BY KELSEY PURCELL, FEATURES ASSIGNMENT EDITOR
Abercrombie & Fitch seems to be back in style. The fashion company has caught up to the latest trends and styles that Millennials and Gen z approve of.
The Abercrombie & Fitch Company owns five brands, Abercrombie, abercrombie kids, Hollister, Gilly Hicks and Social Tourist. Popular during the 2000s, the Abercrombie sweatshirts and t-shirts featured the iconic moose Logo. Some trendy Gen Z middle schoolers would wear these and the denim jeans and jean shorts all the time.
Abercrombie & Fitch has faced many controversies. According to Business Insider, the company did not offer sizes for women above a 10 in pants and they did not offer XL or XXL for women but they did for men. Business Insider also claimed that the company has also faced lawsuits over its hiring practices, they were known to favor white people over minorities. The hiring managers would recommend that prospective employees who were not white or not attractive work in the stock room where they would not engage or interact with customers.
“Models” was the title given to the employees who worked around customers in the retail store helping and ringing up customers, and those who worked in the back stocking and taking inventory were called “team members.” In a 2006 interview with Salon, Abercrombie CEO Michael Jefferies said, “We hire good-looking people in our stores. Because good-looking people attract other good-looking people, and we want to market to cool, good-looking people. We don’t market to anyone other than that.”
Around the time of controversy, Abercrombie merchandise began to lose popularity. Their logo branded on every shirt or went out of style. Recently, the company has seemed to make a comeback after the mistakes they made and controversial past and missed marks on fashion.
The brand has transitioned from its former fraternity style into a classier, simple line. Most of their pieces are basics that can be worn and styled in many different ways. The Abercrombie logo is not printed on every sweatshirt or t-shirt anymore. Their clothing is very simple. The colors are neutral. They have some quality basic pieces that the Tik Tok influencers are recommending to their followers. Jeans, leather pants, bodysuits and jackets seem to be some of Abercrombie’s trendy pieces.
Viral Tik Tok stars, Charli and Dixie D’Amelio are ambassadors for Hollister and Social Tourist, two of the Abercrombie & Fitch brands. They may have contributed to the company’s sudden popularity.
On Tik Tok the Curve Love 90s Ultra High Rise Straight Jeans went viral. People are trying to get their hands on these jeans. Many influencers say they are a great fit and a must-have item. The Curve Love Vegan Leather 90s Straight Pants went viral in both the black and brown colors.
Tik Tok and Instagram influencers along with fashion bloggers are probably a major part of the brand’s recent success. So many people bought the jeans and pants that many sizes were sold out. Abercrombie ran out of them so it had to re-stock a lot of the sizes.
Overall, Abercrombie has seemed to have grown up into a classier, more elegant brand than it used to be. The rebranding that shifted the company is proving well for its newfound success.
