What is Mike Jeffries doing now? The former CEO from Netflix’s White Hot: The Rise and Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch sparked controversy – but walked away from the brand with millions
- The Netflix documentary explores the preppy, ‘all-American’ fashion brand’s decline – although it’s since bounced back with a more inclusive image appealing to millennials and Gen Zers
- Jeffries got a US$27 million retirement cheque when he stepped down and made headlines in 2017 when he sold his Manhattan town house for almost US$13 million
Netflix’s latest documentary White Hot: The Rise and Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch, released on April 19, explores the trajectory of the preppy retail brand: how it took the early 2000s by storm with its exclusionary branding and how, ironically, its promotion of an all-American white look signalled its decline and marked its disappearance from mainstream relevance.
The man who orchestrated Abercrombie & Fitch’s notorious branding – loud, preppy, sexual and very white – was former CEO Mike Jeffries. “A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong,” Jeffries once said in a 2006 Salon interview, which was quoted in the documentary. “Are we exclusionary? Absolutely.”
But where is Jeffries now and what happened to Abercrombie & Fitch when new leadership took over?
Mike Jeffries sold his town house
Since his departure from the company in December 2014, Jeffries, 77, has kept a low profile and maintained privacy.
However, he made headlines in 2016 when he listed his Midtown Manhattan East town house, Sutton Square, for US$19.5 million, Elle Decor reported. He then relisted it again for US$16 million. A year later, as per City Realty, he finally sold it at US$12.9 million.
A hefty US$27 million retirement pay cheque
Jeffries didn’t leave the company empty-handed. In 2015, Columbus Business First reported that he walked away with at least US$27 million in cash and retirement benefits. The report added that the bulk of the hefty fee came from Jeffries’ retirement plan, valued at US$19.33 million. The pay cheque is dwarfed by Jeffries’ net worth of US$300 million though, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
Abercrombie & Fitch sold its corporate jet
According to Business Insider, Abercrombie & Fitch sold its corporate jet Gulfstream G550 for US$11 million after Jeffries retired. However, it’s not the value of the jet that shocked the public, but the 47-page rule book that governed its staff’s behaviour and attire.