The trailer for Netflix's Abercrombie & Fitch documentary will make you smell phantom cologne
White Hot: The Rise & Fall Of Abercrombie & Fitch confronts the brand's racist, fatphobic history
Get transported to the mall with the trailer for Netflix’s new documentary about Abercrombie & Fitch. Depending on where you were 15 to 20 years ago, you probably started smelling Fierce cologne and picturing a shirtless male model just by reading those words!
White Hot: The Rise & Fall Of Abercrombie & Fitch aims to interrogate the brand’s role in upholding rigid beauty standards that only accepted those who were thin, young, and white. (Given their prominence during the 2000s, it seems like a huge missed opportunity to not call it “The Low-Rise & Fall.”) Directed by Alison Klayman (Jagged), the film takes a look back at the chain’s hypersexual yet preppy image via interviews with former employees, executives, and models.
“Abercrombie rooted themselves in discrimination at every single level,” one subject describes.
What’s being referred to, of course, is former CEO Mike Jeffries and his notorious 2006 statement that “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.”
Beyond employee policies forbidding dreadlocks and headscarves, the products themselves also came under fire for being racist. Overall, pretty wild for a brand that started in 1892 as a fishing gear company!
“Abercrombie said it wasn’t that we were being racially discriminated against, it was that we weren’t good-looking enough,” another source recalls.
Since Jeffries’ retirement in 2014 and the installation of Fran Horowitz as CEO in 2017, Abercrombie has dramatically rebranded.
As of this writing, a banner reading “Today—and every day—we’re leading with purpose, championing inclusivity and creating a sense of belonging” is at the top of the Abercrombie site, linking to a page that details the brand’s six-figure donations and merchandise collections in honor of Black History Month and Pride Month. Women’s clothing is technically available in sizes up to 24, though the selection is extremely limited.
White Hot: The Rise & Fall Of Abercrombie & Fitch premieres on Netflix April 19. Back in 2020, the Quibi docuseries Big Rad Wolf examined the ill-fated trajectory of American Apparel, another clothing brand that was controversial for its highly sexualized advertising and emphasis on conventionally attractive employees during the 2000s.