Is it time for Abercrombie & Fitch to close Abercrombie & Fitch?
Filed under: Sex Sells, Budgets, Family Money, Shopping
It hasn't been a fun month, I'd imagine, for anyone with a corner office at Abercrombie & Fitch's rugged New Albany, OH headquarters. The company reported a 22% drop in net sales for May -- and this week, the story of London store employee Riam Dean surfaced. Dean, 22, was allegedly moved from a sales job to a stockroom post -- away from the eyes of shoppers -- after her managers discovered she had a prosthetic arm.
Yes, it's been the kind of month that might make even the biggest cheerleader of an executive gaze out the window and think, Maybe we should just shut this thing down.
In this case, yeah -- maybe you should.
It sounds radical, but the time has come to ask whether it makes sense for the company Abercrombie & Fitch to keep the brand Abercrombie & Fitch alive.
The clothes have zero durability and fail, season after season, to evolve beyond A&F's bland aesthetic. The marketing campaigns, which at their best were emptily provocative, have changed even less. They've gone beyond desensitizing us to naked torsos; they've actually made them boring. And the company, loathe to tarnish its air of exclusiveness, openly resists markdowns. You have to ask yourself: If the recession doesn't weed out a retail brand like this, what will it cut down?
But Dean's story, beyond inciting moral fury, gets to the heart of why A&F is no longer viable in the long term: it has battered itself into irrelevance. Dean is only the latest in a very long line of people who have felt targeted by A&F. Remember the t-shirts emblazoned with racist caricatures of Asians? How about the $40 million lawsuit the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission brought against A&F on behalf of African-Americans, Latinos and Asians who felt they were kept behind Employees Only doors because their features didn't jibe with the store's infamous "look policy?" The prospects for a brand that sells whiteness as eagerly as it does postage-stamp-sized shorts -- in a time when its target clientele overwhelmingly supported a black president -- are dicey at best.
Unfortunately, whiteness is the only tentpole of the store's image. Here's the company's perception of the store, straight from the 2008 annual report: "Rooted in East Coast tradition and Ivy League heritage, A&F is the essence of privilege and casual luxury."
This very well may be the most unabashedly white mission statement ever written. Brooks Brothers' mission statement, which includes a few brief words on its staying power and American values, reads like the plaque on the Statue of Liberty in comparison. In extremely specific terms, A&F's statement immediately discounts 99% of the global population.
It also reveals the biggest factor in A&F's vulnerability: a woefully underdeveloped identity. The company would do better to shutter A&F and concentrate on Hollister, which knows its niche. Its hibiscus-print tees and cabana storefronts scream surf and summer, and its financials are neck-and-neck with A&F's. Though Hollister suffered a 32% sales drop in May, compared to A&F's 25%, its 2007 net sales figure ($1.59 billion) was about the same as A&F's ($1.63 billion) -- and since Hollister offers a lower price point, it's bound to have a stronger 2009 than A&F.
Oh, and more bad news about that mission statement. The one percent of the world Abercrombie purports to care about -- rich college kids -- are not interested in returning the favor. Newsflash, A&F: privileged kids who go to Ivy League schools aspire to dress like the characters on Gossip Girl. A&F, to them, is a distant memory. It's a relic of high school, an era that's actually much more linked to the brand's identity.
A former A&F employee once told me that the reason the stores keep the music so loud is that the company wants customers to feel slightly intimidated approaching the floor attendants, who are told to carry themselves like the most popular kids at a party. In other words, making shoppers feel like nervous freshmen is prioritized above providing customer service.The similarities don't end there. In high school, and at A&F, hormones rage and social hierarchies rule. Boobs and biceps are prized; imperfections are dug up and called out. Thinking -- and dressing -- outside the norm is considered socially perilous. But you know what the beautiful thing about high school -- and A&F's preeminence -- is?
They both turned out to be just a phase.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 27)
6-26-2009 @ 8:36PM
theresa said...
Over a year ago I complained to A&F's store management about the loud music. They said they would look into it but the next time I was at the mall, it was just as loud.
I also sent an email to hollister's parent company and voiced my same concerns. They responded to my complaints at that same mall so I've continued to shop at Hollister instead of A&F.
The parents are customers too and are usually the ones making the decisions about where to shop, but when my 5 y/o refuses to go in the store with me because of the noise I have to draw the line.
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6-27-2009 @ 6:07AM
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6-27-2009 @ 9:05AM
Rebecca said...
That is absolutely ridiculous. If you thought the music was too loud you leave. When I see something in a store window that I want for myself or my son and the music is too loud or it's that damn Spanish music which drives me insane. I buy what I want and run out of there. If I decide to go in just to browse and it's too loud or again the music is unbearable I leave. End of story.
6-28-2009 @ 5:02PM
Michele said...
I'm with you, Theresa. It's damaging to the ears of anyone, but especially to young people, to have such loud music.
If you want something to change, you need to complain about it, Rebecca. Buying something from them even if you loathe the music hurts them in what way? NONE!! If everyone who objected to the loud music didn't patronize these stores, they would listen.
6-29-2009 @ 1:34PM
CBJ said...
No they wouldn't listen, the music would be too loud and they wouldn't even hear you.
6-29-2009 @ 9:43AM
jlp said...
Though im not a big fan of A&F and there clothing this articles is slightly biased and one sided. I mean why aren’t there any quotes from the company about there feeling about the issues stated. In addition, these people that complained about there treatment at A&F, have they really been discriminated against or are they upset about the position they have been given, I mean not everyone can work in the showroom. Another thing, I have gone to my local A&F and have seen African Americans and Asians working in the showroom and in ads. I believe if this writer wants to write articles about stores and there morals they need to write an artical not an editorial.
6-29-2009 @ 10:14AM
Master Shake said...
The chain is tailored to a YOUNG audience, who LIKE loud music. If you are too old for it, then shop somewhere else. Must EVERYTHING be plain vanilla in America to avoid a lawsuit?
6-29-2009 @ 10:28AM
tj said...
u do now that a&f own hollister right?
6-29-2009 @ 10:34AM
willowreed said...
I agree with you. I dont like the loudness, and no, I am not "old."
6-29-2009 @ 11:14AM
lsaidsltdown said...
What many people don't know is that Disney has that same type of discriminatory policy and I can't understand why no one has sued them on it as well. People who don't fit certain "appearance" guidelines are relegated to "backstage" jobs where their appearance won't "offend" the guests.
This basically means that people who were not blessed with attractive looks get stuck shoveling garbage, working 3rd shift custodial, or working kitchen jobs and don't have nearly the same opportunities as people who are considered "average" or "attractive".
I will say that they wouldn't stick someone behind stage for having a prosthetic arm though, especially not this girl because she is quite attractive.
6-29-2009 @ 5:27PM
Deb said...
who cares if your kid likes loud music..............though I really feel you are making this all up. Maybe you should be the parent here.
6-30-2009 @ 8:03PM
Aileen Johnston said...
I would never walk into an A&F store......Several years ago I worked for a compaqny that did work for A&F.....like we had to take out the tags on mens shirts (that said where they were made) and sew on tags that said (made in America). I thought this was very wrong. My husband was a Union man and wouldn't buy anything that wasn't made in America. I ended up quiting my job due to this . I think the owner should pay for the wrongs he has done.
6-29-2009 @ 12:14PM
Jan Greenspan said...
I did the same thing - complained in-store first, then to the district office. Nothing was done and I was told the music was within the legal decibal level. My daughter and I rarely shop there any more due to the loud "noise".
6-29-2009 @ 1:19PM
HaleyO said...
I know its so stupid! the music is so loud and it feels like its blowing your eardrums right out of your head! the smell is horible. every time i walk by with my friends i hold my breath. That store has problems. hardly anyone shops there anyway. they say that the guys are supposed to have "big" bysepts and the girls to have "big" boobs? thats wrong! and then they fire that girl for having a prostetic arm? WOW she SOOOOOOO dosnt fit the look for my store. IM going to fire her. I don't blame her for suing them. they had NO right for firing her but she has EVERY right to sue them.
6-29-2009 @ 1:38PM
ily said...
i thought abercombie owned hollister. They have the same type of store and the clothes are basically the same except for the logo. either way i still love it there. And the music isn't a problem to me. That's what attracts young people to the store. It's usually their favorite songs that are being blasted
7-01-2009 @ 10:45AM
Lyss said...
OMG! A&F is a great company. I was just there today and if anyone thinks about shuting them down those people are crazy and have no common sense. Teens of America love their clothes and people have jobs there soooooooo by closing the store those people aren't happy and teens lose their jobs. Soooo what they made a bad decsion and everyone gets mad. You make a bad descion no one cares. Why is this? Because people take it that A&F is perfect but they are not. No store is perfect. Hollister has flaws sooooo does Areo.Sooooo why point out A&F? Any store like Abercrombie & Fitch would have done that. Not that its right to do that but its one mistake this way if something like this happenes again they won't make the same mistake. A mistake is only a door to an anwser to the problem. Soooooooooooo I think Abercrombie and Fitch should give her, her job back. And the loud music is part of the set soooo I wouldn't even bother telling them its to loud because teens like it that way and its a teen store not an adult store! Teens don't like people who try to ruin things they like. For example loud music, texting, Aims, keyboard phones, and slang/quick texting. Soo why do we ruin these things? Why do we try to stop these things? And why do you even bother with these things? Even tho the prices are high teens like it and don't like people who try to ruin it. So suggest you people who hate Abercrombie and Fitch BACK OFF AND SHOP SOMEWHERE WHERE ITS QUITE AND LOW IN COAST! GOOD LUCK! = P
7-12-2009 @ 2:13PM
Corinne said...
Hollister's parent company is A&F, so I'm not sure why that would color your opinion of the two stores. And I'm sure their management got lectured for lowering the volume of their music. It's not up to the managers to disobey store policy. As this article mentions the current recession, they're just trying to keep their jobs just like anyone else in this society.
6-27-2009 @ 6:06AM
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6-27-2009 @ 8:45AM
kas said...
5 yrs huh... sounds like you have a mental problem.. or perhaps a family problem. Have you gone to a doctor ? You really should..
instead of turning to a bottle of pills.
Have a weight problem.. push away from the table dear.. eat every 4 hrs.. fresh foods.. fruits veggies.. and stay away from little brown bottles of pills
6-27-2009 @ 11:10AM
CJ said...
WTF