Abercrombie guys don't sweep

Most of my readers who have children that have reached a certain age will no doubt have heard about Abercrombie. It is a youth fashion chain that the young (and not so young) queue up for in endless lines.

The design of its establishments is spectacular. In privileged locations in the world’s major capitals, they capture clients with a styling that is considered right down to the smallest details.

Right by the entrance, a male model welcomes you, perfectly half dressed, showing off his highly worked out abdominals. He will allow you to take your picture with him, as a souvenir or a hunting trophy. You see teenage boys as well as ladies well into their forties signing up with equal enthusiasm.

Once the threshold has been passed, you experience something akin to an artificial and contrived concentration of vitality and the spirit of a twenty-something year old. You enter a cubicle with no exterior windows that seemingly attempts to shut up something as volatile and fleeting as youth and beauty. Whoever lacks one and the other feels out of place.

You don’t see any static and silent plastic mannequins… In their place are girls and boys wearing, as if by coincidence, the clothing to be promoted, walking and dancing around the premises displaying the merchandise – although it is not quite clear whether what is being sold is the garment or their beautiful young flesh.

They all seem to be following a specific merchandising script: They greet and speak to people with a smile, perfectly aligned teeth, and a measured, affected tone: “How are you doing, guys!” All dressed up as “well-to-do kids”. Rather well-to-do softies.

The company works like a charm. The cash register works non-stop.

And as occurs in many other unfair situations, a few enrich themselves at the expense of many others. The managers of the business pretend to sell the "dolce vita", offering it to those who naively think that happiness comes in styles and the season’s colours. Many of them join in the fray, and seem to carry this happiness away in their shopping bags.

The fact that these kinds of chains are successful is not inconsequential. The repercussions in the life, the aspirations and the priorities of most people are unfortunately going to be disrupted. For example, those of my teenage children, victims – just like the rest- of a culture of image that weighs down on them enormously.

Furthermore, I am convinced that only lifestyles which are inspired by sobriety, solidarity and responsibility will contribute to building a society and a future which it may be worth “working flat out” for. Other worlds of fantasy and touching up are made of misleading and alienating smoke.
The young and beautiful Abercrombies are not the ones sweeping the floor...

Before leaving, as I walk down the stairs (away from the main scene) I stumble into a man of about 50 years old, dressed in dark clothes. His face is also dark. He is an employee of the firm, but they don’t show this one around. He sweeps the floor, and goes unnoticed. His look has become indifferent to the spectacle that he sees daily.

I step on the carpet, I apologise and he - almost without noticing - continues doing his own thing.