As counterintuitive because it may appear, being fashionable generally is a curse for a clothes model. Abercrombie & Fitch for years was a stylish tastemaker that informed clients what was cool, not the opposite means round, and it labored. Till it didn’t.
A decade in the past, the “It” model of the 2000s and early 2010s crashed. Prospects had been turned off by the extremely sexualized advertising and management’s disdainful angle towards consumers it mentioned weren’t cool sufficient for Abercrombie & Fitch’s garments.
So when Abercrombie CEO Fran Horowitz, beforehand president of A&F’s sister model Hollister, went about repairing the mother or father firm in 2017, she had her work reduce out for her. As detailed in a Fortune characteristic in 2022, she dropped her predecessors’ command-and-control means of managing the corporate in favor of letting the rank and file have extra enter. She raised the standard of the clothes and, crucially, determined to eschew chasing tendencies.
“‘Cool’ is a tough word,” Horowitz informed the Fortune Most Highly effective Girls Summit in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. “It’s not what we’re aspiring to be. We’re aspiring to be a long-lasting lifestyle brand that someone can wear and enjoy for many, many years.” (Her sentiments echo these of designer Ralph Lauren, who as soon as famously mentioned, “I don’t want to be too hot.”)
Horowitz’s technique has labored. A&F’s gross sales practically doubled to $2.6 billion between 2019 and 2024; Hollister, which had additionally struggled, boomed too. This yr, the mixed gross sales of each manufacturers will high $5 billion for the primary time.
Sustaining that upward momentum is Horowitz’s massive problem. One tactic she’s employed is looking for out new partnerships. This summer season, Abercrombie Children began promoting its clothes at Macy’s shops. Individually, the Nationwide Soccer League selected Abercrombie & Fitch to be its first ever trend associate with the retailer carrying merchandise reminiscent of mesh T-shirts and half-zip sweaters for every of the 32 NFL groups.
The upside of the NFL deal, Horowitz mentioned, is the publicity to tens of millions of NFL followers, half of whom are ladies. The CEO says that group hasn’t at all times been nicely served by group merchandise that too typically has been “pink and sparkly”—not the extra refined merchandise she is betting they wish to put on on sport day.
“The opportunity for us specifically is customer acquisition and brand awareness,” mentioned Horowitz, a New York Giants fan. “Even though 50% of their fandom is female, perhaps they’re not recognized or celebrated as much as they can be, and they haven’t been served by merch exactly.”
