Image of 2000s cool roars again after sexism scandal practically sank it… and style model’s inventory costs soars
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Simply three years in the past, Abercrombie & Fitch appeared like a dying relic of early-2000s mall tradition.
Prospects had fled. The inventory was tanking.
And the model was beneath hearth after a brutal Netflix documentary uncovered its exclusionary hiring practices — favoring principally white, skinny staff to hawk a hyper-sexualized picture to teenagers and school youngsters.
Now, Abercrombie is staging one of the stunning comebacks in retail. Its inventory has surged over 400 p.c in 5 years — outperforming even a few of tech’s largest names.
On Wednesday alone, shares jumped 32 p.c after the corporate posted blowout earnings and forecast sturdy gross sales for the remainder of 2025.
The corporate credited its revival to trend-savvy updates like printed denims, clothes, and vintage-inspired denim which can be pulling in a brand new technology of customers.
Hollister, its younger-skewing sub-brand, specifically is grabbing new prospects. It noticed same-store gross sales surge 23 p.c year-over-year — with demand booming for fleece, skirts, and retro tees.
CEO Fran Horowitz stated shops are seeing a surge in prospects and pledged to ramp up advertising and marketing through the essential summer time season.
Since Abercrombie & Fitch’s a number of controversies, the model has gone by means of a significant refresh that has made them common with millennials and Gen Z
Abercrombie & Fitch was the mall sizzling spot within the 2000s, well-known for its completely preppy, tanned, and well-coiffed staff
The transformation started when Fran Horowitz took over as CEO in 2017, steering the model away from its Mike Jeffries-era playbook of shirtless fashions and exclusivity.
Underneath her watch, Abercrombie ditched its poisonous picture, embraced inclusivity, and made fashion-forward tweaks like classic denim, printed clothes, and gender-neutral fundamentals.
The turnaround is greater than pores and skin deep. In its newest quarter, Abercrombie posted $1 billion in gross sales — a 22 p.c bounce — and crushed Wall Avenue expectations on earnings.
Examine that to 2014, when Jeffries resigned after 11 straight quarters of shrinking gross sales, and the model was hit with a $40 million discrimination settlement.
A 2022 Netflix doc, White Scorching: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch, cataloged all of it — the racist t-shirts, the ‘look coverage,’ the refusal to hold XL sizes, and Jeffries’ notorious line: ‘Are we exclusionary? Completely.’
Horowitz has been behind Abercrombie & Fitch’s strongest earnings in its 133-year historical past.
Within the early Nineties and 2000s, it ran advert campaigns chock filled with intercourse enchantment primarily that includes engaging and in-shape white fashions. In among the advertisements, the fashions have been virtually carrying nothing in any respect.
Their advertisements additionally had unbelievable star energy, that includes Taylor Swift, Karlie Kloss and Jennifer Lawrence early on of their careers.
Hollister, Abercrombie & Fitch’s teen-focused sister model, additionally rebounded — with same-store gross sales up 23% year-over-year, due to demand for retro tees, fleece, and skirts
Within the early Nineties and 2000s, Abercrombie & Fitch ran advert campaigns chock filled with intercourse enchantment primarily that includes engaging and in-shape white fashions
In among the advertisements, similar to this one selling boxers, the fashions wore virtually nothing in any respect.
Taylor Swift and Karlie Kloss modeled for Abercrombie early on of their careers
Jennifer Lawrence remembered her 2006 shoot in an interview: ‘They wished pure footage, so that they made us play soccer on the seaside. The opposite fashions performed soccer in a reasonably manner, however not me. My face was shiny purple, and I used to be sweaty with flaring nostrils’
A mannequin is pictured in a latest Abercrombie & Fitch summer time promotion on the corporate web site
Mike Jeffries, former chairman and CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, was identified for making brash statements some discovered offensive
At the moment, Abercrombie’s web site options fashions of all races and sizes.
Its favorability amongst millennials hit a document excessive in 2024, in accordance with Morning Seek the advice of, and Gen Z now sees it as ‘hip’ and ‘fashionable,’ per QuestBrand information.
That is a far cry from 2002, when the corporate proudly offered a line of T-shirts with Asian stereotypes and caricatures.
One of many offending shirts featured the slogan ‘Wong Brothers Laundry Service — Two Wongs Can Make It White’ with two caricatures of Chinese language males.
The model’s controversies weren’t restricted to the garments themselves. Their shops, simply as a lot as their advertisements, have been dedicated to the concept that intercourse sells.
That meant rejecting folks making use of as in-store fashions who did not match a sure ‘look,’ which allegedly included minorities.
Subsequently, 9 folks of shade filed a class-action go well with in opposition to Abercrombie & Fitch for alleged discrimination in opposition to African Individuals, Latinos, and Asian Individuals. It was settled for $40 million in November 2004.
