On Kai Braden’s first day working in retail at an Abercrombie & Fitch store in 2006, something didn’t feel right. His boss made him sit down to watch an onboarding video, but instead of learning how to properly fold a shirt or use a cash register, Braden watched a company-produced video. A montage of young men frolicking in a field in various stages of undress.
“[It was]stock footage of shirtless guys with their jeans pulled down to show a little bit of their butts,” Braden recalled. He had a hard time understanding how this related to his job. “I thought, ‘What does this have to do with anything?’
In fact, Braden’s responsibilities include not only greeting customers and making shopping calls, but also standing outside Abercrombie and ushering shoppers inside with his washboard abs and megawatt smile. was also included.
Most millennials remember Abercrombie in mid-August for one reason. It’s young people, usually under the age of 21, who have posed for Polaroid photos with teenage girls in suburban malls across the country. Shirtless ushers are key to Abercrombie’s marketing plan, and Braden joins them at the store in downtown New York City. (He later worked at the Fifth Avenue store as well.) Almost 20 years later, he used his time at Abercrombie to explore the dark side of fashion: exploitative, exclusive, and lacking protections for young, vulnerable workers. I look back on it as a representative of what is missing. His advocacy on these issues helped secure critical protections for the model in New York starting in 2025.
Abercrombie in the mid-’80s was a hypersexualized environment. Teenagers searching for bootcut jeans and polo shirts were greeted by an all-out assault on their senses: thumping club music, moody lighting, and sickeningly sweet perfume. Even Braden’s job title (Abercrombie called salespeople “models”) indicated some kind of status.
“Abercrombie was a scary place to walk into,” says Tyler McCall, author and former editor-in-chief of industry website Fashionista. “When I was 16, I remember seeing all these shirtless guys and thinking, “They look cool.” But I was also like, “What should I do with this?” It was like visiting Santa. It felt like I was sitting on your lap.”
Braden took up the job at the age of 18 after graduating from high school, moving to New York and signing with the Wilhelmina agency as a model. His agent told him that working at Abercrombie was a good way to make money between bookings and a good alternative to traditional survival jobs like waiting tables.
Kai Braden (center) and Abercrombie models in front of the store. Photo: Kai Braden
As a mixed-race model who is half Caucasian and half Asian, Braden “felt like a token Asian.” Most greeters are white, and black and Latino employees are “definitely” forced into a back room and asked to fold their shirts rather than interact with customers or take photos shirtless. He said there was. Store employees were uncomfortable with this treatment, but many did not speak out for fear of retaliation because the lack of diversity was ingrained in Abercrombie’s DNA.
“I checked the ethnic boxes that companies needed,” Braden said. “I was grateful to be there, but I also realized that there weren’t many people like me. There should be a limited number of us. It’s not hidden, it’s all It was clear to everyone that the ethnic groups were being pushed backwards.
The store’s discriminatory hiring practices in mid-August have been well-documented and the subject of a lawsuit and a 2022 Netflix documentary. One class action lawsuit filed in California in 2003 alleged that Abercrombie discriminated against minorities and women in hiring and marketing practices. The brand settled for $40 million, requiring it to hire a diversity officer but denying wrongdoing.
Braden was paid $100 to stand outside the store during his four-hour shift, which seemed like a lot at the time. “I think a lot of teenage girls would be excited and it felt like a celebration of the brand,” he said. Sometimes customers would cross the line.
“Etiquette gets ignored, especially in high-traffic stores,” Braden says. “We were models, so people think it’s cool to be touched or grabbed. People would grab me by the waist and drag me down, which felt weird.”
Braden said at the time that Abercrombie did not provide training on how to deal with nonconsensual touching. “We were put in a vulnerable situation from the beginning and all they told us was to get a manager if something seriously went wrong.”
Braden said he knew models were being mistreated at Abercrombie, but he was still young and new to the industry. “When you turn 18, you say yes to every opportunity,” he said. “I just rolled my eyes and didn’t want to be in trouble.”
A topless male model waves to a crowd of onlookers at the soon-to-open Abercrombie & Fitch clothing flagship store in Hong Kong in 2012. Photo: Laurent Fievet/AFP/Getty Images
The Abercrombie gig took Braden from New York to work at stores in London and Los Angeles. He eventually pursued a career in acting, appearing in “Magnum PI” and “Orange is the New Black,” as well as appearing in commercials and music videos. Abercrombie also moved forward. In 2015, after years of sluggish sales, the company banned “sexual marketing” in its stores and eliminated the need for shirtless servers. In 2017, the brand welcomed a new CEO, Fran Horowitz, and under her leadership, the brand ditched its preppy aesthetic in favor of more classic, tailored basics. The rebrand was a success, with Abercrombie making more than $4.03 billion in 2023 and going from “America’s most hated retailer to Gen Z’s favorite,” according to Fast Company.
Still, the ghosts of Abercrombie’s past continue to haunt the company. In 2018, in the wake of the #MeToo movement, multiple men came forward to say they had been sexually harassed during photo shoots by Bruce Weber, one of Abercrombie’s favorite photographers. (Mr. Weber denied the charges at the time.) In October of this year, former CEO Mike Jeffries announced that Mr. Jeffries, his partner Matthew Smith, and Jeffries employees James Jacobson has pleaded not guilty to 16 criminal charges after he was indicted by the federal government on suspicion of operating a malicious program. An international sex trafficking and prostitution business comprised of over a dozen aspiring Abercrombie models from 2008 to 2015. (Mr. Jeffries’ lawyer says he suffers from dementia. A competency hearing is scheduled for June. A representative for Mr. Abercrombie did not respond to a request for comment.) )
Braden said he was surprised it “took this long” for Jeffries to be charged. “This happened 15 years ago and #MeToo happened in 2017. Why is this being talked about now?” Braden said. “I think it has something to do with prejudice and assault against men.”
Despite the resurgence of post-2000 fashions like the low-rise jeans and baby T-shirts that Abercrombie was known for, the company has avoided reviving older styles. “I’m surprised they don’t take advantage of a moment like this,” said fashion writer McCall. “But they can’t do that, because it’s all tied to toxic memories of what the brand used to be.”
“We were put in a vulnerable situation from the beginning,” Braden said. Photo: Kai Braden
In 2018, Braden came forward to share on social media a story of sexual assault he experienced during a photo shoot, which was unrelated to Abercrombie. Soon after, he connected with Model Alliance, a nonprofit organization that advocates for the rights of fashion workers. Braden worked with the Model Alliance on the New York Adult Survivors Act, which temporarily eliminates the statute of limitations for victims of sexual crimes to sue their abusers. (Donald Trump was found responsible for sexual abuse against author E. Jean Carroll after she filed a lawsuit under the same law in 2022.)
Braden also reviewed the Fashion Workers Act, a New York state law that establishes health and safety protections for models on set, establishes safe channels for filing complaints, and protects models from retaliation from employers. He also campaigned for legislation. “These are basic labor protections that have been needed for many years,” he said. In December, more than 200 models, including Christy Turlington, Helena Christensen, and Beverly Johnson, signed an open letter to New York Governor Kathy Hochul urging her to sign the bill.
Sarah Ziff, a former model and founder of Model Alliance, said the law was a “huge victory” for models, many of whom are very young. “Since its inception, the fashion industry has been a backwater for worker rights, hidden in glamor and rife with a variety of abuses, including financial and sexual exploitation. It also extends labor protection to aspiring models working in New York, one of the world’s fashion capitals.
The law, which goes into effect in June 2025, is the first of its kind, but Ziff said Model Alliance wants to build on this progress and “set an example for other fashion capitals around the world.” He said he is planning.
Braden has no regrets about his time working at Abercrombie. It has provided me with a steady income and allowed me to live in three exciting cities. But we think it’s important to talk about the abuse of models and how companies like Abercrombie made money from their labor. . “I always like to think there’s a silver lining to everything,” he says. “When people know what happened, we can grow as a culture and as a community.”
