The dimly-lit, dance music-playing, cologne-smelling brand Abercrombie & Fitch — dubbed by CEO Mike Jeffries as the “attractive all-American kid” — will begin to cater to average-sized women, starting next summer.

Abercrombie’s decision has been prompted by several factors, including the huge blow in sales the company has received this year. Reuters reports that Abercrombie has lost about 30 percent of their value this year alone — a figure that foreshadows tough holiday season ahead. The retailer has acknowledged that their business faces challenges from their biggest competitors such as H&M and Forever 21, all of whom offer the latest fashion trends at an affordable price — and have no issues selling clothes in all sizes.

"We recognize that our businesses have been and will continue to be disrupted by both fast fashion and pure play e-commerce competitors," Leslee Herro, A&F's head of planning and allocation said at an analyst briefing on Wednesday. The name brand aimed at high school students will proactively increase stocking more sizes in women’s tops as a means to compete against other major retail rivals. Abercrombie does not offer women’s clothing in sizes that go above large, or the equivalent of a size 10 in the U.S. The brand’s staple items include skin-tight ribbed tank tops, ripped flare jeans, hooded sweatshirts and leather flip-flops. This style has contributed to Abercrombie’s decline in sales as more kids are being drawn to more daring, unique, modern styles.

The company’s move to providing larger sizes is largely due in part to Jeffries’ controversial statement made in an interview with Salon magazine in 2006 where he blatantly admitted that A&F did not want to sell to larger women. "Candidly, we go after the cool kids," Jeffries said. "We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don't belong [in our clothes], and they can't belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely."

Jeffries’ stance on marketing Abercrombie products received recent backlash this summer in New York City when 35 interns and other workers from the activist group Do Something entered the 30,000 square-foot flagship store wearing XL and XXL white T-shirts that read "We may not wear this size, but 15,000 of us respect people who do" and the Twitter hash tag "#FitchPlease."

Colleen Wormsley, marketing association for Do Something told the New York Daily News “"We don't think being cool depends on what size you are. All kids should be considered cool no matter what their size. These are Abercrombie's target market."

ModCloth online retailer surveyed over 5,000 American women of mixed sizes, ages 15-65, and found that more American women report wearing a size 16 dress than those who wear a size 2 and size 0 combined. The survey also found 50 percent of women wore a mix of standard and plus-sizes. Conscious of the size of the average shopper, stores like Debenhams in the U.K. has taken the initiative to show size 14 mannequins in their flagship store in an effort to represent the figure of their shoppers better, NBC News reports. Debenhams is the U.K.'s third-largest department store company.

"Many customers want to see more realistic images in magazines, TV and on the high street, and having mannequins that reflect and celebrate our diverse society is one way of helping to achieve this,” said British Equalities Minister Jo Swinson.