Productivity is relative.

 

Gentle hugs,

Chels

Enough.

Gentle hugs,

Chelsea

Abercrombie & WhoGivesACrap

Overly sexualized ads geared at young people. Clothing that rarely fits a body that has curves, or that is tall, short, or anything other than built like an average-sized wooden dowel. The same 4 colors everywhere you look: blue, pink, red, green. (To be fair, there’s white, grey, black, and brown, too.) Often uninspired design. And now, this: http://elitedaily.com/news/world/abercrombie-fitch-ceo-explains-why-he-hates-fat-chicks/.

I mean, really. Does this guy want to run his business into the ground? What parent in their right mind could support this kind of business ethic? After all, it’s mostly parents buying clothing for their children, or giving money to children for them to buy the clothing, that keep this business going. Yes, we get it, your brand is exclusive. Every brand markets to a target audience. It’s smart to define your clients in a way that makes to you, so that you can better sell to them. It’s not smart to be a jerk.

That said, Abercrombie isn’t the only brand that seems to perpetuate the idea (mostly aimed toward women) that being thin is the only way to be beautiful, cool, wanted. They also perpetuate the idea that men have to be buff, virtually hairless, and tan. Goodness, aren’t we hard enough on ourselves already? We have to grow up too fast, go to college, get a degree, find a career path, marry, have beautiful children before a certain age, make more than a million dollars to be able to retire, enjoy an active lifestyle, eat healthfully, maintain and acceptable number of relationships, have interesting hobbies, and strive for youthful beauty at all costs the whole time? No thanks. I’m not buying it.

I think we could all use a little more of this in our world.

More of this.

And this.

This, too.

So, spread it around.

And, for goodness sake, genuinely compliment someone on something other than their physical beauty. It’s nice to be admired for the way you look, but we’re all so much more than that. We’re intelligent, emotional, passionate creatures that deserve to be recognized as beautiful for who we are.

Oh, also – shop at thrift stores if you’d like to stick it to the man. You can score Abercrombie & Fitch (and any of the other big brands that demand we submit and conform to their standards of beauty) for a fraction of the ridiculously high retail price, and support a worthy charity at the same time.

Gentle hugs,

Chels

Put a little love in your bod.

Just a few important reminders!

Gentle hugs,

Chels