elephant guns for decades had been A&F staples--the store was bought by mass marketer billionaire Leslie Wexner and soon thereafter there were A&Fs in hundreds of malls all over America; and when Wexner hired Michael Jeffries to serve as CEO, he figured out how to turn stuffy Abercrombie into a hip outlet appealing to urban teens and preteens.
What Jeffries figured out was how to market clothing to teenagers and, literally, thongs to 10-year-olds and padded bikini tops to 7-year-olds.
Get the picture?
But Jeffries may be about to receive his comeuppance. He is being sued by the former pilot of A&F's private Gulfstream jet for age discrimination; and as evidence to support his claim, the pilot placed in the court record a manual of instructions for those who fly Jeffries and his entourage from mall to mall to St. Barts.
The New York Times the other day presented some of the tidbits from that flight manual:
Employees working on the plane must greet Jeffries and his guests wearing an Abercrombie polo shirt, jeans, and flip-flops. Once airborne, the all male crew are expected to slip out of their jeans and work the cabin in their boxer briefs. There are details about which magazines to provide (all with those pesty inserts removed) and respond to requests by saying, "No problem." Unacceptable are "Sure" and "Just a minute."
The manual also instructs the maintenance crew how to vacuum the cabin--"From the front of the aircraft to the back, pulling the vacuum toward you to make smooth, even lines." Also included are instructions about how the beds are to be made--"Iron the exposed top sheets"; and what snacks to provide--"Prepare a bowl of pretzels and one of Squirrel Nuts."
A stickler for details, Michael Jeffries even has instructions about how his dogs are to be accommodated--"When Ruby and Trouble travel, Ruby will sit opposite Michael in the cabin." There is no mention about Trouble's preferences, though I suspect he likes a window seat.
Though the company's stock plummeted this past year--down by half--and since the former pilot, now 55, may in fact win his age discrimination suite (I am thinking he doesn't any longer look hot in boxers), the board a while ago gave Jeffries a lump sum payment of $4.0 million to help offset the cost of his not using the company jet so often for personal travel.
That seems fair, but I wonder how Ruby and Trouble feel about it.
There were at least a dozen different kinds of cocktail shakers, bar glasses (including some with etched hunting scenes, dogs, and golfing images), and bar carts of various sizes and complexity so you could wheel your martinis and gimlets from room to room to patio.
When I was being bad, I thought A&F was the WASPiest store in the world. Needless to say, I never bought anything there. In my old neighborhood the only acceptable thing alcoholic was the syrupy sacramental wine served at Passover that we sipped from our great grandfather's silver cup. No need for etched shot or highball glasses.
Years went by and I thought very little about Abercrombie & Fitch. But then one day, while window shopping in trendy Soho in New York City, I noticed streams of skinny young things walking around in Abercrombie & Fitch t-shirts and soon thereafter I became aware of sexy ads for A&F in magazines such as Vogue and GQ.
What happened?
As the culture shifted and there was no longer much demand for crystal decanters much less for A&F's big-game hunting equipment--pith helmets and elephant guns for decades had been A&F staples--the store was bought by mass marketer billionaire Leslie Wexner and soon thereafter there were A&Fs in hundreds of malls all over America; and when Wexner hired Michael Jeffries to serve as CEO, he figured out how to turn stuffy Abercrombie into a hip outlet appealing to urban teens and preteens.
What Jeffries figured out was how to market clothing to teenagers and, literally, thongs to 10-year-olds and padded bikini tops to 7-year-olds.
Get the picture?
But Jeffries may be about to receive his comeuppance. He is being sued by the former pilot of A&F's private Gulfstream jet for age discrimination; and as evidence to support his claim, the pilot placed in the court record a manual of instructions for those who fly Jeffries and his entourage from mall to mall to St. Barts.
The New York Times the other day presented some of the tidbits from that flight manual:
Employees working on the plane must greet Jeffries and his guests wearing an Abercrombie polo shirt, jeans, and flip-flops. Once airborne, the all male crew are expected to slip out of their jeans and work the cabin in their boxer briefs. There are details about which magazines to provide (all with those pesty inserts removed) and respond to requests by saying, "No problem." Unacceptable are "Sure" and "Just a minute."
The manual also instructs the maintenance crew how to vacuum the cabin--"From the front of the aircraft to the back, pulling the vacuum toward you to make smooth, even lines." Also included are instructions about how the beds are to be made--"Iron the exposed top sheets"; and what snacks to provide--"Prepare a bowl of pretzels and one of Squirrel Nuts."
A stickler for details, Michael Jeffries even has instructions about how his dogs are to be accommodated--"When Ruby and Trouble travel, Ruby will sit opposite Michael in the cabin." There is no mention about Trouble's preferences, though I suspect he likes a window seat.
Though the company's stock plummeted this past year--down by half--and since the former pilot, now 55, may in fact win his age discrimination suite (I am thinking he doesn't any longer look hot in boxers), the board a while ago gave Jeffries a lump sum payment of $4.0 million to help offset the cost of his not using the company jet so often for personal travel.
That seems fair, but I wonder how Ruby and Trouble feel about it.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
6:02 AM
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