Dec 5, 2005 11:19 pm US/Eastern
Local Girls Meet With Abercrombie & Fitch Execs
David Highfield
Reporting
(KDKA)
A boycott of a clothing company earned a group of teenage girls national attention.
Fifteen Allegheny County girls between the ages of 13-16, boarded buses for a trip to the Abercrombie and Fitch headquarters.
The group voiced opposition to Abercrombie and Fitch 's line of ‘Attitude T's’.
The move garnered national attention and a ‘Girlcott’ followed.
They called the messages on the t-shirts, ‘sexist and degrading’.
The girlcott was so successful that the girls got to meet with company executives in Columbus, Ohio to deliver a list of ideas.
“Personally I was most nervous just waiting,” said Emma Blackman-Mathis, of Girls As Grantmakers. “Then once we got in the boardroom, we saw the Abercrombie and Fitch executives were really, really nice.”
“We did the best we could under the circumstances and we're not disappointed,” said Yagmur Muftouglu..
They already got the company to pull two t-shirts - one of which read ‘Who needs brains when you have these?’.
They still want four others pulled, including t-shirts that read – ‘I had a nightmare I was a brunette’ and ‘Do I make you look fat?’.
“I think that they should pull the other shirts because they're also degrading,” said Denise Jones. “But I think it's a success with only two shirts pulled.”
The girls also gave the company a list of slogans they'd like to see on new shirts. The actual slogans are top-secret, but they gave us a hint about the subject matter.
“We have a couple of basic themes empowering girls in education, embracing beauty and different standards of beauty,” Jones said.
They also questioned the company about diversity.
“Their pictures, their models are the skinny tanned college students and that has nothing to pertain to me,” said Maya Savage..
“A number of times, actually, they kept saying to the girls your voices are not falling on deaf ears,” said Heather Arnet.
The girls expect to hear back from the company before Christmas. They told A & F that if the company uses any of its slogans, they'd like donation to be made to the Girls As Grantmakers organization.
KDKA’s David Highfield reports that if A & F doesn't like the slogans, some other companies have already shown interest.
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