How Does White Hot Make the Case for Diversity and Inclusion?

This week, Netflix released White Hot, which details the epic rise and fall of Abercrombie & Fitch, arguably the hottest brand of clothing (and place to work) when I was in high school in the late 1990s.

If ever there was a case study on the important of diversity and inclusion; this is it.

The documentary explores the brand’s idealized vision of “beauty,” which more or less amounted to white and thin. It even shares stories of employees who did not meet this insane “standard,” and how they were mistreated or even fired as a result.

How wildly out-of-touch was the brand with the changing times? In the early 2000s, the CEO at the time, Mike Jeffries, did an interview where he said, “We hire good-looking people in our stores. Because good-looking people attract other good-looking people, and we want to market to cool, good-looking people. We don’t market to anyone other than that.”

In a blog post last year, Abbie explored all the reasons that diversity and inclusion are important and well-worth the investment. If that didn’t convince you or your brand’s leadership; watch this documentary or recommend it to them. Now.