Abercrombie & Fitch has made a huge comeback. Here's how the company made itself more than 'a jeans and T-shirt brand'

Founder David Abercrombie opened the original Abercrombie store to sell camping, fishing, and hunting gear. 

In 1904, a lawyer named Ezra Fitch purchased a large share of the company and was named co-founder, and the company became Abercrombie & Fitch.

The 12-story department store on Madison Avenue sold both men's and women's clothing, in addition to housing a shooting range and golf school. Abercrombie & Fitch also started a mail-order catalog, mailing out 50,000 copies to consumers.

According to the Netflix documentary "White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch," the brand's reputation in the early 1900s was as a store for stuffy, WASP-y sportsmen. Amelia Earhart and Theodore Roosevelt wore Abercrombie, and when aviator Charles Lindbergh made the first solo flight across the Atlantic in 1927, he wore Abercrombie too. 

In a 1931 issue of The New Yorker, author E.B. White wrote that Abercrombie had "the most gaped-at window in town. Displays all the clothes men want to wear all the time and don't."

Abercrombie filed for bankruptcy in 1977. In 1978, the brand was acquired by Oshman's Sporting Goods, a Texas-based retailer.

A decade later, it was sold to Limited Brands — now known as simply L Brands — the retail conglomerate run by Leslie Wexner. Wexner was widely considered a retailing genius and called "the Merlin of the Mall" due to his success at building chains like The Limited, Victoria's Secret, and Bath & Body Works. (Wexner has since cut ties with L Brands and has been scrutinized for his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.)

After being acquired by L Brands, Abercrombie moved its headquarters from New York to Ohio where it built a massive campus complete with a fake retail store, according to "White Hot." 

Jeffries turned his attention to cornering the younger retail market, making it the brand's mission to appeal to American teens.

"We knew we wanted to be the coolest brand for the 18 to 22-year-olds," Cindy Smith-Maglione, the former vice president of merchandising, said in "White Hot." 

Abercrombie hired fashion photographer Bruce Weber to shoot ad campaigns and store photos, and it's his aesthetic that defined the company's brand in the '90s and 2000s.

The Abercrombie look married preppy separates with the overt sexiness popular in the late '90s and early 2000s: Skirts were short, jeans were low-rise, and tank tops were tight, but everything was portrayed as "all-American," a particular obsession of Jeffries', according to the "White Hot" documentary.

In the Weber-shot ad campaigns, male models were often photographed shirtless, either alone or in groups, while female models were often relegated to supporting roles. In the early days, nearly everyone was white. 

Abercrombie stores weren't like any other mall brand. Rather than showcase its offerings on mannequins in store windows, Abercrombie covered the windows with shutters and displayed only a large photo of an Abercrombie model at the entrance — if shoppers wanted to see what the brand offered, they'd have to come inside. At many stores, shirtless male employees would greet shoppers as they entered.

Once in the store, shoppers were greeted with dim lighting, loud music, and the overwhelming scent of the brand's "Fierce" cologne. 

"Every piece of Abercrombie was by design, by Mike's design. The stores, the product, the whole thing, he would sign off on," Smith-Maglione, the former merchandising vice president, said in "White Hot."

When Jeffries took over, Abercrombie & Fitch had 36 stores and was doing $50 million in sales. By 1996, the company had about 125 stores and $335 million in sales, Bloomberg reported. 

Two years later, Abercrombie launched its children's brand, and in 2000, the company opened its subsidiary, Hollister, which catered to teens but with a California-inspired influence.

Abercrombie was everywhere, and as of 1999, was a certified cultural phenomenon thanks to the song "Summer Girls" by LFO: "I like girls that wear Abercrombie & Fitch," the lyrics went. "I'd take her if I had one wish."

Following the release of multiple racist t-shirts depicting Asian stereotypes, Asian Americans across the US protested outside Abercrombie stores, demanding that the brand stop selling the graphic tees.

In response, the company pulled the products from its shelves and burned them, according to "White Hot."

In 2003, a group of former and prospective employees filed a class-action lawsuit against Abercrombie, claiming that the company refused to hire them or fired them on the basis of their race. 

According to "White Hot," Abercrombie had a handbook that dictated what employees should look like down to their underwear, jewelry, and hair. The handbook prohibited dreadlocks and gold chains and mandated a look Abercrombie described as "natural," "American," and "classic."

Former employees said in the documentary that the company dictated that store staff be attractive and often valued looks over abilities. When Jeffries, the CEO, would make unannounced store visits — known as "blitzes" — the stores would try to ensure that their best-looking employees were working that day, even keeping some workers on staff just for those visits.

Abercrombie settled the class-action suit in 2004 without admitting any wrongdoing. It agreed to pay more than $40 million and signed a consent decree agreeing to change its hiring practices and hire a chief diversity officer. 

In 2012, an age discrimination suit filed by a former pilot revealed the "Aircraft Standards" for Abercrombie's executive jet. 

The pilot claimed that crew were required to wear Abercrombie polo shirts, sandals, and underwear, and that men had to wear the retailer's famous cologne. Staff were also required to wear black gloves when handling silverware and white gloves when setting the table; had to answer every question and request with "no problem"; and had to play a specific song for passengers on return flights.

Abercrombie settled the pilot's suit without admitting fault. 

Jeffries said in a 2006 interview with Salon that Abercrombie made clothes for the "cool kids."

"In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids," he told Salon. "Candidly, we go after the cool kids. 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 added that the store only hired good-looking people because they "attract other good-looking people." 

But it wasn't until 2013 that those comments went viral, sparking boycotts and petitions and forcing Jeffries to publish a semi-apology. 

"While I believe this 7-year-old, resurrected quote has been taken out of context, I sincerely regret that my choice of words was interpreted in a manner that has caused offense," he wrote in a Facebook post. 

That same year, the brand finally began to offer larger sizes.

By 2014, same-store sales had declined for 11 straight quarters. Two subsidiary brands, Ruehl No.925 and Gilly Hicks, were shut down only a few years after launch, and Abercrombie had begun shuttering some of its mall stores.  (Gilly Hicks was later resurrected and still exists today.) 

The slow sales were due in part to the company's controversies, but also due to shifts among the younger demographic. Teens had grown tired of logo t-shirts and hoodies and started opting for cheaper, fast-fashion brands like Forever 21. Nike took over as teens' aspirational brand. 

At the same time, the power of the mall was beginning to shrink: by 2014, the number of teens who preferred to shop online was rising.

In 2008, an Oklahoma teen named Samantha Elauf applied for a job at her local Abercrombie store and was recommended for hire. But the store later said it couldn't hire her because she wore a black headscarf, which the company said violated its policy that salespeople couldn't wear caps at work. 

In response, Elauf, a Muslim, filed a religious-discrimination lawsuit. While Abercrombie had settled other lawsuits in the past, this time, it dug its heels in and allowed the case to make it all the way to the Supreme Court. 

In 2015, the court ruled 8-1 against Abercrombie. Its opinion stated that religion was a protected characteristic and must be accommodated.

Jeffries reportedly retired with an exit package worth $27 million. 

"It has been an honor to lead this extraordinarily talented group of people," Jeffries said in a statement at the time. "I believe now is the right time for new leadership to take the company forward in the next phase of its development."

A committee formed by three senior executives and the Abercrombie board chairman managed the company until a successor could be selected.

The company decided to phase out large logos, replacing them with smaller, more subtle designs and putting leftover logo apparel on clearance. 

In 2015, Abercrombie got rid of its shirtless male greeters and overhauled its appearance policies for sales clerks, though some rules remained, including "no extreme make-up or jewelry."

Also gone were the dimly lit stores and pulsating music — the stores became brighter and free of the overpowering scent of cologne. 

Even the ubiquitous shopping bags, which featured a bare male torso, were nixed in favor of a subtler logo bag. 

Horowitz had joined Abercrombie in 2014 from Ann Taylor Loft, working as brand president of Hollister and as president and chief merchandising officer for Abercrombie & Fitch.

Under Horowitz, sales began to improve. Abercrombie shut down unprofitable locations while investing in stores that worked. Between 2010 and the 2018 fiscal year, the company closed 450 stores and remodeled others in an effort to reconnect with consumers.

Abercrombie also refocused design and marketing, shifting toward a more mature look and nixing the brand's super-preppy aesthetic. The company also began targeting consumers between 18 to 25 rather than young teens.

In November 2018, Abercrombie was on a positive trajectory, reporting its fifth consecutive quarter of positive same-store sales growth.

The brand closed 40 stores — mostly kids stores — while planning to open 40 new locations with a more boutique-like feel. 

But it was the clothes that really stood out: Abercrombie had started offering similar styles and trends to higher-end brands like Reformation at a much more affordable price point. The product assortment became "more sophisticated, is more on-trend, and better reflects what modern consumers want," Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail, wrote in a note to clients at the time. 

That year, Abercrombie exceeded $1 billion in annual digital sales for the first time in its history, according to the company.

"We are not the Abercrombie & Fitch that you once knew," Horowitz said during investor day that April.

Abercrombie saw a 43% increase in digital net sales in 2020, despite the challenges of the pandemic. The company credited that success to data analytics and learning more about their customers' needs, even during a time when the apparel industry was in a state of upheaval. 

That strong performance continued in 2021, despite the inventory delays many retailers experienced, particularly over the holiday season. In its full-year results posted in March 2022, Abercrombie reported $3.7 billion in net sales. 

In the second quarter of 2022, Abercrombie said that the brand was experiencing the impact of inflation, which has caused shoppers, especially lower-income shoppers, to buy less apparel. 

Though Abercrombie delivered its highest second-quarter sales since 2015, Hollister saw "a greater than anticipated impact from inflation" that resulted in low conversion and smaller basket sizes, Horowitz said in a statement. Abercrombie lowered its sales outlook for the remainder of the year, causing shares to drop sharply. 

But Abercrombie wasn't alone: other retailers — including Gap, Macy's, and Nordstrom — reported similar uncertainty in 2022.

Abercrombie historically thrived in malls, but is moving towards using online shopping transactions to determine where its customers are and opening stores closer to them.

In Chicago, for example, the company closed a large store in the Water Tower Place mall and opened a new, boutique-style shop in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood in 2021. A large swath of customers in that area had been making online purchases, according to Bloomberg. 

"Specifically with our Abercrombie & Fitch brand, that consumer is maybe going to the mall a little bit less," Samir Desai, Abercrombie's chief digital and technology officer, told Bloomberg. "So that really favors neighborhood mall streets where there might be a fitness experience or something else that they're engaging in and that's taking them there."

During its most recent quarter, Abercrombie surprised Wall Street by reporting a net profit of $16.6 million, after posting a loss of nearly that much during the same period a year earlier. It also boosted its full-year sales outlook. First-quarter sales of its namesake brand grew 14% year-over-year.

In Abercrombie & Fitch's newly opened and renovated stores, there are virtually no traces of the retailer's early aughts store era. There are no shirtless Abercrombie model posters, dark lighting, club music, and suffocating cologne — everything that used to be trademarks of the Abercrombie & Fitch experience. Instead, the stores are designed with bright lighting, white and cream paint, and elegant touches, such as wood paneling and glass chandeliers.

Abercrombie has traded its early 2000s logo-emblazoned T-shirts and polos for a range of formal and floral dresses, suit sets, and sophisticated knit polos. And the brand is catching on with Gen Z shoppers, some of whom are in college or entering the workforce, Fast Company reported in January.

The company's first-quarter sales grew 22%, Abercrombie & Fitch reported in May.

On June 10, its shares had nearly doubled their value since the start of 2024.

In October, a two-year BBC investigation found that ex-CEO Jeffries and his British partner Matthew Smith were behind organized events that recruited men and involved sex acts. Some of the men who were paid to attend these events alleged they were exploited or abused. Others told the outlet that opportunities to model for Abercrombie & Fitch were tied to their participation in sexual activities. 

Abercrombie & Fitch told the news outlet that it was "appalled and disgusted" by the allegations. The FBI is investigating the claims, the BBC reported in January.

Jeffries has called a lawsuit that makes many accusations "meritless," while Abercrombie & Fitch has said that it's not liable since the lawsuit doesn't prove that the company knew about the behavior, the BBC reported.

In an earnings call last year, CEO Fran Horowitz told investors that while denim continues to be an important part of the business, "we are really focused on the fact that bottoms are much more than denim today," she said on the August earnings call. 

Furthermore, Horowitz highlighted that several categories have led to the company's tenth consecutive quarter of growth. "The playbook is working," she said. "We are no longer a jeans and T-shirt brand. We certainly are a lifestyle brand today, and what's driving this win is several categories."

Matthew Wilson contributed to an earlier version of this article.