Controversy with Manufacturing

Abercrombie and Fitch have suffered a fair amount of controversy in the past few years, including:

Sandblasting:

> Sandblasting is an affordable but dangerous way to make denim look worn by spraying fine sand at a high pressure onto jeans. However it can cause the respiratory disease known as Silicosis, which the factory workers carrying out the sandblasting process are subject to.

> In 2015 video footage of a factory in China surfaced with evidence of sandblasting equipment being used on Abercrombie and Fitch jeans, the footage came to light after a year long investigation carried out by Al Jazeera the Arabic-language news network.

> At the time of recording the process of sandblasting has been made illegal in some countries such as Turkey, however it was still legal in China.

> Abercrombie and Fitch had released audits claiming that no evidence of sandblasting or sandblasting equipment were being used in their factories, however Al Jazeera's documentary 'Denim Blues' revealed that jeans with Hollister and Abercrombie and Fitch labels were found in the Dongguan Tim Cheung factory.

> A&F had also stated on one of their websites that "Abercrombie and Fitch is proud of our commitment to international human and labour rights, and to ensuring that our products are only made in safe and responsible facilities." and "A&F does not support the practice of sandblasting during the manufacturing process of our goods." however Al Jazeera's investigation seems to contradict these statements. 

Watch the documentary here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFC5Kv3KSU4

Watch a news clip here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7Y80a6f4ls

Deforestation:

> In 2016 people protested outside Abercrombie and Fitch stores due to A&F's involvement with using wood-based fabrics such as rayon, viscose and modal.

> The use of these fabrics are a driving force in deforestation in Indonesia and threaten the lives of indigenous people.

> Rainforest Action Network (RAN) claimed Abercrombie and Fitch to be one of the worst companies of having inadequate policies on ensuring the sourcing of fabrics is not responsible for deforestation.