Citing the decision to run an interview with pro-abortion rights activist Gloria Steinem in its spring catalog, College of the Ozarks yesterday informed Dodgeville, Wis.-based Lands' End Inc. (Nasdaq: LE) it was canceling its nearly four-year uniform contract with the company.
The school since has received two offers from competing companies and is seeking other opportunities by its next academic year, said Sue Head, the college’s vice president for cultural affairs and dean of character education.
“As a customer, we have 297 students watching what we’re going to do. What we’re trying to teach them is when you’re a customer of a company and they begin to do something that you can’t agree with, it’s OK to very nicely say we’re going to take our business somewhere else,” said Head, declining to disclose other companies courting the school.
Since C of O’s K-12 laboratory school dubbed School of the Ozarks opened in fall 2012, the Point Lookout college has purchased uniforms from Lands’ End. Head said a majority of the school’s students receive scholarships for the required clothing, and to date, C of O and School of the Ozarks families have spent over $150,000 on uniforms. For a full academic year, it costs $400-$500 for uniforms per student, she said.
“We’ll have a new option by the end of the year,” Head said.
Responding to complaints from C of O and others, including Father Tolton Regional Catholic High School in Columbia, Lands’ End
has since apologized for publishing the Steinem interview, saying the goal was to feature a woman who made a difference, not to make a political statement. The catalog kicked off its Legend Series with the well-known feminist.
"We understand that some of our customers were offended by the inclusion of an interview in a recent catalog with Gloria Steinem on her quest for women's equality. We thought it was a good idea and we heard from our customers that, for different reasons, it wasn’t. For that, we sincerely apologize. Our goal was to feature individuals with different interests and backgrounds that have made a difference for our new Legends Series, not to take any political or religious stance,” company officials said in a statement.
For C of O, it’s too little, too late.
Head said the school issued a warning to Lands’ End about a year ago when the company sent several School of the Ozarks families a gift subscription of GQ magazine that featured a nearly naked woman on the cover wearing only a lei.
“They made a mistake. They owned it. They apologized,” she said of the first offense, noting she told company officials, “the first time you do something else that wanders off the reservation, you’re done. So, we’re done.”
Head issued an open letter yesterday to Lands’ End CEO Federica Marchionni informing the company of the college’s decision.
“At College of the Ozarks, we believe we are called to stand up against those who seek to destroy the Judeo-Christian values upon which our country was founded,” she wrote in the letter. “Lands’ End is no longer the company I have trusted all these years, and I will be sharing with many other schools the action we are taking in hopes that they will join us.”
Read the full letter below:
February 24, 2016
Ms. Federica Marchionni
Chief Executive Officer, Lands’ End
2 Lands’ End Lane
Dodgeville, WI 53595-0001
Dear Ms. Marchionni:
College of the Ozarks can no longer be a Lands’ End customer.
Your decision to feature a woman who is a well-known abortion activist as your Legend Series honoree, and to whom the company is giving a portion of proceeds for her organization, has resulted in our decision.
I find it ironic that your cover features young children and their families having an Easter egg hunt when Ms. Steinem stands for ending life in the womb. We will not be part of advancing your agenda or hers. At College of the Ozarks, we believe we are called to stand up against those who seek to destroy the Judeo-Christian values upon which our country was founded.
In your short tenure as CEO, it is clear to me that you do not know who your customer base is yet - but allow me to tell you about one who has spent more than $150,000 in your uniform division. School of the Ozarks is a K-12 laboratory school with nearly 300 students, located on the campus of College of the Ozarks. Ninety percent of our students demonstrate financial need, and because of that, the School provides full and partial scholarships for most families to buy uniforms from Lands’ End. While overseeing the development of this Christian classical preparatory school, I made the decision to use Lands’ End as our uniform provider because of its longtime reputation for delivering quality clothing.
This is not the first offense. Over a year ago, Lands’ End chose to send many of our families a GQ subscription as a “gift,” which they neither knew about nor requested. The cover of the first issue was a woman who was only wearing a lei. Needless to say after that debacle, Lands’ End was put on notice by our institution that the next time the company made a decision that conflicted with our values, we would be gone. Lands’ End is no longer the company I have trusted all these years, and I will be sharing with many other schools the action we are taking in hopes that they will join us.
Sincerely,
Sue R. Head, Ed.D.
Vice President of Cultural Affairs and Dean of Character Education
