Abercrombie store in the US

Abercrombie has reduced its earlier capital expenditures projection for fiscal 2009 from $200 million to $185 million, due to lower-than-expected construction costs and the reduction and deferment of non-essential projects related to existing stores.

At quarter end, abercrombie had $366.5 million of cash and cash equivalents along with outstanding debt and letters of credit of $79.6 million. The company repaid $100 million of US dollar-denominated outstanding debt, and obtained approximately $37 million in foreign currency denominated borrowings to fund its international lease and capital expenditures.During the quarter, the company opened its first Epic Hollister flagship store in New York, two Hollister mall-based stores in the UK, and one abercrombie outlet store in the US.

Abercrombie mulls opening nine mall-based stores in fiscal 2009 in the US, which includes two Abercrombie stores, four Hollister stores, one Gilly Hicks store, and two outlet stores. Internationally, the company intends to open 10 mall-based stores in the current fiscal year, including one Ruehl No.925 store in Canada, one Hollister store each in Germany and Italy, and seven Hollister stores in the UK.

Abercrombie & Fitch with natural

Dean, who was born without her left forearm and has worn a prosthetic limb since she was three months old, is suing for disability discrimination after she was left "personally diminished [and] humiliated" when she refused to remove her cardigan at work last summer."I had been bullied out of my job," she said. "It was the lowest point I had ever been in my life."It is believed Dean is seeking around ￡25,000 in compensation for her experiences under what she described as A&F's "oppressive regime". Her legal team would not comment on the sum.

Clothing retailer abercrombie and fitch has been accused of "hiding" a sales assistant in a stockroom at a London outlet because her prosthetic arm didn't fit with its "look policy", a tribunal has heard.Riam Dean, a 22-year-old law student from Greenford, west London, claims she was removed from the shop floor at the company's Savile Row branch when management became aware of her disability.
Dean claims that when she told A&F about her disability after getting the job, the firm agreed she could wear a white cardigan to cover the link between her prosthesis and her upper arm. But shortly afterwards, she was told she could not work on the shop floor unless she took off the cardigan as she was breaking the firm's "look policy". She told the tribunal that someone in the A&F head office suggested she stay in the stockroom "until the winter uniform arrives".
The "look policy" stipulates that all employees "represent Ruehl No.925 with natural, classic American style consistent with the company's brand" and "look great while exhibiting individuality". Workers must wear a "clean, natural, classic hairstyle" and have nails which extend "no more than a quarter inch beyond the tip of the finger".Dean said today in her evidence: "A female A&F manager used the 'look policy' and the wearing of the cardigan as an excuse to hide me away in the stockroom.
"I knew then that I was being treated different and unfairly because of my disability. Her words pierced right through the armour of 20 years of building up personal confidence about me as a person, and that I am much more than a girl with only one arm … "
Dean said the "look policy" was inconsistent: "Having visible tattoos breaks the 'look policy' and yet I've seen a worker with a tribal arm tattoo which is very noticeable and yet Abercrombie allowed him to work on the shop floor. Clearly their reasoning goes far deeper and I'm sure it's not the cardigan which breaks the look policy, it's the disabled label which does," she said.
She added: "I am born with a character trait I am unable to change, thus to be singled out for a minor aesthetic 'flaw' made me question my worth as a human being."abercrombie outlet taught me that beauty lies in perfection, but I would tell them that beauty lies in diversity, for I would rather live with my imperfection than to exude such ugliness in their blatant display of eugenics in policies and practices."
Her friend Genevieve Reed told the tribunal that Dean had changed since working at A&F, and had "started to question whether this was just the first of a series of obstacles she would come up against in her life due to her disability".
Medical evidence presented to the tribunal revealed Dean had undergone a psychiatric assessment to support an application for disability support funding several months before starting work at A&F last May. The psychiatrist described her as "socially isolated", with an anxiety disorder that reached "phobic levels" relating to a fear of travelling on public transport.

Abercrombie is making a calculated bet

Assuming COGS as a proxy for inventory moved in a quarter, we find that abercrombie and fitch typically purchases ~$300 million in inventory per quarter which would imply that the company held almost two quarters’ worth of inventory at last check. In all likeliness, this backlog is mostly fall and winter clothing. Sooner or later, the company will have to clear this inventory, probably before summer. Knowing how quickly fashions can change, I wouldn’t imagine that it would be easy to move this build up without eventually succumbing to the so-called “promotional pied piper.”

hollister clothing is making a calculated bet in maintaining prices despite the fact that competitors have been slashing prices across the board. My assumption is that it hopes that by bucking the trend it can accomplish the following:
1. Maintain its “casual luxury” image by not chasing its demographic down market.
2. Magnify its brand appeal through its relatively “aspirational” pricing. The company hopes that empty-handed teenagers will be walking out of the store thinking, “Someday when I have the money, I’ll buy tons of Abercrombie!”
3. Capitalize on consumer surprise when competitor prices jump back up to pre-recession levels and Abercrombie’s “miraculously” stay flat.
The problem, however, is that for this strategy to work Abercrombie must prove to have a truly defensible luxury product. My contention would be that teen apparel is very substitutable. It is, after all, difficult to establish “aspirational” status for ripped jeans and double entendre t-shirts. In trading down or going to other similarly, “aspirational” teen retailers such as Urban Outfitters (URBN), which are running sales, customers may find that that they don’t necessarily need to return to hollister.
In addition to long-term risk to the Company’s demographic appeal, the decision to maintain prices in the face of lower revenues has put some stress on Abercombie’s balance sheet that will have to be dealt with. A quick look at Abercrombie’s inventory and cost of goods sold finds that the company held $505 million in inventory at the end of last quarter, up from a typical $400 million-ish that are typically held through the last two quarters of the year.

Abercrombie and Fitch flagship store on Fifth Avenue

Abercrombie & Fitch began its Canadian expansion in January 2006 when the company opened two Abercrombie & Fitch stores and three Hollister Co. stores in Toronto and Edmonton. By fall 2006, a third Canadian abercrombie and fitch store opened in the Toronto Eaton Centre. Also in the year, the brand opened a west coast flagship in The Grove at Farmers Market. Revenue reported for 2006 is $3.318 billion, an increase of over $1.297 billion from 2005.
Today's A&F Canoe stores with louvers.Beginning 2007, the conoe stores were revamped with dark louvers (see right image). On March 22, 2007 Abercrombie & Fitch opened its first European flagship in London at 7 Burlington Gardens in Savile Row. The store generated a volume of $280,000 (around ￡140,000 GBP) in its first 6 hours of operation.[5] The flagship remains one of the most profitable A&F locations. Revenue reached record heights in 2007 with an overall sales of $3.749 billion.

Entering into the 21st century, abercrombie and fitch was rated as the sixth most popular brand before Nintendo and Levi's by teenagers. The company introduced its third brand Hollister Co. in July 2000. The third concept was based on Southern California surf lifestyle, and was targeted towards high school students. After Hollister lowered the revenue of Abercrombie & Fitch, the company launched the Ezra Fitch collection, and began producing A&F clothing with higher grade materials, increasing the prices. In 2001, the company moved into a new 300-acre (1.2 km2) home office in New Albany, Ohio. Headquarters were further expanded by 2003. Also in 2003, the company released its last issue of A&F Quarterly after amounting complaints.
After successfully launching Hollister, the company introduced its fourth brand RUEHL No.925 for older consumers, 22 through 35, on September 24, 2004. Revenue continued to escalate as sales are reported at $2.021 billion for 2004. In November 2005, the company completed construction of the first abercrombie and fitch flagship store on Fifth Avenue. By this time, the company began to use its trademark Casual Luxury for promotion. Revenue reported for 2005 was $2.021 Billion.
On January 21, 2008, Abercrombie & Fitch introduced its fifth concept, the intimate apparel brand Gilly Hicks. Inspired by Down Under, is officially labeled as the "Cheeky cousin of abercrombie and fitch." In April 2008, A&F relaunched A&F Quarterly for release in the UK flagship. On August 31, 2008, the "bright and insightful" company director Allan A. Tuttle died. By December 22, corporate announced that it had produced a new emploment agreement with Mike Jeffries set to expire in 2014. For the first time in its rescent history, A&F suffered a financial decrease to $3.540 billion revenue for fiscal 2008, a blame to the current economic recesion.
Early in January 2009, the company reported the worst drop in sales and shares. By the end of the month, 50 employees lost their jobs and many positions were still unoccupied.

you know the Abercrombie & Fitch ?

Head below the fold and take a look at what they've got. You'll like it.

In 1892, David abercrombie and fitch, an avid outdoorsman, started a company that specialized in high-end, top quality camping, fishing, and hunting gear.In 1900, they began a short (seven year), uneasy partnership which, over time, expanded to selling goods to famous folks such as Ernest Hemingway, Clark Gable, and members of the Kennedy family.

One of his ever-constant customers was Ezra Fitch, an attorney who preferred the trout streams of the Adirondacks to the courtrooms of Kingston, NY.They are available in a wide variety of styles, colors and brand identification -- always with some form of the abercrombie and fitch logo -- and they fit in well with today's lifestyles.

The company is a high-quality operation, specializing in men's, women's, and kids' clothes. abercrombie and fitch is so much more than just the ubiquitous t-shirts you see on college and high school kids. You'd be surprised to know the variety of their offerings.

That's not all, however. For both kids and adults, in addition to the t-shirts, there are casual pants and shirts. The styles are definitely informal, but very well made and in keeping with today's trends.

They have them. A great variety and a horizon of fragrances. Try 'em you'll like 'em.I doubt that you would know that perfumes are a staple of the abercrombie and fitch line -- surprise, surprise.

Abercrombie launched a new concept

This article may be a bit off topic for my regular followers – and for that I apologize, but I wanted to chime in on the news that abercrombie and fitch has decided to close their Ruehl concept stores throughout America.
Abercrombie’s downfall with Ruehl (and the considerable sales drop at other Abercrombie brands of late) came from their arrogance to refuse to acknowledge the state of the economy and price their clothes accordingly – or at the least, provide sales or discounts or specials. For almost a year now Abercrombie’s President and CEO, Mike Jeffries has continually stated that abercrombie and fitch (and affiliated concepts) are premium brands, discounting them or placing sales on their products – even temporarily – will damage the reputation of the brands and make it more difficult for the brands to return to their premium status. Then, suddenly, on May 15th, in their quarterly earnings report Jeffries made a comment which clearly demonstrates just how out of touch those people are in New Albany, Ohio with whats going in the retail environment today:
The first quarter was clearly a difficult one for us. With a challenging economic environment, the consumer continues to show a reluctance to spend on premium brands; a price consciousness dictating shopping habits unlike anything I have ever seen…
When I was younger – I definitely fell for the whole abercrombie and fitch look, the smell of the stores and just the overall “coolness” that seemed to exude from the brand, the clothes and the stores. As I got older, I realized I hated paying as much as I did for the clothes from Abercrombie, they always seemed to shrink, and the styles just seemed to continue to look more and more ridiculous.
About 5 years ago Abercrombie launched a new concept – Ruehl 925 – the premise was the store was based in Greenwich Village NYC, in the mansion of a rich family with the surname “Ruehl”. The clothes were somewhat Abercrombie-like, but had a much more adult feel, were still a little expensive, but overall seemed to be less expensive than abercrombie and fitch. You wouldn’t find a jacket and tie appropriate for a business meeting at Ruehl, but you could easily find leisure or “going out” clothes that were eons away from the Guess/Armani Exchange look.
But the thing that really drew me INTO the Ruehl stores was the store design.
There are only 25 Ruehl stores in the US today, and anyone who has ever visited one will admit – its a VERY unique store. Instead of the storefront being floor to ceiling windows, it looks like a brick mansion that you’d find in Greenwich Village. Right down to the wrought iron fence, concrete walkway, subway/air grates and doors that look like they could come right from an a building in Greenwich Village. The inside is equally as impressive – the store is broken up into rooms, with a long hallway going down the center, dividing the womens and mens sections. The check outs are in the rear of the store – in a room that looks like it could be the garage, with exposed wooden beams and walls. Some rooms were even on different “floors” a good 2 or 3 feet higher than the other floor.
The amount of detail that was designed into these stores was amazing – and the prices of the clothes did reflect that, but it really made you feel part of the story, made you feel part of the clothes – made you part of the experience, something that you will never get at The Gap, or Express.
Other “premium” brands – Express, Banana Republic, J Crew, and Martin & Osa to name a few – have done nothing but sell clothes for their regular price – but discount them down to almost half price, bombard email in boxes with one day sales, online sales, 30% off sales, I could go on and on. Those sales bring people in the doors, and make sales.

Relations gaffe for Abercrombie and Fitch

Mark Borkowski, a leading brand and celebrity publicist, said: “This is probably one of the biggest gaffes by a fashion retailer – it is a disgrace and a PR nightmare.
“When people are confronted daily with pictures of heroic soldiers returning from Afghanistan with missing limbs, people will look at this case and think that Abercrombie & Fitch is incredibly shallow.
“It is potentially very damaging to them and they will need to work hard to restore some depth to their brand if they are to maintain their position in today’s competitive environment.”
“Jason Nisse, a PR executive from the firm Fishburn Hedges, added: “Abercrombie & Fitch should not confuse creating an aspirational image with being elitist.
“They need to immediately reassure customers that this is a brand for everyone, not for just some ideal that they have of what is a beautiful person, or they will rightly become the poster boys for everything that is wrong with the fashion industry.” Telegraph.co,uk

Apart from the legal niceties of how they discriminated against Ms. Dean, it is obvious Abercrombie and Fitch did wrong her to the tune of $15,000. Is it chic to discriminate?
“Marketing experts described the case as “one of the biggest gaffes” by a fashion retailer, and warned it could damage the brand.