Mike Jeffries Abercrombie CEO Open Letter From Mother: I Will Not Let My Kids Shop At Abercrombie Again

Mike Jeffries, CEO of retail giant Abercrombie & Fitch, was under fire Thursday for comments he gave an author about his retail philosophy. According to Robin Lewis, the author who claims to provide the marketing focus of Mike Jeffries when it comes to his store, said that the Abercrombie CEO doesn’t want anybody in the store that doesn’t fit that cool, young and sexy definition.

Although Lewis eventually praised Jeffries for his business focus and knowing who he targets, saying, “He is a brilliant visionary. He really crystallized this core consumer he was going after,” many have been critical of the CEO’s comments, saying it was exclusionary.

Almost the same day the retail honcho’s comment surfaced and went viral all over the web, Andrea Neusner, a blogger at The Huffington Post wrote an open letter to the CEO, in it she said that a sarcastic thank you to the CEO for clarifying why they don’t carry sizes larger than 10 in their stores at Abercrombie. She also said that their target customer of an “attractive, all-American kid with a great attitude and lots of friends” is a demographic where her daughters can be classified.

Neusner wrote, “I am a mom of 3 daughters, ages 17, 13, and 10. They are all thin, attractive, all-American kids with great attitudes and lots of friends. They shop at Abercrombie. I believe they are your target audience.”

She then included in her note a reference that she’s returning the merchandise, adding “My thin, popular, cool kids will not need them anymore.”

She closed in her letter what is a final decision on her and her children’s business relationship with Abercrombie and Fitch, “Not only will I not let my kids shop at Abercrombie again, I will not let them wear what they already have in their closets.”

Neusner concluded that she doesn’t want an “"unsuspecting thin, cool person to send the message that being exclusionary is OK."