Apple Crumbles and the Bird

A couple of weeks ago there was the news flying around Facebook about Abercrombie and Fitches owner, or manager or whoever claiming that he only cares about the "cool" kids and that's the only people he wants in his stores and that's why they only make clothes in size two.

Which made a whole lot of people mighty upset. How dare ugly guy (and may I say that although I myself do not find the man physically attractive, it's not nice to say that someone is ugly because everybody's beautiful in their own way - although this guy is an exception to say it about because dog gone it, he invited it) where was I? Oh yeah, people were more than a little perturbed.  How dare he make unfair judgements on people, they shouted,  and "I will never shop in his store again".

One guy even had a brilliant idea about this. He wants to gather everybody's Abercrombie and Fitch clothes and give them to the homeless so that the only people wearing those clothes will be the very people that A and F don't want wearing them.

It is pretty funny. And it clothes the homeless.

Which in itself is pretty funny in another way because every ad I've seen of A and F involves naked models who perhaps can't afford any clothes otherwise they would be wearing them. For a long time I thought A and F were selling sexual aids, not clothes. Where were the clothes?

Personally, I've never shopped at their stores. I don't think we have them in Canada. I know we don't have them in my town. So it's not problem for me to not shop at a place that doesn't have any clothes. Hans Christian Anderson wrote a story about an Emperor who walked around naked convinced that he was wearing clothes. I think A and F do the same thing as the fake tailors did to the emperor.

And frankly, the only difference between this guy and the other stores out there, is that he admits who his focus audience is. Every store caters to a certain clientele. There's some stores that you have to knock on the door, give a password and promise your first born timeshare to get in. Other stores sell to women who want to look like hookers or to men who want to be mistaken for deer hunters even if they've never held a gun. There are shops that focus in on the bigger clientele and some that only sell shoes and purses that require a mortgage.

So if A and F want to focus in on providing invisible clothes to nude size two models, then by all means do so.

The sad thing isn't the size they're focusing on. It's that this guy somehow has the concept that what you wear determines your coolness factor.

Which means that he was never cool and is still desperately searching for cool.

Here's the secret to cool. The really cool kids, don't care about being cool. The last person they're going to listen to is a cool wannabe grownup telling them what they should wear. The cool kid figures out what his/her style is and doesn't feel the need to follow others. The cool kid is usually too busy to worry that much about what is cool. They're getting good grades, or creating art, or being outstanding athletes, or doing community service or helping a friend. They're confident and kind. They don't feel the need to be exclusive like the A and F guy.

It would appear that the A and F guy has shot himself in the rear - which is pretty difficult to do and why would you because it doesn't kill you, it just makes it difficult to sit - because no one who is cool is going to want to be seen in his store after this. Those that will be in his store will be seen as desperate wannabe's, which is so not cool.

So what this guy said, doesn't bother me in the least. It's sad really because he just doesn't get it yet. A and F, if you want to focus in on a small group of people who won't shop in your stores now, then go for it.