The clothing firm will no longer base its hiring policy around physical attractivenessThe clothing firm Abercrombie & Fitch have scrapped its current hiring policy based on physical attractiveness and body type as it plans to stop its ‘sexualised marketing’.
The slim white models commonplace on the shop floor at the stores no longer to be the hiring policy, with the company scrapping the rules governing the attractiveness of hires, which signals the end of former CEO Mike Jeffries’ reign at the store.
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The president of Abercrombie and head of sister-company Hollister, told Bloomberg they believe stores and clothes were tailored to Jeffries’ whims for too long.
Some of the strange and controversial ideas Jeffries banned included French manicures, hair gels and moustaches on stores workers. Until last year he had refused to sell black clothes. The former CEO also put together a 40-plus page manual that dictated the behaviour and dress of staff on his private jet.
The new heads hope that discrimination cases like the one brought by Samantha Elauf, who claimed in a Supreme Court trial that she was denied a job because she wore a headscarf, are a thing of the past.
The new hiring policy will not restrict employees to a dress code as Abercrombie attempts to modernising. In another boost for employees, eyeliner will now be allowed to be worn when working.
In a letter distributed last week to the company’s regional and district managers read: ‘‘Abercrombie & Fitch will recruit and hire the best associates whose focus will be on offering our customers an excellent in-store experience”
‘‘We will not tolerate discrimination based on body type or physical attractiveness and will not tolerate discrimination in hiring based on any category protected under the law.’’
