Business Case Study: Abercrombie And Fitch

Abercrombie & Fitch

Section 1

Abercrombie & Fitch is a company founded in 1892 in Manhattan. In the beginning, the company was an elite outfitter of sporting and excursion goods. After its first bankruptcy in 1976, Abercrombie & Fitch was revived as a mail-order retailer for hunting wear and novelty items. In 1988, the company name was sold to The Limited. The Limited was a clothing-chain operator based in Columbus. That’s where Abercrombie & Fitch started focusing on clothing for young adults. In the nineties, the new CEO Mike Jeffries brought the brand to a new level and made sure that the company kept a high-profile in the public eye, due to its advertising, its philanthropy, and its involvement in legal conflicts over branding, clothing

In early 2013 however, Business Insider wrote an article about the lack of the sizes XL, XXL and 10 plus in the Abercrombie & Fitch stores. The writer of the interview referred to the things that Mike Jeffries said in the article he did for Salon. It was clear that Abercrombie & Fitch tried to ban people with these sizes out of there stores because they didn’t consider them as “cool”.

Mike Jeffries later apologized for what he said in the interview for Salon and defended himself by saying that the quotes were taken out of their context. There came a lot of critic on Abercrombie & Fitch after this article came out, especially in the social media. The consequences of this interview were that the brand’s name was damaged, the employees morale feel and the sales fell too. Another consequence was that Mike Jeffries stepped down as CEO on 9 December 2014.

Abercrombie & Fitch now tries to fight the competition with some important changes to change its image. They will stop sexualized advertising by no longer having shirtless models at new store opening, and eliminating sexualized pictures and advertising on bags, gift cards, and in stores. The store employees will also no longer be called “models”, but “brand representatives” and they will allow a more individualistic dress code for their employees. The “brand representatives” will now focus more on customer service and the company also wants to bring more

They need to know that the people who wear these clothes are “cool” and that Abercrombie & Fitch is an exclusive brand. They also know who Mike Jeffries is because it is said in the article that he is the CEO of the company. In this way the readers know that the person who tells them what the company stands for isn’t just someone unimportant and that they can trust him when he speaks for the company. They also need to know what’s in it for them and that is that if they buy their clothes, they will be part of the “cool” people or at least pretend they