Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) is changing course. The retailer has refused to sell women's jeans above size 10 in the past and taken some public relation hits for its emphasis on beautiful people wearing its clothes and working in it stores. But starting next spring, the chain will begin selling larger sizes.
The company announced the move after reporting its seventh consecutive quarter of declining same-store sales. Comp sales were down 14 percent year-over-year during the most recent quarter for the chain.
Last spring, statements made by A&F CEO Mike Jeffries in a 2006 Salon interview republished in a book, The New Rules of Retail, by Robin Lewis and Michael Dart led to calls for the retailer to change what some saw as its "exclusionary" approach to business. A petition on Change.org calling on A&F to "embrace the beauty in all sizes" gained the support of more than 80,000.
In a May RetailWire Instant Poll, 47 percent said they believed that A&F's policy of not selling clothing for larger size women hurt the chain's reputation and sales performance. Thirty-six percent thought its approach helped.