Key Takeaways
- Abercrombie sells a $95 women’s sweater made with 66% nylon and 30% merino wool while offering men a 100% merino wool sweater for the same price.
- TikToker Rachael Brownfield’s comparison topped 2 million views and sparked “pink tax” accusations across Abercrombie’s TikTok and Instagram comments.
- The brand clearly labels its blends and offers some pure-wool women’s styles, but the backlash revives criticism over its women’s sizing, quality and product choices.
Same price, very different sweater. Abercrombie & Fitch is catching heat after a TikToker noticed that some of its $95 women's "wool-blend" sweaters are mostly synthetic, while a men's sweater at the exact same price is 100% merino wool.
Creator Rachael Brownfield posted the original video on Oct. 9, and it has since passed 2 million views, according to The Mary Sue. While scrolling Abercrombie's site, she found the women's section full of wool blends she described as mostly polyester or nylon. Over on the men's side, she found an entire category of 100% merino wool.
"So you guys made the fabrics? You made some of the fabrics and then decided no, no, we won't make the women's sweaters in this," she said. "The worst part is they're the same price. They're both $95."
That particular comparison checks out. The women’s Merino Wool-Blend Polo Sweater sells for $95 and is made of 66% nylon, 30% merino wool and 4% elastane. The men’s 100% Merino Wool 3-Button Collared Sweater, part of the brand's A&F Signature Collection, rings up at the same $95.
To be fair, the blends are clearly labeled as blends, and Abercrombie does carry a few pure-wool options for women, including a $90 merino mock neck. Shoppers are still fuming anyway.
The outrage has spilled into Abercrombie's own comment section. A Monday post promoting its YPB activewear drew hundreds of comments on TikTok, and plenty of them weren't about leggings.
"Why would you make a 100% natural fiber collection of wool products for men but not for women? And sell them for the same price?" one person asked.
“How about the blatant sexism with making 100% wool sweaters only for MEN and fake plastic sh*t for women?” another said.
“Booooo pink tax,” chimed in a third.
The backlash has made its way to Instagram, too.
"You guys really messed this one up nobody wants to buy your romanticized plastic clothing," one person commented under a recent Abercrombie post.
"It’s frustrating to see the difference in materials and quality between women’s and men’s clothing, especially when women are often paying just as much, if not more. Women deserve the same level of quality and the same price," another wrote.
Brownfield has kept the receipts coming in follow-up videos. In one, she claimed Abercrombie marked down some sweaters, mostly women's styles, within 24 hours of her post. The site did run an online-only deal of up to 30% off select sweaters and sweatshirts from Oct. 10 through Oct. 13, though there's no evidence the promotion was connected to her video. Either way, the discount didn't win her over. She said that at "any price point, this is a garbage piece of clothing."
This isn't the first time Abercrombie has been accused of treating women shoppers differently. In 2013, the retailer drew backlash for not stocking women’s XL or XXL even though men's sizes went up to XXL. Back in 2005, a group of Pennsylvania teens launched a "girlcott" over shirts that read "Who needs brains when you have these?" and the company agreed to pull some of them.
More recently, Abercrombie's women's jeans sizing came under fire. In July 2025, a TikToker went viral after comparing two pairs of the brand's size 00 jeans that were noticeably different in width. Her video drew more than 4.5 million views, and she later questioned why women's jeans couldn't use the same waist-and-length measurements as men's.
Of course, Abercrombie isn't the only retailer facing questions about its women's clothing. In August, The Guardian reported that H&M had discontinued women's sizes 3XL and 4XL, while Mango and Anthropologie had also scaled back their plus-size dress offerings. H&M said the decision came down to lower demand.
