Fitch, The Real World, and Summer Girls

The summer before my sophomore year of high school (the same summer as my aforementioned incident) I was a typical petite teenager with an immense desire to fit in with my peers and wear what the “cool” kids were wearing.  Every pass by the Abercrombie and Fitch store in the mall made me want that pair of size 4 faded bell bottom jeans even more.

Now, let’s get a little perspective here.  I grew up in Eastern Kentucky.  My mother and father both worked day in and day out to provide me a comfortable trailer to live in (now that I’ve moved, apparently we don’t call them trailer parks but “manufactured homes”).  Let’s face it, I wasn’t rich by any means but enjoyed a nice simple life in the trailer park (just being honest,  it’s a trailer park.  No shame here).    Not long after I started high school, my parents finally purchased their first home together, one that didn’t have wheels that is.  We settled into a small three bedroom ranch with a bigger back yard and an above ground swimming pool.  I was pretty much in teenager heaven at that point.  

Now my parents may have been able to buy a home with an added perk, but they were by no means in a position to be dropping 80 dollars on a pair of jeans.  Being the naive teenager I was, I could not fathom why my parents didn’t want me to be cool.  I mean after all, I had a pool now!  I probably said some nasty things to my mother that I can never take back that summer when she denied me even entering that migraine headache, asthma attack inducing Abercrombie store.  Looking back (as most people do as they grow older), I do not understand how I had let my world revolve around getting a pair of jeans.  

My mother could see that I wanted a new “cool” outfit for the first day of school more than anything that I had wanted throughout my short life.  I had survived freshman year, kept my 4.0, and worked weekends at the skating rink for little to nothing to have some spending money, but nothing significant enough to buy anything labeled with A&F.  So my Mom, in all of her wisdom and desire to appease her teenage daughter, found a place called “Plato’s Closet”.  This little boutique style store was not far from the crowded mall where most people did their school shopping so it wasn’t too far from where we would have traveled anyway.

Gently used “name brand” clothing, shoes and accessories lined the walls of that hole in the wall store in a non-descript suburban strip mall.  I searched the jeans rack with an intensity akin to the dedication needed to end world famine or build a rocket.   I was bound and determined to find that coveted pair of jeans.  After several minutes, I came upon the treasure I was seeking.  There on the rack was a pair of size 4 Abercrombie and Fitch jeans, complete with the petite length.  I should have bought my mother an award for dealing with such an emotional roller coaster as I had been that day.  I snagged that pair of jeans for $20 and my mom even let me pick out a few shirts to go along with my loot.  My first day of school outfit had been found, complete with a green shirt emblazoned with that (now obnoxious) Abercrombie and Fitch logo on the front.

I never got to wear those jeans.  My incident occurred three days before school started that year and by the time I recovered and returned to school, I was 5 sizes larger than the largest size Abercrombie and Fitch even offers.  I had been from one extreme to the other.  I was very small, then not so very small.  At all.  Those jeans would sit in a drawer for over 2 years before I finally handed them off to someone new.

So it brings me to the current issue surrounding the CEO of Abercrombie and Fitch.  My facebook feed has been abuzz with the article titled “Abercrombie and Fitch CEO Explains Why He Hates Fat Chicks”.  Do I think that he could have said better things?  Yes.  Do I think everyone is entitled to their opinion?  Also a yes.  

Here’s how I see this situation:  I have been from one extreme to the other and back again in terms of my weight.  I used to desperately want to shop at Abercrombie and Fitch because I thought that would make me cool.  That was 10 years ago and I still thought clothing defined who you were.  You see these two pictures?

Besides the fact they are both me at my heaviest and now, they have one striking thing in common.  Neither one of them can fit into Abercrombie and Fitch clothing.  And to be honest… who cares!?  I am not defined by what I wear but rather what I can do.  People are going to be mean.  They are going to say hurtful things.  They are going to try and tear your down.  So what?  Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and show them what you can DO.  

I have the body of a mature woman, who considers herself somewhat athletic.  I do not base my self-worth on the fact that I can’t fit into clothing sold by a company targeting the pre-pubescent bodies of 2001.  Somewhere deep inside, I think the CEO of Abercrombie and Fitch sees this too.  His clothing line is no longer as relevant in a society where there are fit women who have curves and can squat, press, lift, and run circles around him.  Perhaps this comment is his attempt to gain some sort of publicity in the face of company decline.

Regardless of whether he is genuinely a shallow human being or said this for publicity purposes, I do not care what the CEO of an overpriced, outdated company thinks of me, and neither should you.  I choose to shop wherever I find clothes that are comfortable, make me feel good about myself, and show off my hard work.  Abercrombie and Fitch is not one of those places. 

I am not offended.  If I was, then it would be more about my emotional health than anything pertaining to my physical appearance.  I define myself by rep counts, weight increases and race times.  I define myself by smiles, and laughter and good times with friends.  I define myself by hard work, dedication, determination and perseverance.  

Don’t like your weight?  Do something about it.  Don’t like that you can’t run a mile without stopping?  Do something about it.  Don’t like where you are in your educational journey?  Do something about it.  Don’t like what the CEO of Abercrombie and Fitch said?  Who cares.  Be your own “brand” of awesome and leave the labels for those with nothing else to show.