You Don’t Look Hollister: You’re Fired

February 26th, 2010. By AbiK

What? The uber-hip, ultra-prep and ubiquitous Abercrombie & Fitch is at the center of an EEOC Complaint re: banning a Muslim employee from wearing her hijab (aka head scarf, for those of you less “hip” to all things diverse). Perish the thought!

Say it isn’t so, but oh, it’s true! Seems the Brand is the Look, and the Look is All-American-prep and so—you know, by that theory of transitivity you learned in prep school—well, the Brand is All-American-prep. Like complete mirror image. And we know brand integrity is Everything. Cap E intended.

Abercrombie & Fitch lost me a number of years ago—they used to be this quiet, reserved, quality outfitter with a store nestled in the upper recesses of Trump Tower on 5th in NYC. But then things changed. With folks like J. Crew eating up market share, well, A & F apparently found themselves in need of a re-image. Repositioning. ReBranding.

Rebrand—and expand with companies like Hollister—they did. Go into a store now and you’ll be greeted by a sea of 20-something oneness and assimiliation set to the backdrop of glaring music. Their black & white ads suggest a more “knowing” (yes, sexually) and somewhat monied and genteel crowd that I imagine the sales side of the biz only wishes it could duplicate on the sales floor. But there’s the rub. It can’t.

See, you can homogenize your ad campaign. Not so your sales staff.

So what happens when brand image isn’t playing out at the stores, or in this particular case on the stockroom floor of A&F subsidiary brand Hollister? If you’re a district manager who clearly didn’t read the page dedicated to “Diversity” on the company’s website (read excerpt below), you tell your employee that her hijab doesn’t fit the company’s look (sexy sepia!) and send her home.

But Umme-Hani Kahn—a year shy of entering that 20-something group—apparently came back to work this past Monday wearing the head scarf. See, she was trying to remain true to her religious beliefs during work hours. Well, as we know, the “look” is apparently Everything when you’re stocking inventory at Hollister—remember—the BRAND—so she was fired.

Long story short, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) filed a complaint on Wednesday. According to an article in The National Law Journal, Kahn was told at the beginning of her employment last October that she could wear the hijab. She was also told that it was ok “as long as it’s white, gray or Navy blue”—remember, the BRAND. The article also states that this complaint comes only five months after the EEOC filed suit against A&F over a similar complaint.

Oh, and here’s the that part about Diversity on the company website:

At Abercrombie & Fitch we are committed to increasing and leveraging the diversity of our associates and management across the organization. Those differences will be supported by a culture of inclusion, so that we better understand our customers, enhance our organizational effectiveness, capitalize on the talents of our workforce and represent the communities in which we do business.

Key words: “Those differences will be supported by a culture of inclusion, so that we better understand our customers…”.

Guess by that theory of transitivity—the one from prep school, remember?—A&F must not have any Muslim customers. Or maybe they won’t, now.

Tags: Abercrombie & Fitch, EEOC, Hajib, Hollister, Muslim, Umme-Hani Kahn

This was posted on Friday, February 26th, 2010 at 5:42 pm and is filed under Emerging Issues, Employment . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.