[Steeltrap]

Originally posted by lifesaver
Half my chapter has worked at AF at one tiem or another. Theres one 'bout 3 miles from campus. It is a hobby, not a job. They all liked it, but it was really expensive for them to work there. Someone before mentioned how AF used to be a good brand. Indeed. I have an uncle who is an avid outdoorsman and still owns quite a few Abercrombie pieces of hunting gear from 10+ years ago. I think he even owns a few AF fishing lures, lol. Nowdays youd be just a sliekly to find an AF lure as a dangle on a shell necklace. lol. He also has this huge hunting scene print framed above his fireplace that says "Abercrombie and Fitch" across the bottom. It cracks me the FU.

Apparently, from what I remember from a marketing class a while back... Abercrombie has in fact been in business since 1896 or whatever, however in the late 80's or early 90's the company was posting losses. At the same time, one of those big clothing retailers was looking to create a brand that appealed to this market segment. So I am not sure if it was Spiegel, or one of the limited companies, but one of them bought the AF name and trademarks and retooled it as what it is today, Essentially keeping only the name. So If I remember correctly, Its rither owned by one of those big retailers or is a part of one of them. I know the GAP companies did the same thing in the late 80's with the Bananna Republic brand. Anyone here rememebr when BR was all safari? I found an old BR safari shopping bag in our warehouse last week and laughed my ass off. GAP wanted to capture more of the market. GAP itself only marketed to middle income shoppers. They brought on BR and retooled it to upclass, and then createed Old Navy, to appeal to the more price concious consumers.

Someone feel free to correct me on the above info. I am pretty sure I rememebred it all correctly, but its been a few years since that class.

I remember when Banana was heavy into the safari stuff and I never set foot in there because of that. I like what they are today, although they need to expand their size range.