Corporation Analysis:
Abercrombie & Fitch Co.
Ross Chezem
Business Management 2B
Company Description
Abercrombie & Fitch is a fairly high end company that sells casual, very hip designer
clothing that ranges from warm winter clothes such as thick coats and jackets to bathing suits
and summer clothes such as bikinis and shorts. Abercrombie & Fitch is fairly well known for its
high sex appeal that is used to market and sell their clothing, as well as their several lawsuits in
the past over being biased by having only “attractive” people working there and not being an
entirely equal rights employer. Abercrombie & Fitch also owns other well-known mainstream
designer clothing brands such as: Hollister, Gilly Hicks, Abercrombie Kids, and discontinued
brand Ruehl.
Mission Statement
Abercrombie and Fitch desires to attract and retain the best available executive and key
management associates for itself and its subsidiaries and to encourage the highest level of
performance by such associates in order to serve the best interests of the company and its
stockholders. The plan is expected to contribute to the attainment of these objectives by
offering eligible associates the opportunity to acquire stock ownership interests in the
company, and other rights with respect to stock of the company, and to thereby provide them
with incentives to put forth maximum efforts for the success of the company and its
subsidiaries.
Vision Statement
The A&F brand is more authentic and relevant than ever. The brand is our lifestyle, our
focus—it ensures growth and promises stability. A great brand is a center of growth and
revenue—it represents a relationship with customers. It’s not a faddish chip to be cashed in on
shortsighted gains. The value of having a great brand is far-reaching and cannot be
overstated—it’s a snowball effect. The A&F label gives us the ability to evolve, creating endless
growth opportunities. It helps us attract the brightest, most talented young people from around
the country. It attracts millions to our website. It allows for greater profit margins. It lessens the
risk of moving on new business concepts. It promotes innovation. It ensures long-term
profitability. It adds built-in value to everything we produce. It accelerates growth. It stabilizes.
It gives focus and direction. It produces an emotional response in consumers. Overall,
Abercrombie and Fitch focuses upon high-quality merchandise that compliments the casual
classic American lifestyle.
Code of Ethics
Our garments, accessories and personal care products are produced by hard working
people in factories throughout the world – China, Vietnam, India, and Guatemala are a few of the
countries where our products are produced. While Abercrombie & Fitch does not own the
factories producing our products, we do require all factories with whom we work to follow the
standards set forth in our vendor Code of Conduct.
Child Labor
Abercrombie will not tolerate the use of child labor by its vendors. ‘Child Labor’ is
defined as the employment of persons younger than the age of 14, the local legal minimum
working age, or the local legal age for compulsory education, whichever is higher (i.e.
employees under legal age).
Involuntary Forced Labor
Abercrombie will not tolerate the use of convict, indentured, slave, bonded, or other
forced involuntary labor, including human trafficking, either directly or indirectly, by its
vendors, or by any subcontractors utilized by its vendors.
Harassment or Abuse
Vendors shall treat each of their employees with respect and dignity. None of
Abercrombie’s vendors’ employees shall be subject to any physical, sexual, psychological or
verbal harassment or abuse.
Compensation
Wages and benefits must be in conformity with the minimum wage prescribed by local
law or the prevailing local industry wage, whichever is higher. Workers must be provided with
benefits and overtime compensation that conform to the better of applicable local law or
prevailing local industry standards.
Age Documents & Hours
Vendors must have documentation providing employees’ age and restrict working hours
for juveniles and pregnant women as prescribed by local law.
Non-Discrimination
Vendors must employ workers on the basis of their ability to perform requisite tasks, and
not on the basis of their personal characteristics or beliefs.
Laws and Workplace Regulations
Vendors’ workplace policy must adhere to all local laws and Abercrombie’s code of
conduct.
Freedom of Association
Vendors must recognize and respect the legal rights of employees to free association.
Vendors must not threaten, penalize, restrict, or interfere with employees’ lawful efforts to
organize or join associations of their choosing.
Health and Safety
Vendors must provide workers with a safe, clean, and healthy working environment,
including living and eating facilities (where applicable), which comply with all relevant local
laws and regulations.
Hours of Work/Overtime
Employees work hours must be reasonable and in compliance with local laws and
standards with no regularly scheduled work weeks in excess of 60 hours (or lower if prescribed
by local law or local industry standards).
Organizational Chart
Company History
Abercrombie & Fitch Co. is a retailer of casual clothing marketed toward young people,
predominantly college students. The company oversees about 250 stores nationwide, mostly in
shopping malls, and also markets its clothing on the Web and in catalogues. The company's
style has become identified with the more risqué aspects of upper-middle-class youth culture,
lifestyle, attitudes, and music. In the year since gaining independence from its erstwhile parent,
The Limited, Abercrombie has continued its gently provocative ways. This brand image
represents a drastic change from the company's origins. During the first half of the 20th century
Abercrombie & Fitch Co. was the definitive store for America's sporting elite, outfitting biggame hunters, fishermen, and other adventurers ala Ernest Hemingway. After the chain went
bankrupt in 1977, Oshman's Sporting Goods revived the Abercrombie & Fitch name but shifted
its focus to more contemporary sporting goods and a wider array of apparel for men and
women. The Limited, Inc., after acquiring the company in 1988, eliminated sporting goods
entirely.
The Early Years
Abercrombie & Fitch Co. was founded in 1892 in New York City by David T. Abercrombie and
Ezra H. Fitch. Abercrombie, a former prospector, miner, trapper, and railroad surveyor or
engineer, owned a small shop and factory producing camping equipment in lower Manhattan.
Fitch, one of his customers, was a successful lawyer in Kingston, New York, but the outdoors
was his chief interest.
The men opened a sporting goods store. Fitch was the visionary of the two, anticipating a
clientele far broader than merely those who camped out in the course of earning a living. The
partners proved ill-matched, and both men were hot-tempered. Following the latest of many
long and violent arguments, Abercrombie resigned in 1907 to return to manufacturing camping
equipment. Retaining the company name, Fitch continued with other partners. In 1909 he
mailed out 50,000 copies of a 456-page catalogue. Since they cost a dollar each to produce, the
catalogues almost bankrupted the company, but the subsequent flood of orders justified the
expense. In 1917 Abercrombie & Fitch moved into a 12-story building on Madison Avenue at
East 45th Street, a location the advertising department described as 'Where the Blazed Trail
Crosses the Boulevard.' It included a luxuriously furnished log cabin that Fitch made his town
house, with an adjoining casting pool.
By this time Abercrombie & Fitch's reputation as purveyor to the sporting elite already was well
established. It had equipped Theodore Roosevelt for an African safari and also outfitted, or was
soon going to outfit, polar expeditions led by Roald Amundsen and Admiral Richard Byrd and
flights made by Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart. Ernest Hemingway was a customer.
Every president from Roosevelt to Gerald Ford eventually would buy something from the store.
Roaring 1920s and Depression 1930s
Fitch retired in 1928, selling his interest in the company to his brother-in-law, James S. Cobb,
who became president, and an employee, Otis L. Guernsey, who became vice-president. In his
first year at the helm, Cobb acquired a similar New York business, Von Lengerke & Detmold,
respected for its European-made sporting guns and fishing tackle, and Von Lengerke & Antoine,
the Chicago branch, which became a subsidiary of Abercrombie & Fitch but continued until
1959 under its own name. In 1930 Cobb bought Griffin & Howe, a gunsmith shop. The
merchandise that Von Lengerke & Detmold and Griffin & Howe had in stock was added to the
Madison Avenue store.
By this time Abercrombie & Fitch was selling outdoor and sporting equipment not only for
hunting, fishing, camping, and exploration, but also for skating, polo, golf, and tennis. The store
also carried a variety of outdoor clothing, boots, and shoes for both men and women, as well as
cameras, pocket cutlery, and indoor games. In the 1920s Abercrombie & Fitch became the
epicenter of the burgeoning mah-jongg craze and the place in New York to thumb one's nose at
Prohibition by purchasing a hip flask. Also during the 1920s, Abercrombie & Fitch opened a
summer-only store in Hyannis, Massachusetts, for the yachting set. Net sales and income, rising
steadily in this decade, reached a record $6.3 million and $548,000, respectively, in 1929.
These figures would not be topped in the next decade. Sales in the grip of the Great Depression
fell to $2,598,925 in fiscal year 1933, when a loss of $521,118 was recorded, on top of a loss of
$241,211 the previous year. During this period, Guernsey's negotiations with the firm's
creditors probably saved it from collapse. Subsequent years were profitable, and in 1938
Abercrombie & Fitch resumed paying dividends. It also established golf and shooting schools in
the store.
By 1939 Abercrombie & Fitch was calling itself 'The Greatest Sporting Goods Store in the
World.' It boasted the world's largest and most valuable collection of firearms and the widest
assortment of fishing flies obtainable anywhere (15,000 in all) to accompany its array of rods,
reels, and other fishing tackle. Riders, dog fanciers, skiers, and archers all found every
conceivable type of gear. Guns and camping and fishing equipment accounted for 30 percent of
the New York store's sales volume in 1938. Sales of clothing, shoes, and furnishings accounted
for 45 percent. Inventory on hand was valued at about 40 percent of annual sales, an extremely
high ratio that reflected Abercrombie & Fitch's readiness to meet its customers' demands.
Catalogue mail orders accounted for about ten percent of business.
Abercrombie & Fitch at Mid-Century
Net profit during the 1940s was highest in fiscal year 1947, when it reached $682,894, which
turned out to be an all-time record. In 1958 Abercrombie & Fitch opened a store in San
Francisco. Soon thereafter, it added small winter-only stores in Palm Beach and Sarasota,
Florida, and summer stores in Bayhead, New Jersey, and Southampton, New York. Guernsey,
who had succeeded Cobb as president, explained his firm's mission at this time in frankly elitist
terms: 'The Abercrombie & Fitch type does not care about the cost; he wants the finest quality.'
The New York store remained, of course, the company's flagship. At the close of the 1950s the
main floor sported heads of buffalo, caribou, moose, elk, and other big game, stuffed fish of
spectacular size, and elephant's-foot wastebaskets. Here were sold a variety of contraptions for
indoor and outdoor pursuits. One corner held dog and cat items. The basement was given over
to the shooting range, while the mezzanine contained paraphernalia for skindiving, archery,
skiing, and lawn games. Floors two through five were reserved for clothing suitable for any
terrain or climate. On floor six was a picture gallery and bookstore concentrating on sporting
themes, a watch repair facility, and the golf school, complete with a resident pro. On the
seventh floor, the gun room, besides more stuffed game heads, held about 700 shotguns and
rifles, constituting the most lavish assemblage of sporting firearms on earth. The eighth floor
was devoted to fishing, camping, and boating, and reserved a desk for the company's fly- and
bait-casting instructor, who gave lessons at the pool on the roof. He also handled mail and
telephone inquiries on fishing, hunting, and skiing. The fishing section alone stocked about
48,000 flies and 18,000 lures.
In fiscal 1960, net sales rose to a record $16.5 million, but net profits fell for the fourth straight
year, to $185,649. The next year net sales fell below $15.5 million, and net profit dropped
again, to $124,097. Nevertheless, Guernsey's successor as president, John H. Ewing, saw no
cause for alarm, rejecting the idea of a budget shop or 'splash ads for storewide sales.' He told a
Business Week interviewer in 1961 that Abercrombie & Fitch enjoyed a special niche 'by sticking
to our knitting; by not trying to be all things to all people.'
A Disastrous Decade: 1968-77
During the 1960s Abercrombie & Fitch opened new stores in Colorado Springs; Short Hills, New
Jersey; Bal Harbour, Florida; and Troy, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. It also opened small shops
in other stores. In 1968, a year in which city riots, protests against the war in Vietnam, and the
assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy seemed to be tearing the country
apart, Abercrombie & Fitch was finally ready to shake up its way of doing business by holding a
warehouse sale. More than 90,000 bemused customers sifted through the Manhattan store
one summer day for bargains that included pop-up tents bought so far in the past that no one
remembered how to pop them up, boots made of long-haired goatskin hide, miniature antique
cannons, leather baby elephants, and Yukon dog sleds.
In early 1970 the store held another sale. A horde of hopefuls turned up to seize such bargains
as a 15-foot inoperative hovercraft for $3 and eight $100 surfboards for $17 each. An offbeat
newspaper advertising campaign followed, featuring a single item, such as hunting shoes,
accompanied by diagrams and copy that overwhelmed the reader with product information. If
these antics indicated a measure of desperation, it was because Abercrombie & Fitch had
recorded a loss of more than $500,000 in the latest fiscal year. In October 1970 William
Humphreys, the new company president, said the ads would be changed and sales would cease
because the people who showed up were not Abercrombie & Fitch's kind of customer.
In the ensuing years, Humphreys, a former Lord & Taylor executive, concentrated on cutting the
company budget, improving inventory control and credit practices, and expanding into the
suburbs. A new Abercrombie & Fitch store opened in Oak Brook, Illinois, north of Chicago. To
win a broader range of clientele, the New York store moved its expensive sailboats upstairs
from the main floor, expanded its gift and sportswear lines, added a discount clothing shop on
the tenth floor, and hired new buyers for women's wear. Nevertheless, the company continued
to lose money under Humphreys and his successor, Hal Haskell, its chief stockholder.
In August 1976, after a year in which the company had lost $1 million, Abercrombie & Fitch filed
for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. When it closed its doors for good in November 1977, post-mortems
pointed out the obvious: the company had failed to make the transition from supplying fat-cat
sportsmen of the old school to the skiers, bikers, and backpackers of the 1970s. One advertising
man described management as 'ossified,' and another said company officers had no faith in
television's ability to draw in customers even after its first TV commercials, in 1969, filled the
store.
The Oshman Decade: 1978-87
Oshman's Sporting Goods, a Houston-based chain, bought the Abercrombie & Fitch name,
trademark, and mailing list in 1978 and opened a store in 1979 under the Abercrombie & Fitch
name in Beverly Hills, California. With a 52-page catalogue and eclectic merchandise, including
exercise machines, Harris-tweed jackets, and $70 pith helmets, the company also outfitted
actor Jack Lemmon for an Alaskan fishing trip and Dodger baseball star Steve Garvey for grouse
hunting in Minnesota. A bigger Dallas store opened in 1980, complete with $40,000 elephant
guns and an Abercrombie Runabout sports convertible for $20,775.
Abercrombie & Fitch returned to New York City in 1984, opening in the renovated South Street
Seaport area of lower Manhattan. By the end of 1986 the chain had grown to 26 stores,
including a second Manhattan outlet in midtown's glitzy Trump Tower. Net sales reached an
estimated $40 million to $45 million in 1985. The Oshman-owned Abercrombie & Fitch chain
stocked relatively few hunting and fishing supplies or exotic items, concentrating on exercise
machines, tennis rackets, golf clubs, and other paraphernalia of more contemporary interest,
much of it designed exclusively for the chain. Men's and women's clothing departments
featured business and casual dress as well as sportswear, and the gift departments offered an
array of goods, including gourmet edibles.
An upbeat assessment of the new Abercrombie & Fitch by Chain Store Age Executive in
September 1986 was followed by a more skeptical appraisal by Forbes six months later, which
described the chain's merchandise as a hodgepodge of unrelated items and concluded,
'Sometimes it is better to bury the dead than to try reviving them.' Forbes estimated sales for
fiscal 1986 at $48 million and profits at 'a so-so $1.5 million.'
Expansion and Independence in the 1990s
In January 1988 The Limited, Inc. acquired 25 of the existing 27 Abercrombie & Fitch stores
from Oshman's for about $45 million in cash. The organization was moved to corporate
headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, and the inventory was cleared out. A stronger emphasis was
placed on apparel, with 60 to 65 percent of the merchandise men's sportswear and furnishings,
20 to 25 percent women's wear, and the remaining 15 to 20 percent gifts, including grooming
products and nature books. 'We can't get caught up in guns and fishing rods,' the chain's
president, Sally Frame-Kasaks, a former women's-wear executive, told a Daily News Record
reporter. Nearly all the goods were mid-priced and bore an Abercrombie & Fitch label.
When Frame-Kasaks left to head Ann Taylor in February 1992, she was succeeded as president
of Abercrombie & Fitch by Michael Jeffries, an executive at Paul Harris Stores. At this time the
chain had 36 stores credited with annual sales of about $50 million. Jeffries oversaw
spectacular growth, with sales increasing to $85 million in 1992, $111 million in 1993, and $165
million in 1994. There were 67 Abercrombie & Fitch stores at the end of January 1995,
compared to 49 a year earlier. Moreover, the Abercrombie & Fitch division established new
records for merchandise margin rate and profitability for its parent, The Limited, in 1994.
From the outset, Jeffries focused on transforming Abercrombie & Fitch into the retailer of
choice for American youth, a demographic said to be growing the fastest during that time. He
replaced conservative clothing lines, primarily for men, with casualwear, of a fairly high price
point, for both young men and women. Soon, Abercrombie & Fitch had a corporate and retail
culture all its own, one dedicated to youth, good looks, and fun. Jeffries ensured that the
company kept in touch with the demands of young America by hiring executives and designers
in tune with their preferences in clothing, music, and entertainment. Abercrombie & Fitch
began publishing its own catalog/magazine, A & F Quarterly, which featured the company's
clothing lines as well as articles on pop culture, sex, music, and other teen favorites. The
company's ad agency, and photographer Bruce Weber, typically imbued Abercrombie & Fitch
ads with a sexiness that appealed to target customers and concerned some parents and their
legislators.
When The Limited spun off Abercrombie & Fitch in February 1999, headquarters moved from
Columbus to nearby Reynoldsburg, and Jeffries continued to helm the operation. Heretofore a
huge success, Abercrombie & Fitch began to draw comments from industry analysts on the
likelihood of its staying-power; they suggested that, like all clothing retailers, Abercrombie &
Fitch was bound to fall from favor someday, and they watched for the signs. Competition for
the market had heated up, particularly from American Eagle Outfitters, which began offering
similar merchandise, marketed in a similar manner, and for lower prices. The summer of 1999
saw Abercrombie & Fitch bring a lawsuit against American Eagle, claiming the latter had
violated its trademarks. The suit was eventually thrown out, however, as a judge determined
that clothing style and image were not copyrightable. Amid reports that the company's growth
might be slowing, its stock dropped but rebounded again after the 1999 holiday selling-season
produced satisfactory results.
Continuing its provocative advertising methods, Abercrombie & Fitch issued a Christmas
catalogue that year that featured nude models and overt sexual content; a predictable outrage
ensued, and proof of age was required to purchase it thereafter. This approach may have
impressed more male than female customers, who, some suggested, were shopping more often
at competitors Urban Outfitters and The Gap. Still, as it headed into a new millennium
Abercrombie & Fitch was reporting record sales and a loyal following of young customers.
According to one survey by Teenage Research Unlimited, reported on in Time, American kids
ranked the company sixth on a list of cool brands, ahead of Nintendo and Levis. Broadening the
scope of its clientele somewhat, Abercrombie & Fitch opened a children's store, abercrombies,
in 1999 and planned to introduce a store geared toward West Cost surfer types in 2000.
Future Plans
Abercrombie to open 60 new stores outside U.S. by 2015
Abercrombie & Fitch is ready to take on the world. The Columbus, Ohio–based retailer
announced plans to open 20 new Abercrombie & Fitch flagships and 40 new Hollister stores
outside the U.S. by 2015 during its annual investor conference this week. Most of the new
stores will be in Asia and Europe, though the chain said it plans to explore expansion in Latin
America and other “southern hemisphere” markets soon. All this growth should build the
company’s annual sales volume to $7.5 billion, more than double its volume in 2010, it says.
The new Abercrombie & Fitch stores will all be located on High Streets rather than in malls, said
David Leino, senior vice president of global real estate. New international Abercrombie & Fitch
stores will mirror the New York City flagship, he said. “We’ve positioned ourselves as casual
luxury and we want to be located near luxury retailers. You will not find us next to other High
Street brands,” Leino said.
The Hollister brand, meanwhile, will be “mall-based,” he added, because the retailer sees malls
as the future of shopping in Asia and Europe. “For a long time, High Streets were the most
exciting shopping environments in Asia and Europe,” but now malls are gaining ground, Leino
said. Today more Asian and European developers are creating exciting malls that are attractive
to young shoppers than High Streets are, he said. “The mall is the place of the future, that’s
where the kids will be. Hollister will be mall-based throughout the world,” Leino said.
International landlords are already greeting the retailer with open arms. At a recent European
commercial real estate conference in France, Leino said his team were treated “like the
Beatles” by landlords clamoring to sign up an Abercrombie & Fitch or Hollister unit. But the
chain is determined to use its clout to drive down expenses abroad, he added. “We try to get
our partners to understand the value of securing Hollister and Abercrombie & Fitch,” said Jason
Lessard, senior manager of real estate. “We will define their market with our exclusivity and
help them drive rents higher because they know they’ll have the higher footfall.”
For the Hollister expansion, the retailer will locate in those international malls with store
specifications that are the most similar to those in the U.S., Leino said, and the retailer will also
insist on kick-out clauses and “country exit” clauses in all leases.
The most important factor in determining new locations, however, will be the branding
potential, he added. “We will not, as other brands have, sell out and settle just for the location,
“ he said, remembering a recent scouting trip to one of Spain’s largest malls. “The tile was
cracked, the windows were dirty, the awnings were dirty and the mall hadn’t been remodeled
or even cleaned in 15 years,” Leino recalls. “Mike Jeffries (Abercrombie & Fitch CEO) said ‘I
don’t care what the productivity is at this center, this is not brand-appropriate for us.”
As for the U.S., growth prospects are limited in traditional venues. An opportunity exists,
however, in the factory outlet space, executives said. The chain is currently testing “four or
five” clearance and outlet store concepts for possible roll out.
Personal Analysis
After researching and analyzing Abercrombie & Fitch Co. there were several good
and bad things that stuck out to me about the internationally known company. Like every
company out there A&F Co. has its weaknesses and strengths. One thing that stood out to me
as an apparent weakness was in the several articles and stories about lawsuits of over
sexualizing the advertising and marketing for their clothing, especially the ones dealing with
younger children’s clothing. A notable strength about A&F is the fact that they have expanded
internationally and set up stores for all their brands from Hollister to Abercrombie kids, and
have a grand total of 1128 stores. 353 of those 1128 stores are just Abercrombie & Fitch stores
located across the US. One complaint I often noticed that came from several A&F customers
online was the fact that the music in their stores tends to be very loud and overwhelming, I also
found a few complaints how some customers are highly overwhelmed by the often strong scent
of A&F colognes and perfumes that is through-out the entire store. I must commend A&F on
their very unique and distinct design and lighting in their stores, it can feel very welcoming and
inviting to the shopper and make them want to stay in the store longer, causing them to
purchase more. Like I stated before A&F has gotten in a lot of trouble for certain reasons at
different times, one of the most recent news stories about them I saw was dealing with some of
the models portraying themselves in a way that was offensive and racist to the citizens of Hong
Kong, China during the grand opening of the A&F store in Hong Kong a couple months ago.
There have also been a few lawsuits and legal issues against A&F over who they hire to work in
their stores as floor models, in one lawsuit they were accused of denying African-Americans,
Latinos, and Asian-Americans employment in their stores. A woman was also fired for simply
missing her left arm because it violated the “Look Policy” of Abercrombie & Fitch. An A&F
employee was also the cause for A&F getting sued due to his actions of filming a sixteen year
old girl changing in an A&F changing room. Despite all these bad things with Abercrombie &
Fitch, there are also good things they are known for, such as the A&F Challenge; which is a fund
raising event held at the A&F headquarters in New Albany, Ohio, that includes activities such as
running, biking, and entertainment and food. All funds raised at the A&F Challenge are
donated to Ohio State University’s medical center for use towards cancer and disease
treatment and prevention research.
Overall I would have to say Abercrombie tends to put out a superior and stuck-up
reputation for itself in the news and media more than it puts out its charitable acts and
contributions. This kind of disappoints me that A&F seems very stuck-up and very self-centered
over their reputation rather than their customers and employees but it’s not enough to make
me stop buying their clothes. I think their clothes are excellent and made very durable based
on my experiences with owning and wearing their clothing.
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