Abercrombie & Fitch Is Facing New Sex Trafficking Charges

It Wasn’t Just You. A&F Created a Culture Where Young Models Were at Risk.

Hold A&F Accountable. If You Were Trafficked or Assaulted While Working for A&F, Please Contact Us about Your Legal Options.

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Abercrombie & Fitch Lawsuit

The “Good Life” Was Part of a Brand Riddled with Seduction & Sex Crimes.

It wasn’t a pretty picture inside those mahogany walls. Two decades later, hundreds of former Abercrombie & Fitch models-slash-employees are suing the New York-based retailer once known for its lush, perfumed storefronts, beautiful young bodies modeling the newest arrivals, and the reign of sex predator Michael Jeffries.

Please never, ever think your story wasn’t bad enough to count. If it felt creepy, it probably was.

New charges filed October 29, 2023, allege Jeffries and the company funded a sex trafficking operation along with a culture that enabled the assault of males and females around the world on company time. New hires were enticed with the prospect of becoming the brand’s next billboard face, but the young employees, eager to please and unsure about business decorum, did not ask for what happened next. And it did happen.

“We go after the cool kids,” Jeffries said in 2006. “We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely.” For years the company proudly refused to make sizes XL or XXL.

Don’t minimize what happened to you by thinking it wasn’t bad enough or that it was your fault.

Abercombie & Fitch Must Be Held Accountable.

Why does it matter now? Because men and women who were once employed by A&F and then were sexually abused by an authority figure such as the CEO, a manager, district manager or regional manager, now can hold A&F responsible for hiding potential company-wide sexual abuse its leaders were quite likely enabling.

It’s time to hold A&F accountable for the dangerous environment it created where sexual impropriety was, at best, tolerated and, at worst, commended.

It’s easy to imagine young kids in college or right out of college hired because of their looks and style. Their sexiness was promoted all day. These same hires were then taken to meetings, happy hours, and late-night drinks by their supervisors. While these events might not all have been required, they were encouraged and often paid for by the company. There was a clear expectation, when the boss invites you out: you must go.

Overt sexualization. Being cool, no matter the cost. Acting the part of the low-slung jeans model – this is what both young men and women were trained to do. A&F’s branding was clear and effective in terms of sales. It was also destructive in terms of emotional and sexual harassment.

The Netflix documentary White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch (March 2022) revealed the once-meteoric company’s rampant racism and discriminatory hiring tactics. But White Hot barely discussed the equally dark side of A&F’s brand: the worship of youth, beauty, and vitality above all else, including professional, moral, and criminal conduct that led to an implicit rape culture.

We’ve Been Here Before.

A Case for Women is an organization of mission-driven women helping others take their power back after being abused by predators under the negligent eye of profiteering institutions. In 2019, we were honored to help several women assaulted by a person in a position of power take legal action by connecting them to equally mission-driven and women-owned law firms. It is our honor to work with plaintiff law firms that provide affordable services on a contingency-fee-basis. On this initiative, we are working with Brooke Cohen and Jennifer Lenze, attorneys who have gone up against this company before in cases involving sexual assault.