The resurrection of Abercrombie & Fitch

What’s something that Frankenstein, almost every American Horror Story character ever, and Abercrombie & Fitch will all tell you?

Coming back from the dead ain’t no easy feat.

However, it is possible for the bravest of brands, and monsters (sorry, not you Balenciaga.) Which makes it even more fascinating when it occurs.

Abercrombie, the once-treasured American icon of cool (albeit inaccessible to anyone that wasn’t white, rich and skinny) fell from grace in the 2010s.

Changing public sentiment, many controversies and even lawsuits saw the brand voted the most hated in the US in 2016.

But recently, the brand has seen a retail revival thanks to a new, more inclusive image. This includes style, sizing, and pricing. It also involves a winning creator strategy that has shocked the life back into the brand, once again placing it back in public favour.

The brand has been around since the 1800s. So yeah, it’s old old.

It survived the Great Depression. Then went bankrupt. It was acquired by Oshman’s Sporting Goods. Then finally, sold to Limited Brands, the retail conglomerate run by Leslie Wexner.

Wexner, known as the 'Merlin of the Mall,' built chains like Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works as well.

In the 90s, Wexner hired Mike Jeffries as CEO, who built the brand to what it was in its Y2K heyday.

When I tell you this brand has BEEN through it. Anyway, Jeffries focused on the teen retail market. He married preppy separates with the overt and unnecessary sexiness that was popular in the early-2000’s (which is having its moment again today.)

Micro skirts, low rise jeans, tiny tight tank tops.

And how did they sell this? They marketed their clothing as 'All-American'. Their campaigns almost always featured shirtless males as the main act, with females as supporting roles. Almost all were white.

The stores were something else entirely.

Back in the early 2000s, the norm for retailers was to showcase items on mannequins in store windows. Not so different from today.

Not Abercrombie though. Their windows were covered with shutters and displayed only a large photo of one of their models at the entrance.

If you wanted to see what they had, you had to go inside. There, a shirtless male employee would greet you as you took in the overwhelming scent of the brand's own cologne, Fierce.

So obnoxious, it’s almost hard to believe it was a thing.

What’s even harder to believe is that the brand absolutely smashed its way through the late 90s. By 1996, they had around 124 stores and $335 million in sales.

By 2000, they had their own children’s and teens brand, Hollister. It was a cultural phenomenon. LFO even mentioned it their hit 'Summer Girls,' 'I like girls who wear Abercrombie and Fitch, I’d take her if I had one wish.'

They say higher you climb…

In 2002, Abercrombie released T-shirts with some uh, interesting (racist) designs.

Like the ones with caricatured faces with slanted eyes and rice-paddy hats, and racist slogans such as 'Wongs Brothers Laundry Service – Two Wongs Can Make It White.'

For obvious reasons, this marks the brand's fall from grace.

Soon came the protests over their sh*tty t-shirts. Class-action lawsuits over their racist hiring practices and employee handbooks prohibiting dreadlocks and policies about employee 'attractiveness.'

It’s not looking good, brev.

Feb 26, 2016, Abercrombie was voted the most hated retail brand in America. That’s as good as dead in my books.

But then, God sent Abercrombie an angel.

An angel by the name of Fran Horowitz, who became CEO in 2017. A rebranding icon, the woman turned everything around for the brand, overhauling its product design and marketing.

She brought the stores out of their soft porn-era, removing the dim lighting and half naked employees. She improved the quality of the clothing, focusing on making fewer individual items than the brands fast-fashion competitors. She changed the style of their clothing to be more inclusive with sizing and prices.

Horowitz also placed a huge focus on Abercrombie’s customers. She even created an in-house board made up of employees who matched their shoppers' age.

It was a cultural repair job, and Fran carried it out with grace.

It’s ALIVE.

The final shock that jolted life back into Abercrombie & Fitch came in the form of an influencer strategy. Central to that strategy was the cultivation of a robust network of creators. Creators that spanned diverse backgrounds, including dance, gaming, sports and retail. The creators were also diverse in size and ethnicity, and all within their target audience of ages 25 to 29.

By collaborating with young creators, the brand formed authentic connections with its demographic. Abercrombie also gave these creators full autonomy over the content they produced. And this was a crucial element in the campaign's success.

Because of this, the company continues to cater to the tastes of Gen Z and Millennials like it never has before. It gained 285% on the stock market in 2023, and is expected to hit $5 billion in revenue in the next few years.

That’s one hell of a comeback.

-Sophie, Writer