It was 2002. Abercrombie & Fitch was basically the king of the mall. If you weren't wearing that specific shade of navy blue or a pair of their heavily distressed jeans, you were nobody in high school. But then something shifted. The brand released a line of graphic tees that didn't just push the envelope—they tore it up. We’re talking about the infamous Abercrombie & Fitch racist T-shirts that featured caricatures of Asian Americans. One shirt had the slogan "Wong Brothers Laundry Service—Two Wongs Can Make It White." Another featured a stylized Buddha with the phrase "Buddha Bash—Get Your Zen On."
People were livid.
Honestly, it’s hard to overstate how much of a mess this was for the company. They thought they were being "edgy" or "tongue-in-cheek," but the reality was much uglier. It wasn't just a few people complaining on a message board. There were actual protests. Students at Stanford and UC Berkeley led the charge, organizing boycotts that eventually forced the company to pull the entire line from over 300 stores nationwide.
The Backstory of the 2002 Controversy
A&F’s then-spokesperson, Hampton Carney, tried to play it off as humor. He told the Associated Press at the time that the brand thought Asian Americans would love the shirts. Seriously. He said, "We thought they were cheeky, and we thought they were humorous." But the community didn't see it that way. The shirts relied on tired, 19th-century stereotypes of Chinese immigrants as laundry workers or "coolies."
It was a total disconnect.
The company wasn't just facing backlash for the designs themselves; it was the entire corporate culture that was under the microscope. This wasn't an isolated incident. It was part of a larger pattern where the brand was accused of prioritizing a "cool, white, and thin" aesthetic above all else. Former CEO Mike Jeffries famously said in a 2006 interview with Salon that A&F was for the "cool kids" and that "a lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong." When you pair that philosophy with racially insensitive merchandise, you get a PR disaster that lasts for decades.
Why "Two Wongs" Wasn't Just a Joke
To understand why the Abercrombie & Fitch racist T-shirts caused such a massive rift, you have to look at the historical context. The "Two Wongs" joke plays on a very old, very racist pun that has been used to mock Chinese surnames for generations. By putting it on a $25 t-shirt sold in suburban malls, A&F was essentially commodifying a slur.
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They also had a shirt featuring a group of guys in rice-paddy hats with the slogan "Ping Pong Rice Bowls."
It was lazy. It was offensive. And for a company that was pulling in billions of dollars, it was incredibly short-sighted.
The backlash was swift and organized. The Asian Pacific American Coalition (APAC) and other advocacy groups didn't just want an apology; they wanted the shirts gone. And they got it. Within days of the protests starting, A&F announced it would burn the remaining stock. Yeah, they didn't just donate them or recycle them—they destroyed them.
The Class Action Lawsuit That Followed
The shirts were just the tip of the iceberg. In 2003, a group of former employees and job applicants sued the company. The lawsuit, Gonzalez v. Abercrombie & Fitch, alleged that the retailer discriminated against African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans by pushing them into "back of house" roles or refusing to hire them altogether.
Essentially, if you didn't fit the "All-American" (read: white) look, you weren't going to be the face of the brand at the front of the store.
The company ended up settling for $40 million in 2004. As part of the settlement, they had to hire a Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion and were subject to a consent decree for several years to ensure they were actually diversifying their workforce.
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It was a turning point.
But even with the settlement, the "look policy" remained a point of contention for years. It wasn't until the Netflix documentary White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch was released in 2022 that a new generation really understood the scale of the exclusion. The documentary highlighted how the Abercrombie & Fitch racist T-shirts were a symptom of a much deeper rot within the brand’s leadership.
The Lingering Impact on Brand Perception
You might wonder why we’re still talking about shirts from twenty years ago. Well, because the internet never forgets. Also, because those shirts represent a specific era of "casual racism" in fashion that many brands are still trying to move away from.
When people search for "A&F racist t shirts" today, they aren't just looking for a history lesson. They're looking to see if the brand has actually changed. Under current CEO Fran Horowitz, the company has done a massive 180. They’ve moved away from the hyper-sexualized marketing and the exclusionary hiring practices. Today, A&F is actually known for being quite inclusive, with a wide range of sizes and a much more diverse slate of models.
But the "Wong Brothers" shirt remains a permanent stain on their legacy.
How A&F Tried to Rebrand
The rebranding wasn't easy. It took years of declining sales and a near-total collapse of their cultural relevance before they changed course. They had to kill the "cool kids only" vibe.
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- They overhauled their HR practices to ensure diversity wasn't just a buzzword.
- They redesigned their stores, getting rid of the dark, windowless "nightclub" feel and the heavy cologne scent.
- They shifted their target demographic from status-obsessed teens to "young millennials" who value comfort and authenticity.
It worked. By 2023, A&F was one of the top-performing retail stocks. It’s a classic redemption story, but it’s one that is forever tethered to the mistakes of the early 2000s.
What Consumers Can Learn From This
If you’re a fan of vintage clothes or you’re researching the history of fashion, the Abercrombie & Fitch racist T-shirts serve as a cautionary tale. It shows how quickly a brand can lose its grip on the zeitgeist when it fails to respect its audience.
Fashion isn't just about clothes; it's about identity. When a brand uses its platform to mock an identity, the damage is often irreparable for that specific generation of shoppers. Many Asian Americans who grew up in the early 2000s still refuse to step foot in an Abercrombie store because of those shirts. That’s a lifelong loss of customer loyalty.
Actionable Insights for the Modern Shopper
- Research Brand History: Before you get too loyal to a brand, it’s worth looking into their past controversies. Most companies have them, but how they handled them tells you a lot about their current values.
- Support Inclusive Brands: If diversity matters to you, vote with your wallet. Look for brands that have transparent hiring practices and diverse leadership teams.
- Watch the Documentaries: If you haven't seen White Hot on Netflix, go watch it. It provides a level of detail about the A&F culture that you won't find in a standard news article.
- Understand Vintage Resale: Be careful when buying "vintage" A&F on sites like Poshmark or Depop. Some of those controversial items still float around, and wearing them—even ironically—can carry a lot of weight.
- Stay Skeptical of "Edgy" Marketing: When a brand tries to be "edgy" by using stereotypes, it’s usually a sign of a lack of creativity or a desperate bid for attention.
The story of the Abercrombie & Fitch racist T-shirts isn't just a footnote in a business textbook. It’s a reminder that culture moves faster than some corporations realize. What was considered "cheeky" in a boardroom in 2002 was actually a massive insult to millions of people. The fact that the brand survived at all is a testament to how much work they put into their eventual pivot, but the lesson remains: inclusion isn't a trend, it's a requirement for long-term survival in the global market.
To move forward, shoppers should focus on brands that prioritize ethical representation from the design room to the storefront. You can check a brand's current "Corporate Equality Index" or look for B-Corp certifications if you want to ensure your money is going to a company that actually walks the walk when it comes to social responsibility. Reference the Fashion Transparency Index to see how major retailers rank in terms of disclosure and social impact. This helps move the industry away from the exclusionary tactics of the past and toward a more equitable future.