9malls.com review of Abercrombie & Fitch

9malls.com review of Abercrombie & Fitch

Rating: **** 4 out of 5 stars

Web site: Abercrombie.com

Abercrombie & Fitch Review:

History:

Expensive considering their target market is teenagers making Abercrombie a store for the wealthier parents among us. The store's original target market since Abercrombie opened in the 1892 was dressing wealthy businessman for their outdoor activities. This isn't much different from present day except Abercrombie now dresses wealthy students while doing their school activities. Abercrombie continued to sell to this target market until 1988 when Abercrombie was bought out by The Limited (AmericanDecency.org). This change in ownership propelled Abercrombie's profits into the stratosphere. Abercrombie and Fitch now operates 351 stores as of August 2006. Abercrombie and Fitch also has other retail concepts including Hollister which markets to the 14 to 17 age group and RUEHL marketing to 22 to 35 year olds. Hollister as of August 2006 has 355 stores and RUEHL only 10 stores. Abercrombie and Fitch currently employs 76,100 workers as of November 2006 (Wikipedia.org is stating only 6,900 with 75,000+ retail workers).

Finances:

In 2005 Abercrombie made $2.021 billion with net income at $216.38 million. During the last 12 months Abercrombie has made $3.14 billion up 25% over previous year fiscal sales.

What I think of Abercrombie:

Abercrombie and Fitch is one of my favorite stores. Although they are expensive, I buy from Abercrombie because the clothes last a long time. The clothing at Abercrombie in my experience simply never wears out because it's made so well. The Abercrombie look doesn't change drastically month to month so clothes bought a couple years ago still look like new Abercrombie stock. One criticism of Abercrombie and may be I'm just from the old school, but I liked it when clothes where a little baggier. Abercrombie moved to this tight, form fitting style a couple years ago and since then I no longer shop there. No…in case you were thinking it's not because I've eaten a few too many turkey dinners. I'm the same weight and size I always was. Now the T-Shirts all look like muscle shirts which isn't my style. If anyone else agrees with me on this point please e-mail me I used to like the T-Shirts better than any store out there. I've heard that the girls clothing at Abercrombie & Fitch doesn't last as long as the guys because the cotton is thinner and generally not as well constructed. Yes, I agree that Abercrombie is expensive, but the clothes are so durable and stay in style longer that it's worth the extra cost. Buy on clearance is my advice to you, never pay full price. The sales are in the back of the store and sometimes you can find a real deal!

Sources:

AmericanDecency.org/abercrombie/aberhistory.htm
Wikipedia.org

Disclaimer:

Please do your own research especially for financial data. I'm writing this review to the best of my ability based on the information I've obtained and analyzed. Please look at this review as general information and not as a financial statement.

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