I’ve been ‘backstage’ at Abercrombie. Netflix’s ‘White Hot’ doc is spot on

“Backstage” (as the staff-only areas were called) there were laminated lists all over the walls with exacting instructions not only on how to look, but what to say. Here’s what the “Looks Policy” said about braids alone: “Braids, twists and dreads that are free flowing from the scalp are permitted as long as they are small in diameter, no thicker than ¼ inch, and otherwise comply with the Look Policy. Associates cannot wear braids that are attached, for any significant portion of the braid, to the scalp, e.g. cornrows and French braids.” The script, meanwhile, exhorted us to “BE FRIENDLY! Say hi! Welcome to Hollister! Have a good one! Catch you later! Be sure to check out our hoodies! Our cute summer tops look great!”

Rather than the lobotomised youths you might imagine to work there, what was perplexing to me at the time was how intelligent my fellow “associates” were. All being university students or recent grads, why were they so keen to work somewhere that literally dictated what they said? Asked to go outside and invite passers-by to have their photograph taken with a half-naked male “associate” who had a law degree, I probed him on how he felt being treated like a middle-class Chippendale. “I get some stick from other boys walking past, like, ‘Put your top back on, mate’“, he said. “But it’s a great job. I’m getting paid to meet cute girls. What’s not to love?”

What’s not to love is the revelation that many of the male models and sales assistants who were hired for their buff, bronzed surfer look were also abused. “It was very well known with Bruce that he liked young men,” recalls one male employee, remembering how Bruce Weber, the fashion photographer who for decades shot A&F’s glossy, expensive advertising campaigns, would “put your hand on his chest and say ‘I’m gonna lower your hand – tell me when to stop’.” Another former male employee recounts how CEO Mike Jeffries would turn up on shoots “just to have fun. He was very into young men too. You had to go into this tent which was closed off, with just Bruce [Weber] and Mike [Jeffries] in there to see if they liked your personality.” A third recounts how, if you refused Weber’s advances, you were fired on the spot.

Weber hasn’t commented on the allegations, though he has denied other allegations that surfaced in 2017, when model Jason Boyce sued him for inappropriate behaviour. In the following months, upwards of 20 male models accused him of sexual harrassment, citing “unnecessary nudity and coercive sexual behaviour”. Through his lawyer, Weber denied the claims, releasing the statement: “I have used common breathing exercises and professionally photographed thousands of nude models over my career, but never touched anyone inappropriately”.

Jeffries declined to be interviewed, having left the company in 2015 with a $27 million retirement package. Les Wexner, CEO of parent company L Brands, also declined to be part of the documentary; he was revealed to have been involved with Jeffrey Epstein, even allowing the disgraced financier to operate on behalf of A&F as a “model scout”.

These days, A&F has a female CEO, Fran Horowitz, and has cleaned up its image. “We’re focused on inclusivity – and continuing that transformation is our enduring promise to you, our community. Always forward,” reads a typewritten message on the company’s Instagram feed. The caption below adds: “We want to be clear that the recently released documentary is not reflective of who we are now. We own and validate that there were exclusionary and inappropriate actions under former leadership.”

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All the touchy-feely marketing in the world is unlikely to convince a new generation to shop there. There are cheaper, cooler, kinder places to buy polo shirts and vest tops.

The least woke brand in the world has fallen permanently out of fashion – not because of its clothes, but because of its policies, which don’t align with its Gen Z target market. Gen Z doesn’t want to shop anywhere that makes them, or their friends, feel bad. They know what we should have known all along: that exclusion isn’t cool – it’s discriminatory.