Abercrombie & Fitch: No Logo, No Cry

Abercrombie & Fitch, along with Hollister, is known for their cookie-cutter, logo-promoting clothes. At one time, that’s what teenagers were looking for; a way to fit in with their peers and advertise exactly where they shopped. It was a way to promote a hierarchy of popularity.

Now, with teenagers longing to separate themselves from the pack and find ways to express their individuality, Abercrombie & Fitch has been seeing a drop in sales.

In fact, Abercrombie stores that have been open for at least a year reported a sales drop of 11 percent in North America. As of yesterday, shares in Abercrombie & Fitch have fallen nearly 6 percent.

“Personal style, specifically with teens, is becoming less about fitting in and more about standing out,” said Lauren Wolfenden, a senior advisory analyst at WGSN (fashion trend consultancy). “Abercrombie & Fitch has wised up to this by phasing out the cookie-cutter logo-ed product look and bringing in trendy pieces that can be worn in a multitude of different ways.”

Abercrombie believes that revamping their style will aid in drawing customers back to their stores.

Abercrombie & Fitch Chief Executive Officer Mike Jeffries indicated that the brand would be cutting logos from at least half of their clothing as soon as this fall. By spring, Jefferies stated that there will be practically no clothing in North American stores with logos. Shops overseas, however, will continue carrying the fashion-billboards.

Not only will the new Abercrombie fashions be devoid of logos, but the company is also planning to include more styles from the catwalk and black colors. Alongside those options, shop-goers will likely be able to find maxi-dresses and T-shirts with French sayings on them.

With quicker development times from catwalk to stores, fewer logos, and an updated color palette, Abercrombie & Fitch believes that they will be able to attract the same following they had when logos were all the rage.

Of course, stale clothing and logos are not the only reason Abercrombie & Fitch has been losing customers. Jeffries, last year, suggested that Abercrombie clothing was for “cool” and “attractive” people and not at all for the “fat” population. Since then, the company has been trying to counter the controversies by offering larger sizes and adding more and more fashionable clothes to their stores.

Maybe the population simply isn’t ready to forgive Abercrombie & Fitch for the weight discrimination. What do you think? Will their plan to win back customers work?

[ Image courtesy of FanPop ]