Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (A&F) is an American lifestyle retailer founded in 1892, which focuses on contemporary clothing targeting customers in their early 20s to mid 40s. Headquartered in New Albany, Ohio, the company operates four offshoot brands: Abercrombie Kids, Your Personal Best, Hollister Co., and Gilly Hicks with 780+ company operated stores across its brands, as of Q4 2024.
As one of the oldest American clothing brands, the company originally marketed high-end outdoor clothing, but by the early 1980s it had almost entirely changed its direction. In the 1990s, under the leadership of CEO Mike Jeffries, Abercrombie & Fitch underwent a meteoric rise, focusing on "casual luxury" fashion and specifically "the good-looking, cool kids"—using sophisticated sexualized advertising, prominently of fashion models in revealing outfits.
The clothing company has since refocused itself successfully, targeting a more diverse range of customers in their early 20's to mid 40's.
History
The Abercrombie Company was founded in 1892 in New York City by David T. Abercrombie as an outfitter for the elite outdoorsman. Ezra Fitch—a wealthy lawyer, real estate developer, and devoted Abercrombie customer—bought a significant stake in the business in 1900. In 1904, it was incorporated and renamed Abercrombie & Fitch Co. Fitch eventually bought out Abercrombie's share of the business, becoming its sole owner from 1907 to 1928. The company was an elite outfitter of sporting and excursion goods, particularly noted for its expensive shotguns, fishing rods, fishing boats, and tents. It outfitted Theodore Roosevelt's safari and Admiral Richard E. Byrd's expedition to Antarctica. Ernest Hemingway was also a regular customer; the gun with which he committed suicide in 1961 was purchased from Abercrombie & Fitch. Following Hemingway's death, his wife placed several of his guns on consignment with the company.
By the 1970s, A&F was struggling to compete with lower-priced competitors while trying to maintain its high-end image. It was known for holding an extensive inventory of lavish items, but high operating expenses forced A&F to shed its highest priced items, such as an $18,000 () gold and onyx chess set. Cash flow problems forced the company to also cut its inventory of moderately priced products.
In 1976, Abercrombie & Fitch filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In 1977, the company closed its New York flagship store at Madison Avenue and East 45th Street.
While Abercrombie & Fitch went out of business during its bankruptcy, the brand survived: in 1978, Oshman's Sporting Goods, a Houston-based retail chain,The Wall Street Journal, 1978 bought the defunct firm's name and mailing list for $1.5 million"Why Abercrombie Is Losing Its Shirt" . New York. Retrieved February 12, 2014. (equivalent to $ million in ). Oshman's relaunched the company as a mail-order retailer specializing in hunting wear and novelty items. Retail stores were also opened in Beverly Hills, Dallas, and (by the mid-1980s) New York City.
In 1988, Oshman's sold the brand and its operations to Les Wexner's vehicle The Limited (parent company of several retail clothing chains, including Victoria's Secret). Under The Limited, which later rebranded itself as L Brands, Abercrombie & Fitch gradually shifted its focus to young adults, hired Mike Jeffries in 1992, was in 1996 spun off as a separate, publicly traded company, and eventually grew into one of the largest and most popular apparel companies among teen consumers in the United States.
In 1998, the company launched a brand targeted towards children and pre-teens named "abercrombie" - the name was later changed to Abercrombie Kids. In 2000, Hollister was launched as the company's third brand, targeted at teenagers as "a new concept focused on the optimistic, laidback California lifestyle".
2007–present Following a lighter earnings announcement in August 2014, A&F shifted its business strategy a degree to trendier styles and faster production processes, effectively embracing fast fashion while retaining its upmarket prestige in contrast to its competitors. Longtime CEO Mike Jeffries resigned in December 2014, after 22 years with the company. Fran Horowitz took over as CEO in February 2017.
To further combat competition from more downscale fast-fashion rivals like Forever 21 and H&M, Abercrombie & Fitch announced more drastic changes to its image in 2015. It scrapped the brand's sexually charged style of advertising, changed the job title of store employees from "models" to "brand representatives", and allowed a less tightly controlled, more individualist dress code. Additionally, the company declared that "brand representatives" would focus more on customer service by offering to help serve customers, in comparison to the past reputation of displaying aloofness toward them. In 2015, the company signaled that it would begin implementing these changes.
By 2018, Abercrombie & Fitch had successfully shifted its target market to an older demographic.
Headquarters The company's headquarters (a.k.a. "The Home Office") is located outside Columbus, Ohio in New Albany, Ohio, a small farm town that expanded into a wealthy community planned and developed by L Brands founder Les Wexner. The Home Office was designed by Anderson Architects as a campus and internally referred to as such, sitting on 350-acres and consisting of 11 two-story buildings (some connected by skybridge). The company's two merchandise distribution centers (1 million square feet each) are located on campus to help ensure brand protection. Also on campus are model stores, one for each of the company's brands, where store layouts, merchandising and atmosphere are developed and tested."Abercrombie & Fitch Careers, Home Office". . Abercrombie & Fitch. In January 2017, A&F announced it was terminating 150 Home Office employees.
The company also has a EMEA Home Office in London and a APAC Home Office in Shanghai."Abercrombie & Fitch Eye Jil Sander". Fashion United. July 26, 2005. Retrieved December 15, 2007.
Marketing, advertising and brand identity
Abercrombie & Fitch was once known for its sophisticated racy marketing photography by Bruce Weber. Photos were mostly black and white and set outdoors, usually with partially nude males and females for an increased tone of sexuality. The company promoted its casting sessions, models, and photo shoots in the "A&F Casting" feature on its website. The brand was also notable for utilising partially nude men and women as store greeters in the 2000s and early 2010s. Echoing the entertainment-based, high-class-aspirational approach L Brands' Les Wexner used to fuel the 1980s-2010s growth of Victoria's Secret, Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries called A&F's previous brand image a "movie" because of the "fantasy" that plays out in-store.
The company's previous brand image was heavily promoted as an international casual luxury lifestyle brand.11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 "Abercrombie & Fitch Co. F1Q09 (Qtr End 05/02/09) Earnings Call Transcript." The company began cultivating a far more upscale image after the 2005 opening of its Fifth Avenue flagship store alongside Prada and other premium retailers. Having for years used high-grade materials in the manufacture of its merchandise, and pricing them at "near-luxury" levels, the company introduced the trademark Casual Luxury as a fictional dictionary term with multiple definitions such as "[using] the finest cashmere, pima cotton, and highest quality leather to create the ultimate in casual, body conscious clothing,"Casual Luxury image from abercrombie.com, Christmas 2006. and "implementing and/or incorporating time honored machinery ...to produce the most exclusive denim..." This upscale image allowed Abercrombie & Fitch to open stores in international high-end locations and reaffirm its premium brand positioning by pricing its merchandise at almost double the American prices.
In 2026, Abercrombie & Fitch partnered with the National Football League and became its first official fashion partner.
Products
Women's Wear Daily called the company's clothing classically "neo-preppy", with an "edgy tone and imagery". In the 2000s and early 2010s, the prices of Abercrombie & Fitch apparel were recognized as the highest in the youth-clothing industry. When the late-2000s recession hit, the company took a major hit financially for its refusal to lower prices or offer discounts. It argued that doing so would "cheapen" its near-luxury image. The company's year-to-year revenue, a key indicator of a retailer's health, rose 13% in September 2010.
The company has carried several popular men's fragrances including Fierce, which was previously the brand's signature scent and was heavily sprayed in all Abercrombie & Fitch stores as a way to experiment with sensory marketing.
Product criticism In 2002, the company sold a shirt featuring the slogan "Wong Brothers Laundry ServiceTwo Wongs Can Make It White," with smiling figures in conical Asian hats, an offensive depiction of 19th century Chinese immigrants to the U.S.The slogan alludes to Arthur Calwell's joke Two Wongs don't make a White, itself a wordplay on "Two wrongs don't make a right." Abercrombie & Fitch discontinued the designs and apologized after a boycott started by a Stanford University Asian American student group. That same year, Abercrombie removed a line of thong underwear sold for young girls after parents led nationwide storefront protests. The underwear included phrases like "Eye Candy" and "Wink Wink" printed on the front.Dial, Karla (undated; copyright 2003). "Megan vs. A&F". . Boundless Webzine. Retrieved October 28, 2011.
More T-shirt controversies occurred in 2004. The first incident involved a shirt featuring the phrase, "It's All Relative in West Virginia," playing on the trope that incestuous relationships are supposedly common in rural America. West Virginia Governor Bob Wise spoke out against the company for depicting "an unfounded, negative stereotype of West Virginia", but Abercrombie & Fitch did not remove the shirts. Later, another T-shirt that read "L is for Loser" next to a picture of a male gymnast (implying that male participation in female-dominated sporting activities makes such males less "masculine") gathered publicity. Abercrombie & Fitch stopped selling the shirt in October 2004 after USA Gymnastics president Bob Colarossi announced a boycott for mocking the sport.
In 2005, the Women and Girls Foundation of Southwest Pennsylvania launched a "Girlcott" of the brand to protest the sale of T-shirts displaying messages such as "Who needs brains when you have these?" ("these" meaning breasts), "Available for parties," and "I had a nightmare I was a brunette." The campaign received national coverage on The Today Show, and the company pulled the shirts from stores on November 5, 2005. Five days after this media coverage, the company pulled two of the shirts from its shelves, released an apology to girls for producing the T-shirts, and agreed to have corporate executives meet with the "Girlcott" girls at the company's headquarters.
Another T-shirt controversy arose over the company's Back-to-School 2009 collection of "humor tees". One shirt proclaims "Show the twins" above a picture of a young woman with her blouse open to two men. Two other shirts state "Female streaking encouraged" and "Female Students Wanted for Sexual Research". The American Family Association disapproved of the influence of the "sex-as-recreation" lifestyle shirts, and asked the brand to remove its "sexualized shirts" from display. Abercrombie & Fitch did not comply.
Brand protection