When you hear the name Abercrombie and Fitch, you may think of the A&F branded stylish T-shirts that cool teens wore back in the 2000s.
However, this company didn’t always sell apparel to kids, teenagers, and young adults.
There was a time when it sold hunting and sporting gear to hunters, campers, and elite outdoorsmen.
Abercrombie and Fitch has evolved multiple times in its 130-year tenure.
The company started by targeting people who loved spending time outdoors with its sporting, hunting, fishing, and camping equipment.
It later transformed into a clothing retailer targeting a younger audience (preteens to young adults).
Today, Abercrombie and Fitch sell apparel through five renowned brands: Abercrombie & Fitch, Abercrombie Kids, Hollister Co., Gilly Hicks, and Social Tourist.
Abercrombie and Fitch operates close to 730 stores within and outside the United States.
The company also owns five e-commerce websites for each of its five brands.
Its headquarters are in New Albany, Ohio, and it boasts a market cap value of $780 million as of September 2022. Now, let’s discuss the bumpy history of Abercrombie and Fitch.
The Story of Abercrombie and Fitch
Abercrombie and Fitch was established in 1892 by David T. Abercrombie as a sporting and hunting equipment outlet.
The entity operated with only one store in lower Manhattan, New York City, and gained a modest reputation for its high-quality outdoor gear.
David Abercrombie remained the sole owner until 1900 when Ezra Fitch came into the picture.
Fitch was already a successful lawyer and real estate developer in Kingston, New York, before joining Abercrombie and Fitch. As an outdoorsman, he was one of the company’s loyal customers.
In 1900, Fitch invested a significant stake in Abercrombie Co. The two owners later incorporated the company in 1904 and renamed it Abercrombie and Fitch Co.
Founders
David T. Abercrombie was the only founder of Abercrombie and Fitch.
He remained an owner until 1907 when he resigned and sold all his shares to Ezra Fitch.
Fitch joined the company in 1900 after investing a significant stake and thus became a co-founder.
The company’s operations continued as before, but Fitch had broader plans that clashed with those of David Abercrombie.
Fitch wanted the company to expand its target clientele to people other than those who spent much time outdoors. Abercrombie was reserved, preferring to keep things as they were.
The two owners clashed so much that Abercrombie resigned in 1907 and returned to manufacturing camping gear. He sold his stake to Fitch, who then became the sole owner until 1928.
The Reign of Ezra Fitch
Fitch continued managing Abercrombie and Fitch in the absence of its founder.
He retained the company’s name and introduced different marketing strategies. In 1909, Fitch mailed out approximately 50,000 copies of the company’s 456-page catalog.
The catalog featured the company’s outdoor apparel, camping gear, and article columns. Each catalog cost a dollar to print, which put the company at risk of bankruptcy.
However, the influx of orders that followed justified this marketing expense.
Under Fitch’s leadership, Abercrombie and Fitch added more products to its inventory.
The company started selling women’s wear in 1910, making it the first store in New York to sell both men’s and women’s clothing.
The company also relocated several times within New York, but the most significant move occurred in 1917, when it occupied an entire 12-story building on Madison Avenue, bordering East 45th Street.
This store held everything from outdoor apparel to hunting guns, sporting equipment, dog and cat kennels, fishing, boating, and camping equipment.
In the 1920s, Abercrombie and Fitch started selling Mahjong, a Chinese game played by four people.
Fitch discovered the game when a lady customer came looking for it at the store.
He traveled to China to learn more about the game, translated the instructions, and brought it to the United States.
Mahjong became a fast-selling product, with Abercrombie and Fitch becoming the first American company to import and sell the game.
Fitch retired from Abercrombie and Fitch in 1928. He sold his stake to his brother-in-law, James S. Cobb (who became president), and to an employee, Otis L.
Guernsey, who became vice president. Cobb focused on growing the company by buying out its competitors in New York, such as Von Lengerke & Detmold, Von Lengerke & Antoine, and Griffin & Howe.
He added the merchandise of Griffin & Howe and Von Lengerke & Detmold to the Madison Avenue store.
Company Setbacks
Abercrombie and Fitch barely survived the Great Depression. Revenues toppled from an all-time high of $6.3 million in 1929 to less than $2.6 million in 1933.
The company recorded losses amounting to $241,211 in 1932 and $521,118 in 1933. Were it not for Cobb negotiating favorable terms with creditors, Abercrombie and Fitch might have gone bankrupt.
The company, however, recovered, and in 1947, it netted a new record profit of $682,894.
Abercrombie and Fitch also faced another setback in 1977, when the company went bankrupt.
By this time, Cobb and Guernsey had left, leaving the presidency to John H. Ewing in the 1960s and later to William Humphrey in 1970.
The company also opened multiple stores in San Francisco, Palm Beach, Florida, New Jersey, Southampton, and Sarasota. Nevertheless, the 12-story Madison Avenue store remained the flagship outlet.
Abercrombie and Fitch’s road to bankruptcy began in 1968 when the company decided to host ridiculous warehouse sales that showed a sense of desperation.
In the previous year, the company had suffered losses of close to $500,000.
Revenues continued to decline to the point the company got into financial trouble. It lost $1 million in 1975, filed for bankruptcy in 1976, and finally closed its doors in 1977.
Company Successes
Fortunately, in 1978, Oshman’s Sporting Goods acquired Abercrombie and Fitch for $1.5 million. The firm opened an A&F store in Beverly Hills, California, and a bigger one in Dallas in 1980.
Oshman’s Sporting Goods continued to open A&F stores, with most focusing on sporting equipment. By the start of 1987, there were 26 Abercrombie and Fitch stores in the United States.
In 1988, Oshman’s Sporting Goods sold Abercrombie and Fitch to Limited Brand, a parent company of several apparel chains such as Victoria’s Secret.
Sally Frame-Kasaks became the new company president, and her first action point was to clear out A&F’s inventory and place more emphasis on apparel.
Sally helped transition Abercrombie and Fitch from a hunting and sporting gear outlet to an apparel company.
Sally Frame-Kasaks left Abercrombie and Fitch for Ann Taylor in 1992, and Michael Jeffries succeeded her as company president.
By this time, A&F had 36 stores in the United States. Jeffries positioned A&F as the retailer for choice for teens and young adults in America.
He made the brand look cool among the American youth. Jeffries believed that focusing on young American adults was the right choice for the company as this demographic was the fastest growing at the time.
Despite Jeffries’ intention to popularize A&F among American youths, some critics believe he took it too far. Jeffries ended up creating a corporate culture dedicated to youthfulness, fun, and good looks.
A&F garnered a lot of criticism for hiring executives and staff members solely based on attractiveness. Some people termed this discrimination.
In 2003, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Abercrombie and Fitch, claiming that the company only hired lean, white, and beautiful people.
Jeffries’s marketing strategies also promoted the culture of sexuality and exclusivity among the American youth.
He created ad campaigns and catalogs featuring provocative content and barely clothed male models.
A&F ended up gaining immense popularity among teens and young adults in America but criticism from parents and legislators. By 1996, the brand rose from 36 stores to 125 with annual sales of $335 million.
In 1996, Limited Brand took Abercrombie and Fitch public with an IPO of $16 per share.
Two years later, A&F became an independent company, with Michael Jeffries assuming the CEO position. The company later launched Abercrombie Kids, Hollister Co., and RUEHL No.925 (discontinued in 2010).
Lessons Learned From Abercrombie and Fitch
The main lesson that we can learn from the story of Abercrombie and Fitch is that it’s important to be mindful of the impact you want your brand to have on society.
Brands are essential to society because they help foster a sense of belonging.
They can also influence how people express themselves and the values they adopt. In the case of Abercrombie and Fitch, Jeffries’ branding concept worked, but it created a negative impression.
Facts
Here are some interesting facts about Abercrombie and Fitch.
- In the 1900s, Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States, bought equipment for his African safari from Abercrombie and Fitch. Roosevelt was not the only leader who bought outdoor gear from the company.
- Ernest Hemmingway, the influential American novelist, committed suicide with a gun he’d purchased from Abercrombie and Fitch. Hemmingway was also a loyal customer of the company.
- During the 1968 warehouse sale by Abercrombie and Fitch, more than 90,000 customers visited the company’s Manhattan store in one day.
Abercrombie and Fitch Company Timeline
Abercrombie and Fitch Company Timeline1892
David T. Abercrombie establishes Abercrombie and Fitch as Abercrombie Co.
1900
Ezra Fitch invests a significant stake and joins A&F.
1904
The two owners rename the company Abercrombie and Fitch Co.
1907
David Abercrombie resigns and sells his stake to Ezra Fitch.
1909
Abercrombie and Fitch creates and mails 50,000 copies of a 456-page catalog featuring the company’s products and article columns.
1928
Ezra Fitch retires from the company and sells his stake to James S. Cobb and Otis Guernsey.
1950s
A&F launches new stores within the United States.
1976
A&F files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and closes operations in 1977.
1978
Oshman’s Sporting Goods purchases Abercrombie and Fitch.
1988
1988: Limited Brands acquires Abercrombie and Fitch and steers the company towards the apparel industry.
1996
Abercrombie and Fitch gets listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ANF ticker.
1998
A&F launches Abercrombie Kids.
1999
Abercrombie and Fitch becomes independent.
2000
Abercrombie and Fitch opens the first Hollister Company store in Columbus, Ohio.
2002
A&F’s headquarters move to New Albany, Ohio.
2005
A&F opens a flagship store in New York City.
2007
A&F opens its first flagship store in London.
2009
A&F opens its first flagship store in Tokyo, Japan.
2017
A&F celebrates 125 years in business and launches a new store prototype.
2018
A&F’s annual digital sales exceed $1 billion.
2019
A&F relaunches the Fierce fragrance.
2021
A&F launches Social Tourist and relaunches Gilly Hicks under the Hollister Company.