Lifestyle brand Anthropologie has come under fire after a Black Lives Matter response post triggered alleged past employees to argue that, no, Black lives never mattered to the company.
The high-end brand reacted to protests standing up for racial equality by sharing a quote by Maya Angelou reading, “We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color.”
Anthropologie neglected to state if the quote was to show its support for the Black Lives Matter cause, prompting internet users, including fashion watchdog Diet Prada, to point out that it could have been a tribute for All Lives Matter, a movement dismissing Black Lives Matter.
The main criticism was Anthropologie’s purported hypocrisy and performative activism, as several Instagram users claiming to have worked for the company have stepped forward to corroborate that they were trained to profile customers by race. They were also allegedly instructed to refer to Black shoppers with the codename, “Nick.”
The alleged former staff members were surprised to find that the moniker was used beyond their own locations. Thus far, employees across stores in California, Chicago, Seattle, New York, and Canada have shared that they were taught to use the same discriminatory code, according to screenshots saved by Diet Prada.
Customers also said they now understood why they felt discriminated against by sales attendants in Anthropologie outlets. Some reported being followed around closely by staff.
Anthropologie later shared a post promising to support the Black community by diversifying its workforce and donating US$100,000 to the United Negro College Fund.
However, it had one more hurdle to face. Black Canadian social media influencer Lydia Okello subsequently shared screenshots of a conversation with an Anthropologie representative asking if Okello, who identifies as nonbinary, could work for free in a Pride month campaign. When they declined, the Anthropologie contact said the brand had “no budget” for the campaign.
Anthropologie eventually shared another post to defend itself, writing, “You may have seen that we have been challenged to be more transparent, unbiased, and fair in our stores and with our business practices… Regarding allegations of racial profiling, we have and will never have a code word based on a customer’s race or ethnicity.”
Social media users continue to denounce Anthropologie for apparently lying about this. “I worked at Anthro for five years in two different stores. The ‘Nick’ code name definitely exists, ” Instagram user Leigh Elion replied under its followup post. She added that one of the locations even had a second nickname, “‘Connie,’ as in con artist.”
“The racial implications of that are clear as day, and it made many employees deeply uncomfortable,” she continued.
