Abercrombie & Fitch

American local brand Abercrombie & Fitch

Introduction:

Chinese transliteration: Abercrombie & Fitch; Fitch

Abercrombie & Fitch

It has five brands: Abercrombie & Fitch, abercrombie, HOLLISTER, RUEHL, and Ezra Fitch

It is a global brand The No. 1 casual brand in the United States, which is a fashion whirlwind, is the most popular brand among young people today. It is one of the most popular brands among American college students. It is also a century-old brand founded in New York in 1892. Didn't expect it! Such young, energetic, innovative and cutting-edge works have a history of a hundred years. Not only that, in recent years, they have been spreading from all over the United States and Canada with high style, high quality and ultra-fresh style. New indicators that create new global fashion. There are also many Taiwanese and Hong Kong artists who like this brand. Lai Ming and Shu Qi even wore his couple's costumes to attend the event, which caused a sensation and a rush to buy the A&F brand.

In 1892, a young man named David Abercrombie founded the David T. Abercrombie Company in New York City. The company specialized in selling high-end outdoor activities and hunting supplies. His customers were all wealthy people. , an old man who has nothing to eat but hunts. One of the most loyal and successful lawyer is ezra Fitch.

Ezra Fitch felt that life was boring after a long career in litigation. , it was more fun to sell shotguns. Finally in 1904, he successfully persuaded Abercrombie, who didn't know how to refuse, to join the company. From then on, the company's name changed from Abercrombie, which was difficult to pronounce, to Abercrombie amp, which was difficult to pronounce and long. ; fitch.

However, the union between two people is like a marriage. Everything goes well before marriage but they also quarrel after marriage. Abercrombie's conservative attitude often drives Fitch to be crazy about rapid expansion. In 1907, Abercrombie finally I couldn't stand it anymore and quit the company. However, in order to make the company's name look cool and cool, Fitch decided to keep the "Abercrombie" part in front of it (now you know how to pronounce it?! :) ) .

After that, Fitch was finally able to expand the company as he pleased. He went against the principle of putting everything neatly and cleanly in the cupboards. The clothes and socks in the store looked like they had been used two or three times. The tent looked dirty, and there was a fire burning in the corner of the store. This style is still maintained by aamp;f to this day. Also because of the hunting background, the aamp;f logo is an elk head.

The fire burned well, and not only did the store not burn down, but it also opened a flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York. The store began to sell men's and women's sportswear. In New York in 1913, A&F was The first store selling men's and women's sportswear in New York City. Fitch built a wooden house on the top floor of the reinforced concrete store building as his own residence. There is also a fishing pond in the store for customers to try fishing rods.

Many celebrities in textbooks love to use A&F utensils and clothes, Roosevelt's African expedition, Robert Peary's Arctic expedition, Hemingway's shotgun, Hoover and Eisenhower's fishing tackle, and the clothes of movie star Clark Gable. Comes from A&F. In those years, A&F became the world's largest sporting goods company

The legendary Fitch who operated it in 1928 made enough money and retired. In 1960, the company began to decline. In 1970 During the Great Depression of the United States, A&F declared bankruptcy in 1977. It was purchased by Limited Inc. in 1992 and transformed into a clothing company in 1992. It achieved great success with the college student shabby clothing style line.

In 2003, a&f lost a lawsuit. Its employees claimed that the company semi-forced employees to buy company clothes, and some people spent more than they earned. a&f lost US$2 million.

In 2004, aamp;f was defeated in another racial discrimination lawsuit and had to pay US$40 million. The content of the lawsuit was that aamp;f deliberately created a white brand, including the employees in the store. Use white people. Many Asians and blacks who have applied for jobs at aamp;f but were not accepted can receive compensation (if I had known...). Now not only aamp;f's advertisements, but also Asians and blacks are beginning to appear in stores. , Hollister even appears as a brand image of people of color. Now another lawsuit is brewing to sue aamp;f for being too revealing (what about Victoria's Secret?).

As of January 2005, a&f has 788 stores in the United States. In 2005, it plans to open 5 branches in Canada, Europe in 2006, and Japan in 2007. As for when it will enter Taiwan? I don’t know. .

Text a&f

In addition to the secondary brand hollister, we are currently actively developing another secondary brand ruehl, which takes the high-end leather bag route, with prices ranging from 0 to 0 US dollars, targeting the market of coaches and marc jacobs. Start again after falling. , aamp;f currently has the momentum and determination to unify the country.

The history of Abercrombie & Fitch:

As early as 1892, David Abercrombie, an explorer from Maryland, An avid fan of outdoor sports, he established Abercrombie & Co. in Manhattan, New York, a company dedicated to high-quality camping, hunting, and fishing equipment. The customers at that time were mainly professional hunters, explorers, etc. Many celebrities in textbooks loved to use A&F's equipment and clothes, including Roosevelt's African expedition, Robert Peary's Arctic expedition, Hemingway's shotguns, Hoover and Eisen. Howell's fishing tackle and movie star Clark Gable's clothes were all from A&F. In 1900, a New York lawyer named Ezra Fitch became a partner, bringing a large amount of capital, so the company was renamed Abercrombie & Fitch Co. Unfortunately, this was a nightmare partnership, and they rarely There was no consensus. Finally, one day in 1907, Abercrombie couldn't stand the endless disputes, sold his shares and left the company he founded. However, AF's performance was not affected at all and continued to rise.

Mr. Fitch emphasized that the interior of the store should be decorated like a camping scene, with all supplies displayed as if they were being used rather than hidden behind beautiful glass displays. He placed a dirty tent in the center and a bonfire burning in a corner of the store. All the salespeople were experienced explorers, telling their own stories to the customers. To this day, the company still uses the elk as its trademark under his influence. There is no doubt that these strategies of his have achieved great success. By the time Fitch retired in 1928, A&F had become one of the largest sporting goods companies in the world.

The subsequent operations were also quite successful. A&F maintained its position as the leader of outdoor sports brands and opened more than a dozen branches in the United States. However, the company's performance was affected by the economic depression in the 1960s. Things went from bad to worse, and A&F, which was finally unsustainable, declared bankruptcy in 1977 and was bought by a sporting goods retailer named Oshman. However, A&F was still struggling in the predicament and had no improvement.

Rebirth and Rise

The turning point occurred when Aamp; Successfully operated brands such as Express and Victoria's Secret. Soon A&F regained its former glory, but this time it appeared as a youth clothing brand. By the mid-1990s, dozens of branches had appeared in high-end malls across the country. It began to be listed on the New York Stock Market in 1996, and at the same time The Limited Inc. began to withdraw from the management of A&F. Since then, the layout style of the A&F store has been determined: when you enter the door, you can see a huge elk head, and the gray wall inside is their posters, which are basically young blond muscular men with a lot of exposure.

In November 2005, A&F completed the construction of their flagship store on New York's famous Fifth Avenue, surrounded by luxury stores such as Fendi, Prada, and Chanel. Today, A&F has about 360 branches in the United States. It opened its first branch outside the United States in Canada in early 2006. At the same time, plans to enter Europe and Asia in 2007 are also in full swing.

Lifestyle brand and constant trouble

A&F has always positioned them as a lifestyle, a casual and desirable concept. The selected music is shockingly playing in the store, and the exciting Aamp; To embody this advocated lifestyle, these children are around 20 years old. Their very athletic, charming, open and passionate appearance is unforgettable.

However, in the 21st century, the company's policy has also attracted a lot of criticism. First, someone complained that the magazine published by A&F had homosexual and group sex implications and tendencies, and then there was even greater trouble. The text from their personalized shirts smacks of racism. The most famous T-shirt, which sells for $25, features a cartoon of an Asian man with slanted eyes and a conical hat, and the slogan, "Huang Brothers Laundry: Two Yellows Can Make White" ( WONG BROTHERS LAUNDRY SERVICE: TWO WONGS CAN MAKE IT WHITE) and "WOK-N-BOWL-CHINESE FOOD AND BOWLING". It is conceivable how many Asian groups will sue them, but it is also said that the designer of this cultural shirt is Asian, anyway, it caused an uproar for a while. However, AF didn't seem to learn any lessons at all, and then started having sex with people all over Virginia. A T-shirt said "It's All Relative in West Virginia." This is not all. Another one said on the chest. Women's T-shirts with the slogan "Who needs a brain when you have these?" have drawn dissatisfaction from women's rights activists. In short they use their humor to laugh at all kinds of people.

Everyone has gradually noticed the strange phenomenon that almost all AF store clerks are white. There is no doubt that this is enough to land you in the dock in the United States. A considerable number of ethnic minorities reported that they were unfairly treated during the application process and were rejected for strange reasons. In the end, the company paid $40 million in compensation to the rejected applicants of color.

Brothers Brand

After achieving great success at the end of the last century, several new brands targeting different age groups were launched. The original AF was targeted at college students aged 18 to 22. Abercrombie kisd is almost completely AF for children aged 7 to 14 years old. Hollister is aimed at students aged 15 to 18. Hollister strives to reflect a California beach surfing style, but the style and materials are one level lower than AF, and the corresponding price is also lower. Finally, there is RUEHL (pronounced like rule), which is aimed at people in their 22s and early 30s who are already working, especially those young consumers who have grown up with AF since the 1990s. Its style is more mature and its texture is better than AF. As you move up a level, the price will naturally increase accordingly. What’s even more strange is that RUEHL has no intention of selling online, and there are only a dozen stores in the United States

Even AF itself has a taste of maturing year by year, which is reflected in the launch of the Ezra Fitch series, which is more than 22 years old. For customers who are 20 years old, the merchants themselves probably expect that the older they get, the richer they will be.

I also have a T-shirt and I think it’s very comfortable to wear