A California-based woman is demanding answers from apparel retailer Abercrombie & Fitch after she noticed a major spelling error in one of its NFL-themed merchandise. The glaring mistake has caused outrage on TikTok, where she shared her discovery to more than 62,000 viewers.
What’s Wrong With This Abercrombie & Fitch Football Cardigan?
In a viral TikTok photo, Monnikah (@monnikahspov) shows a photo of a red San Francisco 49ers cardigan from Abercrombie & Fitch. The embroidery, however, spells the city as “San Fransisco,” leading Monnikah to warn, “Check your Abercrombie gear.”
Monnikah, a football fan, pleaded for Abercrombie & Fitch to fix the mistake. “Does anyone know if @abercrombie will fix this error?” she wrote in the caption. “Can yall please redo them and honor the price we paid?? I love this cardigan! yall have no idea how much I love this elegant and classic cardigan for games.”
She concludes, “Who was in charge of quality control?!”
Did Abercrombie & Fitch Address The Issue?
In a follow-up post, Monnikah shares a screenshot of a chat between her and Abercrombie & Fitch customer service. The representative asks her about her concern, and Monnikah sends them the photo of her cardigan. She tells them about the issue but is surprised by the employee’s response.
“Oh, no worries, that is the spelling in our website item photo,” they reply.
Needless to say, Monnikah was shocked at their response.
“Tried reaching out about this spelling error but didn’t go as I expected it to go,” she added in the caption. “How are they ok with the way they spelled San Francisco?”
In a comment, she shared another screenshot of more messages between her and customer service. She informed them that the cardigan was no longer available on the site, but they kept sending her product listing links.
Indeed, the cardigan cannot be found on Abercrombie & Fitch’s website presently. The rest of the items in the NFL collection do have San Francisco spelled correctly, however.
Viewers Are Just As Shocked
Many of Monnikah’s viewers urged her to call Abercrombie & Fitch directly and demand a refund. Some made jokes about the error, while others speculated that it could be valuable.
“It was meant to go to Ross,” a top comment read. Another told Monnikah to go back to the store and “show it to them and bring in the manager also. They’re gonna laugh and have no choice to take it back.”
One user said this isn’t the first time Abercrombie & Fitch has messed up merch.
“They always get their sh– wrong!” they said. “I have a jacket that’s missing a Superbowl patch!!!”
A user added that keeping the jacket might be worth it in the long run. “Honestly have them refund you and keep this jacket tho cause you know misspellings are always worth more money later on down road lol.”
But is that true?
Are Misprints Worth More?
Well, it depends. For more collectible-worthy items like cards, coins, and books, printing errors can be worth more later. However, it depends on a variety of factors. For instance, if a collector is specifically interested in misprints, they’d be willing to pay a lot. Their worth would depend on how rare the original card is and how bad the error is. As Beckett.com said, “If you land a Mike Trout or Tom Brady mistake, it might be worth your time to try and find a buyer. If it’s a fifth-year card of a 35-year-old reliever in a set you’re working on, replacement might be the better route.”
For books, it’s also a common misconception that misprints are automatically more valuable. A mass-produced modern book with a typo, for instance, wouldn’t be worth as much as an antique Ernest Hemingway book that contained an error and was quickly corrected, making the errata book that much rarer.
“On the other hand, any inexpensive reprint of the same book might contain a misprint. But if the edition is not particularly interesting or uncommon, and the order in which the book was published is not important, then the misprint is just a nuisance,” bookseller Peter Harrington writes in a blog.
So in Monnikah’s case, since the cardigan is probably one of thousands made and not really a collectible item, it’s better if she just gets the refund or has Abercrombie & Fitch issue the correct item.
BroBible reached out to Monnikah via TikTok direct message and Abercrombie via email.