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The upcoming Netflix documentary White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch examines the retail brand's role in maintaining stringent beauty standards that only accepted individuals who were skinny, young, and white.
Through interviews with past employees, executives, and models, director Alison Klayman takes a look back at the chain's hypersexual, yet preppy image. This article will go through all the details of the upcoming Netflix documentary, which is sure to bring back a surge of nostalgia.
When will White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch premiere on Netflix?
The documentary White Hot: The Rise and Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch will be released on Netflix on April 19, 2022, at 12.01 am PT and 03.01 am ET.
What is the Netflix documentary about?
Netflix has released an official synopsis of the forthcoming controversial documentary to tease what's to come. The synopsis reads as follows:
“Abercrombie & Fitch conquered malls in the late ‘90s and early ‘00s with gorgeous models, pulsing dance beats and a fierce scent. But while the brand was running white hot, its popular “all-American” image began burning out as controversy came to light surrounding its exclusionary marketing and discriminatory hiring.”
The upcoming documentary explores Abercrombie and Fitch's pop culture reign during the "late '90s and early '00s," when it was known for its overly "sexualized advertising" and "all-American" look, as well as the rise and fall of the popular American fashion retail brand under the leadership of CEO Mike Jeffries.
The film also delves into the "many scandals" and issues that "led to its demise," as well as how the Abercrombie and Fitch brand "thrived on exclusion."
Documentary's trailer
Netflix produced a trailer for the film on March 31, 2022, shown above. Former A&F employees and industry insiders are among those who have contributed to the documentary, as shown in the trailer. As described by a former employee, the brand rooted themselves in discrimination at "every single level.”
Of course, what's being discussed is former CEO Mike Jeffries' infamous 2006 statement that read,
“We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t, belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely.”
With provocative, often naked commercials of exclusive white models shot by photographer Bruce Weber, their marketing was as successful as their clothing. But it also came at a humongous price for the degrading beauty standards the brand chose to stick to. Aside from employee policies prohibiting dreadlocks and headscarves, the products themselves have been criticized as racist. Another source can be seen recalling that,
"Abercrombie said it wasn't that we were being racially discriminated against, it was that we weren't good-looking enough."
However, Abercrombie & Fitch has undergone a major rebranding ever since Jeffries' departure in 2014 and the appointment of Fran Horowitz as CEO in 2017.
White Hot: The Rise and Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch will be released on Netflix on April 19, 2022.
