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Abercrombie & Fitch Selling Padded Bikini Tops for Tweens
Filed under: In The News, Weird But True
You're taking your 10-year-old daughter to the beach. Sunscreen? Check. Beach blanket? Check. Pail and shovel for building sandcastles? Check. Fake boobies?
Whaaat?
Want to get a head start on puberty? The folks at Abercrombie & Fitch can help. The New York Daily News reports they're offering padded bikini tops for prepubescent girls.
Your kid could be flatter than Fargo, N.D., but she'll be keeping up the Kardashians with the company's latest line of swimwear. Not everyone likes the idea.
"You should be ashamed!" one critic posts on the company's website, the Daily News reports. "Remove the suits from the stores!"
"Shame on you for sexualizing small children," another commenter writes. "In a world where parents work hard to keep their children safe, you go and make little girls look like they have breasts? Perverts."
Abercrombie & Fitch also offers unpadded bikini tops for girls who don't want to work their way through fourth grade at Hooters. However, this is not the first time the company has drawn fire for tarting up tweens. In 2002, the company offered thongs to the My Little Pony crowd.
Executives at Abercrombie & Fitch, who aren't talking to the media, should perhaps take a clue from Primark, a British clothing retailer that tried to sell padded bikini tops to little girls last year.
The London Daily Telegraph reports the firm dropped the line after members of Parliament, including British Prime Minister David Cameron, pitched walleyed fits over the concept.
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 12)
3-28-2011 @ 1:34PM
Michelle said...Yet another reason I don't take my kids to "the mall". Parents have to start getting involved with the sexualization of our daughters and boycott this stuff!
Reply
3-28-2011 @ 3:23PM
Bre said...So done with Ambercrombie, I think this company is run by pedophiles. Sick people. Not spending my dollars there anymore.
3-28-2011 @ 5:10PM
Concerned said...Bingo! Bullseye! Right on the money!!!
3-28-2011 @ 7:11PM
JANET POMPONIO said...you are so right....and make sure your girls know how you feel. this is ugly but we really shouldnt be surprised....look where this country has gone....you cnat watch a show on tv without sex and go to mtv and vh and i want to die.
3-28-2011 @ 7:58PM
SETH said...MEXICANS WANT THEIR LITTLE GIRLS TO GET KNOCKED UP AS SOON AND AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE IN AN ATTEMPT TO TAKE OVER AMERICA IN 25 YEARS SIMPLY BY NUMBERS. THATS WHY EVEN FAT OLD MEXICAN WOMEN ARE STILL GETTING KNOCKED UYP SO LATE IN LIFE. ITS WHAT THE RACIST MEXICAN SUPPORT GROUP KNOWN AS LA-RAZA IS PREACHING TO THEM .
AF IS CATERING TO MEXICANS AND PEDOPHILES
3-29-2011 @ 7:38PM
Kim said...I would not buy a padded bikini to add to my daughter's size, but she does have some with slight padding that helps to hide "headlights" when in cold water. My daughter does not like to have buys see those so the padded bikini is the best option for her.
3-29-2011 @ 5:20PM
Stacie B said...There's NO WAY I'd let my daughter wear this! WHY would I want her looking like she has developed breasts before she really has? Why would I want the boys at the beach to notice her like this? It's only going to cause trouble in the long run and teach her to flaunt herself around which really will only attract the WRONG kind of attention in the 1st place!! Keep little kids, kids as long as you can. They already grow up fast, don't keep trying to make them do it faster than they already do. Enjoy the family friendly site and free games and fun on Http://bit.ly/FreebieHomepage
3-30-2011 @ 8:15AM
Lily said...Really? You're not going to go to the mall because there may be offensive things? You better not leave the house, if that's your rationale.
4-05-2011 @ 8:53AM
Lisa Hoppensteadt said...To all the moms freaking out over this bathing suit top....Stop overreacting and open your eyes...Most 8 - 11 year old girls today are fully developed. This suit has a small amount of padding and does not allow any show through when the suit is wet. I have a 10 year old that is not developed at all and I bought this bathing suit for her and it is perfectly appropriate and does not give her breasts that she doesn't have yet! Abercrombie is not the only company selling padded bikini tops, so if you don't like it, don't buy it!
3-28-2011 @ 2:07PM
dara said...To give the "arguement" its the parents fault if they buy it not our is complete bullshit....to sexualize 7 yr olds period is disgusting and irresponsible
Reply
3-28-2011 @ 2:26PM
theripper1967 said...I want to know when the FBI or other law enforcement are going to investigate these companies that come up with the raunchy clothes for young girls someday. I am pretty sure there must be some sick A$$ child molestors designing this crap.
3-28-2011 @ 2:56PM
Sammi Sue said...So who is more irresponsible a manufacturer who makes clothing like this? Or the parent who should know better who just bought it? Your kid your responsibility.
3-28-2011 @ 3:09PM
Carolyn Anderson said...Sorry but if the parents weren't buying, they would stop making - it's all about $$$ - It's also the glamorization of children at very young ages instead of letting them be kids - letting them play with mudpies, etc - between the germophobic parents and adults - and the sexualization of our children, it's a small wonder they aren't all on meds. FYI, there are still clothing manufacturers who still make children's styles.
3-29-2011 @ 4:23PM
Tenley M. Jones said...then why put a bra on a 7 yr old?
3-30-2011 @ 8:30AM
Lily said...I don't think the store is marketing this suit to 7 year olds specifically. The media picked 7 to sensationalize this story. They picked 7 because it is the youngest age in the range of ages that are sometimes considered tweens. The range can be as big as 7-12. The suit is designed for girls who are beginning to develop and may want to disguise other parts of developing--think cold water. But now everyone thinks the company is intentionally trying to sexualize little girls. The media can so easily warp things to shape your opinion to whatever they want it to be.
3-28-2011 @ 2:07PM
Susan Lowry said...The person who designed this "push up triangle" must be sick and the executives at Abercrombie and Fitch should be ashamed of themselves for marketing such a thing. Let little girls be little girls. They're already encouraged to grow up way too fast.
Reply
3-28-2011 @ 2:07PM
preston sturges said...what's next, codpieces for young boys under the age of 6?
Reply
3-28-2011 @ 2:35PM
cashmanknowsall said...I didn't need one.
3-28-2011 @ 2:18PM
emma said...whats the big deal? im a teenager and i hate unpadded bating suits, and some 10 year old children are more endowed than others so they may be uncomfortable with unpadded tops.
Reply
3-28-2011 @ 2:29PM
blondemoment626 said...They aren't LINED emma, they are PADDED. That makes you look larger in case you don't understand that.