Abercrombie CEO Sorry That People Didn’t Like When He Said Plus-Size People Don’t Belong In His Clothes

Abercrombie CEO Mike Jeffries looks more like Gary Busey than one of his models.

Abercrombie CEO Mike Jeffries looks more like Gary Busey than one of his models.

A couple weeks back, the Internet found more reasons to hate Abercrombie & Fitch after people resurrected a 2006 interview in which CEO Mike Jeffries said his company deliberately avoids selling to the “not-so-cool kids,” which was his way of referring to people who aren’t skinny. Now Jeffries is apologizing, not for what he said, but really just because people are upset about it.

In the original Salon piece, Jeffries explained 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.”

He said that companies that offer sizes for a wide range of customers “are in trouble are trying to target everybody: young, old, fat, skinny.”

So after all of Jeffries’ interview was dredged up and dissected online, he felt compelled to issue a statement yesterday that is a perfect example of a non-apology:

“I sincerely regret that my choice of words was interpreted in a manner that has caused offense,” reads Jeffries’ statement. “We are completely opposed to any discrimination, bullying, derogatory characterizations or other anti-social behavior based on race, gender, body type or other individual characteristics.”

That being said, the company says it has no plans to offer larger sizes of clothing.

We’re not saying A&F needs to make sizes larger than 10; it has every right to sell whatever sizes it wants. The problem here is that Jeffries — not exactly a supermodel himself — chose to use insults to explain his company’s stance rather than merely point out that every clothing company can’t appeal to every possible customer.

Because unlike the school lunch room, where the “not-so-cool kids” rarely say anything when being excluded, they will speak up loudly when you mock them in the real world.

In the meantime, Jerry from Parks & Rec is here to tell everyone how you too, can be like the cool kids:

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