Legal issues
Trademark conflict with Hollister, California
According to an article in the Los Angeles Times in April 2009, Abercrombie & Fitch has threatened merchants and residents of Hollister, California who want to use the name "Hollister" on clothing. The article quotes David Cupps, general counsel for Abercrombie & Fitch: "If they try, they would get a call and much more."
Also, according to the article: "The controversy over the name heated up in 2006 when Stacey Crummett, chief executive of Hollister-based Rag City Blues, added the word "Hollister" to the label of her vintage blue jeans. In response to her trademark registration application, Abercrombie & Fitch attorneys sent her a letter alleging she was violating the company's trademark and threatening to sue." Crummett subsequently withdrew the application.
Morris vs. Abercrombie & Fitch Co.
In 2007, the lawsuit Morris vs. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. was settled. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. admitted that they should have not asked their California customers for personal identification information during credit card refund transactions. Customers who were asked this information during June 9, 2005 through May 31, 2007 may be entitled to receive gift cards. Since the settlement, A&F Co. stores have stopped asking for this information for returns on purchases for which a credit card had been used.
Religious discrimination
A&F was charged for discrimination against an employee at a Hollister Co. store in California. The employee claimed they were criticized for wearing a hijab in store. The Muslim college student had been hired at an interview where she had worn a hijab as well. The interviewer told
her she could only wear it in colors gray, navy, and white, but was told by a District Manager to remove it during a work day. The Council on American-Islamic Relations filed against Abercrombie & Fitch on February 23 with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. A&F had previously received a complaint in September 2009 over the same circumstance occurring in Oklahoma.
Wheelchair accessibility
In August 2011, Judge Wiley Daniel of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado ruled that two Hollister stores in the state were not in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) due to the fact they have a porch-like entrance that contains steps while customers in wheelchairs have to access the stores through automatic side doors rather than the main entrance.
Read the full text
In 2012, the case expanded into a national class-action suit. In March 2013, Judge Daniel ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, finding that nationwide, 248 of 483 Hollister stores—all of which, the U.S. Department of Justice pointed out to the court, were built years after the ADA was enacted—have entrances in violation of the ADA. He ordered the company and disability rights activists to come to an agreement on the specific wording of an injunction requiring Hollister to either flatten its entrances, install wheelchair ramps, or make the raised entrances decorative and make all customers use the side entrances. As of May 2013, the two sides have not reached an agreement. In August 2013, Hollister Co., and its parent company Abercrombie & Fitch were ruled by a Colorado judge to require 248 stores with the "porch entrance", which includes stairs, to be redesigned to incorporate wheelchair accessibility or to remove the stairs altogether. Hollister will begin renovating the stores entrances to a more modern look, similar to the current Abercrombie & Fitch store layout by the end of 2013. The new entrance does not include steps.
Systematic searching of employees
At the district court of Kassel, Germany, Hollister and its German works council negotiated an accord to stop systematically searching all employees. The accord lets the employees roll a die, and who gets four is searched.
Controversies
Fake Havassy surfboards
In 2005, Hollister Co. created 360 unauthorized knockoffs of signed Robb Havassy surfboards for use as decoration in their stores. After litigation, Havassy collected an undisclosed amount as damages from Hollister. In his book, Havassy writes of the incident "It's about how cool it is to be a surfer—and how a billion-dollar company put their hands on it. They got called on it."
Red Poppy
In November 2010, an assistant manager in the WestQuay, Southampton branch prevented an employee, Harriet Phipps, from wearing the Red Poppy, which is worn as part of the Armistice Day commemorations in the United Kingdom every November. The official Abercrombie & Fitch reason for the refusal was reported to be that the poppy is not considered part of the corporate approved uniform, and is therefore prohibited. The dispute attracted interest in the media, with Phipps appearing on ITV1's morning breakfast programme Daybreak, the Daily Mail and other newspapers, as well as on televised BBC News bulletins on 8 November 2010.
Archie Parson, secretary for the Southampton branch of the Royal British Legion, said: "I just hope the shop reconsiders its decision and a compromise can be made because it seems a bit insensitive not to back our troops putting their lives on the line."
After complaints, many upon Hollister's Facebook page, Hollister posted an update upon their page stating: As an American company that has been around since 1892, we appreciate the sacrifices of the British and American servicemen/women in the World Wars and in military conflicts that continue today. Our company policy is to allow associates to wear a poppy as a token of this appreciation on Remembrance Day. Going forward, we will revisit this policy to the days/weeks leading up to Remembrance Day.
Racially insensitive photo
In August 2012, Hollister opened a store in South Korea and flew in several male models to promote it. One of the models took a photo of himself there with a "squinty-eyed" face, and another model gave the middle finger to cameras. After an investigation, the models were fired.
Breastfeeding
In January 2013, a woman who was breastfeeding at a Hollister store in Houston was told by a manager that she could not breastfeed and had to move. As a result, supporters organized a nationwide "nurse-in" at Hollister locations in which they would breastfeed at the stores.
A group of women who were breastfeeding at the Hollister at a mall in Wilmington, Delaware, were confronted by mall security and told to leave. This escalated into a controversy involving the mall's Facebook page.
Privacy concerns
TechCrunch reported that the Hollister mobile app in the iOS App Store was using session-replay functionality to record users' activities and send the data to Israeli firm Glassbox without the users' informed consent, compromising users' privacy and contravening the rules of the iOS App Store.
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