I was just talking to someone about this store. It was pretty popular around the early 2000s along with Hollister. Needed a gas mask and flashlight walking in.
Fun fact. People thought that the cologne was pumped in like air and heat are but it was actually the workers spraying it in the air when they thought no one was looking. I rounded a corner and surprised the worker as she was letting off two or three sprays. As soon as she saw me she gave me an awkward smile and shoved the cologne back into her pocket.
When living in Honduras, I walked into a mall with a store named "Moose." All the clothing was totally A&F seconds and irregulars with the moose logo on the lapel. They even had the "New York, Est. 1892" on the clothing. I asked an associate working there if they were Abercrombie and Fitch, and they assured me "No, we are a high-quality, independent retailer."
You most likely walked into a department store called "Carrion" which is a sort of Macy's. Yup, they were big on the "Moose" brand LMFAO! Funny thing is that the prices were pretty close to A&F as well!
I actually still wear some things from A&F. The quality isn’t as great as it used to be though in my opinion i still have some cargo shorts and hoodies from at least 2008 or so that I still wear and they still are in good shape .
I think for a lot of people aero only became popular because it was so much cheaper than Hollister Abercrombie and even American Eagle and it was the people that really couldn’t afford to buy Abercrombie or Hollister or couldn’t buy a lot of it would go to aero in our area definitely had an image that it was for poor people
They were the brand if you lived in a majority white part of America. I absolutely did, and by association being a minority, I was considered uncool for not wearing it. The marketing towards white-Americans was blatantly clear.
@@nahor88 so you lived in a majority white area you were deemed uncool because you didn’t wear it but you’re trying to insinuate it was because you were a minority is why people considered you uncool when it seems more to be the fact that you weren’t wearing this thing that everybody else was. And what marketing because store brands in malls don’t do national campaigns. Maybe you might get lucky to see a billboard or something, but typically the advertisement is done in store and all the Abercrombie I ever went to there was Asians blacks and Hispanics up on the walls as well Same with working was it majority white yes but so as every other store
One of the things I most fondly remember going to the mall in the 2000s is the dimly lit A&F stores, with the smell of Fierce (their men's cologne) pumped out into the halls. That was their calling card back in the day.
I worked at Abercrombie for a few years around 2012. Was honestly a ton of fun and i still am in contact with friends i made working there. The company needed to change but boy was working there at that time an experience that is impossible to recreate in today’s age.
Overall there’s sooo much from like ‘98 to ‘12 that you simply can’t understand if you weren’t there & more depressingly, we’ll never be able to recreate. :(
It was always amusing to read old market hunting era stories that mention getting equipment from Abercrombie & Fitch, then harvesting hundreds of game animals a day just 5 miles away in Newark. Today it reads like buying guns from H&M in San Francisco to go hunting in downtown Oakland.
@@Andrew-ps6xe the M in HM is actually Mauritz ( Widforrs ) , and that is their sister firm owned by same family and is one of Scandinavia biggest hunting and clothing shops . So what AF was , M is .
Growing up in the late 90s, A+F was a staple brand. Quite literally everyone wore it. Since I wore a lot, I decided to get a job there. I worked at two separate stores throughout high school. I should note, however that this was BEFORE they started putting half naked guys in front of the store. I had graduated before all that. However, I had an opportunity in college to work for the Home Office, located in New Albany, OH. I was an “A+F Front Desk Guy” (yes we wore clothes and actually sat at a desk lol) and had a really great experience working there. Met a lot of cool folks, attended some great events, and enjoyed my time there. Their offices had an outdoorsy college campus kinda vibe, and it really was unique for its time. Looking back however, we were sort of brainwashed into the brand and “image” of the brand. At the time, it just seemed like we a part of soem fun and cool. Of course, now I look back and cringe at how exclusive the brand had become. Overall, I’m happy to have been a part of it in the capacity I did, however I am grateful that I moved away from it and grew out of it when I did.
Thats I=it! that's song I was thinking of. I was thinking "I never even heard of this brand until some song in the early 2000s took over radio rotations.
When I was a teenager it was cool to wear Aeropostale, not A&F. I always thought it was weird how dark and empty it was in our A&F, but the Aeropostale was bright and full of customer's, which was directly across from each other
@@DrTopLiftDPT same hair pastel was if you couldn’t afford American Eagle or Hollister or Abercrombie it was fine to do Abercrombie and Hollister although Hollister was seen as slightly cheaper American Eagle. You can get away with their jeans and stuff like that as long as they didn’t have the logos, but it still never looked quite as nice as Hollister and Abercrombie and aero pastel looks in quality wise always felt like an H&M and forever 21. There is definitely a difference in quality.
Interesting to know Abercrombie & Fitch goes back to the 1800s! The biggest thing that always deterred me from shopping there was the low lights and massive perfume use. Perfume because I'm allergic (thus, natural deterrent for me lol) and low lights because I didn't feel safe nor comfortable shopping there. So I opted for one of their competitors who see to be brighter, more friendly, genuine, and inclusive. If it's not already on your list, will you please consider doing a video about American Eagle and its sister women's apparel store Aerie? Thank you for your time to make these videos
I bought some cargo shorts there in the early 2000s that were incredibly well-constructed. They were far more durable than the ACU cargo pants I was issued in the army. I went back a few years later and the quality was crap.
I used to buy from there too, the quality was good and the clothes fit well but after checking recently, it seems that they deliberately sell ill-fitting cuts. The quality was also worse too, I'm surprised they're apparently doing better.
Yep. Exactly. And man. Those cargo shorts were huge enough to completely conceal a full size Arizona tea can on the way into the dollar theater. With tons of other candy.
Abercrombie and Fitch was really popular when I was in college and then they went out of style, they discriminate against hiring older people. That location closed down and then they reopened in the mall just several years later, with older employees and brighter lighting.
When I was in high school any hot girl wasn’t verified hot if she hadn’t been stopped in the mall and offered a job at Hollister. That stuff was like a Michelin star verification back then 😂
@@Markimark151that cannot be true. The only people who wear A&F or Hollister are white upper middle class teens and college kids. What's the difference?
9:30: To correct the record, Abercrombie addressed the protests over the offensive depiction of Asians on t-shirts by stating, "We're velly, velly, velly solly." Needless to say, this did not calm the situation.
I worked there in 2007 in the stock room 😑 the restock manager bullied people into doing chew, so that should tell you enough about company culture back then.
If you were in high school in the early/mid-2000s A&F was the paramount brand for that kind of douchy posh person. Outside the US it was seen as very aspirational, as, at the time there were few or no international stores and people wearing the brand demonstrated the purchasing power to travel abroad. Their notorious marketing and the cloying scent of Fierce... the dark stores and the thicker paper of the shopping bags and receipts. The mark of an era.
I embarrassingly bought so much A&F this summer that I feel like I'm reliving my childhood, but the new threads are eye-catching and comfortable. This video is very timely for this company's latest reincarnation.
I bought some last year - some of the items labeled "vintage" or "retro" on the site - they were cheaper and the cut (jeans) were what I was looking for. The quality is pretty decent (they hold up to daily wear and daily washings). I sell to A&F so while it's not required or really expected it's sort of courtesy that you wear a few of their products when you vist.
Brought back my college days. I worked there so i could meet hundred people immediately. Super fun group and held bar crawls almost every month. Best college job, nothing beyond that.
Some of the stores are pretty nice but it’s honestly I get they want to change it up, but their stores feel much more similar to most stores now versus back in the day. Abercrombie and Hollister felt so high-end even if you go to an older style one now it still feels very modern. They really were decades ahead of the style. It’s funny seeing all that gray black and white all over Abercrombie back in the 2000s and recently in the last couple years literally everything is green and white and peoples homes they really were ahead of the trend. I missed that styleI like the mysterious allure of their stores.
I have a friend who is a sweet down to earth young woman. She explained to me once that she was a pretty toxic person in high school and college. (Think Regina George from mean girls). She explained how throughout this period she worked at A&F and like they kinda pressured her to maintain that personality at work. Things like flirt with unattractive or overweight guys who were shopping to try to get them to leave the store as quickly as possible. She said that like they made interviewing potential employees get stared down and then graded their attractiveness. She said that store management directly contributed to her eating disorder at the time. Like the company had a real tangible effect on her developing a mental health issue.
My son loved shopping here when he was 5-7 years old. His older cousins loved this store so he did what they did! Once they grew out of it he was done. Interesting fact they didn’t sell black clothes in the 90’s. I interviewed at this store in the 90’s I wasn’t hired because I wore black to the interview. I worked in another store and had that store clothing on for my before work interview.
Well, I'm from the generation that's familiar with the A&F during its outdoors/sporting goods era. The retailer got a lot of marketing publicity from the movie: "Man's Favorite Sport," from 1964, starring Rock Hudson and Paula Prentiss. Hudson's character is a proficient sales person for A&F, specializing in fishing gear. Yet, the character himself was an inexperienced fisherman.
I was in high school at the height of Abercrombie popularity. It's the one "preppy" brand I never wore. I had American Eagle, Aeropostale, and Hollister, but never A&F. It just seemed a little too pretentious even to my simple high school brain. Looking back, all those brands seem very similar, and I view them as a relic of the 2000's.
I remember when Mike Jeffries said that A&F was only for good looking people. I hadn’t seen him before at that point; but when I did, I and a lot of other people were like, “THAT guy?”
Honestly, the only thing I associate with Abercrombie & Fitch was the scandal that they apparently would rather burn unsold merchandise rather than donate it so that no one who didn't fit their image would wear it. This was years ago and I can't find a source to back it up, so I don't know if it's true, but of course it affected my perception of them. (Admittedly, I know next to nothing about fashion.) Aside from that, I remember occasionally seeing the logo at high school and the like, and that's about it. Back then, I actually assumed A&F (and other brands like them) must be cheaper clothing, because I thought wearing shirts with logos looked tacky, and "obviously" the only reason to wear it was because it was cheaper. I still can't quite wrap my head around paying extra for the "privilege" of giving a company free advertising.
I never shopped there as a teenager but I do remember that iconic night club look to the store when Id go shopping. I remember this rich girl in my high school kept a shopping bag from there with the topless male model and would bring it to school using it as her lunch bag, lmao. I actually recently stopped by the store and was pleasantly surprised to see that it has been completely transformed to appeal more to millennials in their 20s and 30s with some cool classic offerings. Its like H&M with better quality items. I like the more subtle look and have recently enjoyed shopping there, picking up a few nice shirts and jeans.
It feels weird to require higher diversity in advertisement as something court ordered, and I disagree with it. For advertising at least, you should be able to hire people to model based on any and all kinds of looks, including race.
I don't totally disagree, but the way they say it sure makes the brand sound like something class A jerks & high school bullies would wear. They gotta accept the hate.🤷♀️
I'm a black man and used to work for Hollister and Abercrombie & Fitch when I was in my mid 20's. Working there was strict and the pay was low. They had what was called the look policy. Males had to shave their face, and females had to remove nail polish and use light makeup. They only allow workers to wear Vans, and chuck taylor converse in white, blue and red. New employees work 2x per week and if the mangers like you, they'll add more hours. Race plays a role. White workers were more prilvaged especially if the are exotic looking. Things has changed since I left. Guys can now grow facial hair and the store now sell black clothes, only colour they never had.
I'm in my 50s and work with a lot of people under 30. Believe me, there is still a "cool group" and they all strive to be in it. It might not center around fashion anymore but it's still there.
In the eighties my stepfather used to shop at their store in the Beverly Center mall in Los Angeles. Back then it was more for older gentlemen with money and obviously not what it became later. One time I saw Vincent Price shopping there. When I started seeing younger people wearing their clothes in the nineties I was wondering why they were wearing such an old person brand.
I’m a millennial and never shopped at AF, never really knew what it was. Recently I saw some of their stuff and tried it out myself. Very glad I did. They make awesome stuff now
my family always laughs whenever we walk past a Hollister- Hollister California is nowhere near the beach! Still feel the need to sneeze whenever I walk past an Abercrombie too!
Back in high school my friend got approached by a talent scout when we were shopping there to model for them but we were fourteen at the time so they told her to come back in TWO YEARS. In hindsight, I've never been able to get over how slimy their marketing felt because of how young the models they were willing to recruit could get and it really alienated me from the brand even though they rebranded. Also given who the former ceo of L brands had connections with, it makes the thought significantly worse ☹️
Never heard of this company growing up. Recently started shopping there as someone with little taste in fashion but who enjoys simple clothing made with reasonably solid materials. Been happy with most items and get compliments on them often.
Being from NYC back in the day I’d see A@F downtown and through I never shopped there, I kinda knew it was another of those upscale shops that dotted midtown. Thanks for the video as I learned a lot about the place and now I know that this shop wouldn’t be for me. Good job!
As a European, I never heard about anyone of these companies you are mentioning recently... It's cool! I recommend you a Vivendi Games history, or a FOX history, or a Ted Turner history.
It's weird they are singled out for a very common clothing industry practice. Certain brands want a certain image. And this still happens to this day. You want generic go to Old Navy or something.
I’m glad Company Man said it. As a young black kid who wasn’t the thinnest in high school, I always felt as though A&F was geared towards thin, white, young people. I only shopped at Aeropostale. I never stepped foot in an A&F, I always felt like I wouldn’t belong there and quite honestly, I wasn’t jealous of the kids who sported their apparel.
@@TheNewgreatlife I have to agree with you. AE and Hollister were the same to me too. Aero felt the most inclusive. I stepped foot in AE once and couldn’t find anything in my size. I said I wasn’t the thinnest, not because I was overweight, I was quite thin, but not a size zero. I couldn’t find a damn thing in that store that I could fit and just left. Hollister, never stepped foot in one either. I didn’t feel as though I fit that “beachy” aesthetic either. I applied for a job 80,000 times at Aero, though, and never got as much as a call. Applied at a lot of other stores in the mall and got calls and interviews coming out the wazoo. It was quite interesting.
Not mentioned here but worth noticing is how the value/stock was falling then a new CEO came and drastically switched thing around. She made the stock value grow faster than Nvidia. I love it when new management comes and drastically makes things better. Impressive skills, indeed.
I loved the kid store. All my kids wore it from 2000- 2013 but by then my kids loved forever 21, Charlotte rouge and some H&M. They were in high school now they are grown. But I did go back to there kids store for my stepdaughter and still love it to this day.
In the late 1980s and very early 1990s, I remember the stores had plaid carpeting, hanging chandeliers of antlers, and doors and walkway openings of dark-stained wood with lancet arches. It really exuded New England prep school golf course pro shop vibes. The whole place smelled strongly of their fragrance, of course, too.
As someone who sells to A&F I know that they've changed a lot in the past 20 years - they've become very successful around on-line retailing - the do as the video pointed out attempt to ride trends and start them. If you have a "dad bod" body type you'll need to add at least a size (maybe two) unless you like a tight fitting garment. I don't have personal experience with lots of their clothes but the jeans seem to hold up well but not unlike other more fashionable brands the room in the pockets (even for guy jeans) is sparce, t-shirts seem to hold up for a long time - they're soft and not too thin...
A&F was my first job ever. I was one of only a few black people working on the floor. They def had the majority of the black people in the back working.
I worked there part time back in the mid to late 90's and ur right, the Black men were unloading the truck and stocking but the effeminate white men were on the floor. The same with The Gap.
I remember people countering Jeffries' remark about A&F being for "young, good-looking people" by raising big campaigns to give their logo branded shirts to the homeless. Zing.
I remember badly wanting to wear an A&F jacket in high school bc it was a status symbol of not only Cool but also wealth and thinness. By the time i was able to fit into their clothing, i was already in college and the Cool brand in West LA was Brandy Melville lol
As a child, I was fortunate enough that our family liked to shop at A&F. Still have some clothes from that era, and the quality used to be leagues better than anything offered today.
I wore a lot of Ambercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle, and Pacsun clothes back in Jr High and High school. (which was from 2004-2009, when a lot of people still frequented malls) The shirts from A&F and Pacsun were my favorite, very comfortable and were designed to a hot environment, which I preferred because I used to get overheated easily. American Eagle had the best Jeans, though and that's where I'd get them. Sadly, Pacsun and A&F are both long gone in our indoor mall here in my hometown and only American Eagle remains. My dad introduced me to Rue 21 during my last senior year of high school and I started using their black and carbon cologne. Still one of my favorite smells to this day! Sadly their store also closed in the mall after they recently filed for bankruptcy.
Gotta tell you I literally got an Abercrombie ad in the middle of this video. The ad was for their new collaboration with the NFL. The marketing is still focused on young people and honestly still looks pretty preppy, it just looks like preppy streetwear
Stopped there once in high school looking for a black and white striped shirt. The atmosphere was exactly as you described. The associate told us they didn’t sell anything black.
I was always curious why they didn't rebrand Abercrombie & Fitch to simply "Abercrombie", since that's generally what the public call it, and it would be easier on the logo. I had no idea the founder (Abercrombie) left and Fitch carried thr company! The brand Fitch definitely doesn't sound right 😅
I remember when Hollister was making the rounds within apparel back when I was in junior high school. I never appreciated the brand, but I enjoyed some of the music selection and fragrances when occasionally entering the stores.
I associate Abercrombie & Fitch with the 2000s. It's a nostalgic store for me; I'm happy that the brand pivoted and came back with a new philosophy and look. It's a success that should be studied.
I worked as a Front Desk guy at A&F's home office for a couple summers in college. We were the test subjects for the new outfits the floor models would wear in the stores. Dress code was pretty strict then. Mike Jefferies required we all say "Good morning, Mike" each morning as he walked in.
My bf and I consistently visit Abercrombie during our mall visits. Malls in the Dallas area are thriving businesses which maybe you should look into because it really makes me forget how malls are declining most everywhere else. Anyways we go because of the clothing quality, they have a fantastic men’s selection especially
I was in college when A&F Quarterly first dropped. It was a sensation. Previously, we had only had the J. Crew catalogue to look forward to. I even wrote a term paper about it for a sociology course I took. I actually analyzed the photos to see how often a model was topless and how often they were bottomless. I don’t have my stats on hand, but I would say that around 10% of models were both, meaning the lacked a shirt and pants or a skirt. But none were “nude” per se. They most you saw was a naked butt. I always found it interesting that you would have models that weren’t even wearing the clothes. The clothes themselves were always feature on a crisp white page, neatly folded, very similar to J. Crew. I recently learned that virtually the entire staff of the magazine were young gay men, who without significant oversight were intentionally pushing boundaries, showing men in “homosocial” situations, but really they were trying to be as homoerotic as possible. The creative style was actually based off of the photographs of Bruce Weber, himself now known to be a very controversial figure who was known to be engaged in some recurrent inappropriate workplace behavior.
I loved A&F. I'm glad they're making a comeback. I miss the old marketing though, when it had personality and edge and ego, versus now it feels gentrified and mid. I think their clothes quality took a hit for a while, but seems better now. Better than the disposable junk like H&M or Forever 21 or Shein and other fast fashion garbage. I mean, it's not super great, but it is much better than most of their competition.
I'm glad they're back. They made it incredibly easy to spot douche bags and trend chasers... Oh shit! I didn't know they were also Hollister. No wonder Hollister because the douche du jour.
I didn't know about their history as an outdoors store. They weren't on my radar until high school in the mid-late 90s. It's interesting that they have been able to make a comeback recently when stores like GAP and Banana Republic have closed 300 or so stores in the last couple years.
To an extent i appreciated the male sexualization in their ads. I am a straight male, but i am for sexualizing men more rather than sexualizing no one at all. We shouldnt be afraid or ashamed of sex, we should just be more equatable about it. Straight women and gay men appreciate eye candy too. Its kind of sad that this formerly enormous vector for male sexualization is just lost now.
Whether due to nature or nurture, women are just not as visual about sex as men are. For gay men yes because they are still men and are wired to seek out visual stimulus. What is weird is that it's not like women don't discriminate on looks. But even in private they don't seek out male eye candy. My Instagram is full of thirst traps while my female friends do not follow any male models.
In middle school I had either a Holister or Abercrombie and Fitch shirt that I got as a hand me down or my aunt found in a thrift store. Kids always treated me a little differently when I wore the shirt, and one kid always asked if I wore that brand. I was always ki d of confused and said "I'm wearing the shirt now so I guess I do." To me it was just a shirt though, no different from the wide variety of t-shirts I wore the rest of the time.
Abercrombie & Fitch sounds like some undead horror... Because IT! WON'T! JUST! DIE! ALREADY! To be fair, I've never shopped there. I was young and thin back then, but the store was clearly not marketed to someone like me. Also, I didn't have A&F clothing money, and I have NEVER been in the Cool Kids Club. (I was and still am the polar opposite as a D&D, Marching Band, Nerd/Geek/Dork/Dweeb.)
My friend put it in words well. He said that Abercrombie rebranded to be a step higher than fast fashion for a more posh market but not intrude into the more high end like Ralph Lauren and Lacoste .
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Here after the CEO's arrest for sex trafficking!
FORMER CEO
When? Deets plz.
Not really
@@edwang8975 wdym not really? He’s not the CEO since like 2016
Not really
I was just talking to someone about this store. It was pretty popular around the early 2000s along with Hollister. Needed a gas mask and flashlight walking in.
Fun fact. People thought that the cologne was pumped in like air and heat are but it was actually the workers spraying it in the air when they thought no one was looking. I rounded a corner and surprised the worker as she was letting off two or three sprays. As soon as she saw me she gave me an awkward smile and shoved the cologne back into her pocket.
You are not wrong 😂😂😂
I’ve learned more about business with your channel than any other sources out there. Great content as always!
If you want deeper dives, also check out Modern MBA
The Mad TV sketches about this company were some of the funniest ones back in the day.
Ha! I haven't thought about those in a long time.
I just re-watched the Christmas photoshoot parody.
So stupid, and painfully relevant. 😂
Every day I wake up and rather then look at my own failures, I watch about others.
😹😹😹
Very encouraging
I feel ya works out better that way
When living in Honduras, I walked into a mall with a store named "Moose." All the clothing was totally A&F seconds and irregulars with the moose logo on the lapel. They even had the "New York, Est. 1892" on the clothing. I asked an associate working there if they were Abercrombie and Fitch, and they assured me "No, we are a high-quality, independent retailer."
With a straight face too? Damn
That’s hilarious, I want Moose brand clothing
You most likely walked into a department store called "Carrion" which is a sort of Macy's. Yup, they were big on the "Moose" brand LMFAO! Funny thing is that the prices were pretty close to A&F as well!
2000-2012 Abercrombie was the wildest place to go shopping
the fact you actually wore this...
@@TheProtagonistDies better quality than what u wear i bet
I actually still wear some things from A&F. The quality isn’t as great as it used to be though in my opinion i still have some cargo shorts and hoodies from at least 2008 or so that I still wear and they still are in good shape .
@9:30 “Wong’s Dry Cleaning. Two Wongs Can Make it White.”
My classmate had that shirt in 2002
I need it
Also, three lefts make a right.
I would buy this shirt today ❤
@@frankjoyce76weird flex but ok
I’m Asian and I want it too. If you can’t laugh at yourself, you are missing out on the cosmic joke.
aeropostle, hollister, and abercrombie were THE brands in middle school where i lived
I think for a lot of people aero only became popular because it was so much cheaper than Hollister Abercrombie and even American Eagle and it was the people that really couldn’t afford to buy Abercrombie or Hollister or couldn’t buy a lot of it would go to aero in our area definitely had an image that it was for poor people
They were the brand if you lived in a majority white part of America. I absolutely did, and by association being a minority, I was considered uncool for not wearing it. The marketing towards white-Americans was blatantly clear.
@@nahor88 so you lived in a majority white area you were deemed uncool because you didn’t wear it but you’re trying to insinuate it was because you were a minority is why people considered you uncool when it seems more to be the fact that you weren’t wearing this thing that everybody else was. And what marketing because store brands in malls don’t do national campaigns. Maybe you might get lucky to see a billboard or something, but typically the advertisement is done in store and all the Abercrombie I ever went to there was Asians blacks and Hispanics up on the walls as well Same with working was it majority white yes but so as every other store
@@aaronlimitless Re-write that shiz not using run-on sentences and I'll reply to your argument... wow bruh.
@ I’m good. I don’t need a response from you.
One of the things I most fondly remember going to the mall in the 2000s is the dimly lit A&F stores, with the smell of Fierce (their men's cologne) pumped out into the halls. That was their calling card back in the day.
I liked the old A&F more!!!
I worked at Abercrombie for a few years around 2012. Was honestly a ton of fun and i still am in contact with friends i made working there. The company needed to change but boy was working there at that time an experience that is impossible to recreate in today’s age.
Overall there’s sooo much from like ‘98 to ‘12 that you simply can’t understand if you weren’t there & more depressingly, we’ll never be able to recreate. :(
It was always amusing to read old market hunting era stories that mention getting equipment from Abercrombie & Fitch, then harvesting hundreds of game animals a day just 5 miles away in Newark.
Today it reads like buying guns from H&M in San Francisco to go hunting in downtown Oakland.
@@Andrew-ps6xe the M in HM is actually Mauritz ( Widforrs ) , and that is their sister firm owned by same family and is one of Scandinavia biggest hunting and clothing shops . So what AF was , M is .
That's not so crazy to go hunting in downtown Oakland. Lot of animals there
Growing up in the late 90s, A+F was a staple brand. Quite literally everyone wore it. Since I wore a lot, I decided to get a job there. I worked at two separate stores throughout high school. I should note, however that this was BEFORE they started putting half naked guys in front of the store. I had graduated before all that. However, I had an opportunity in college to work for the Home Office, located in New Albany, OH. I was an “A+F Front Desk Guy” (yes we wore clothes and actually sat at a desk lol) and had a really great experience working there. Met a lot of cool folks, attended some great events, and enjoyed my time there. Their offices had an outdoorsy college campus kinda vibe, and it really was unique for its time. Looking back however, we were sort of brainwashed into the brand and “image” of the brand. At the time, it just seemed like we a part of soem fun and cool. Of course, now I look back and cringe at how exclusive the brand had become. Overall, I’m happy to have been a part of it in the capacity I did, however I am grateful that I moved away from it and grew out of it when I did.
I love it when this is mentioned in the song "Summer Girls" by LFO ("I like girls that wear Abercrombie & Fitch").
That LFO Boy Band sure is cursed.....
That song was released before the end of the 20th Century.
This song what comes to mind when hearing a f.
Do you remember Eminems comeback? 😂😂
Thats I=it! that's song I was thinking of. I was thinking "I never even heard of this brand until some song in the early 2000s took over radio rotations.
They basically went from Hooters like advertising, To any other clothes store.
It's weird they are singled out for their targeted marketing when most other stores do some level of that.
@@sor3999they definitely took it further than other brands
Maybe it’s just the nostalgia of being in high school and college in the late 90s early 2000s, but I miss Abercrombie.
Those were the times
I guess A&F will become the SEARs for millennials when they get older
And not filtch?
@@KeiAngelusthat’s a very good comparison.
When I was a teenager it was cool to wear Aeropostale, not A&F. I always thought it was weird how dark and empty it was in our A&F, but the Aeropostale was bright and full of customer's, which was directly across from each other
Aeropostale was for the poor kids when I was in school in early 2000s
@@DrTopLiftDPT same hair pastel was if you couldn’t afford American Eagle or Hollister or Abercrombie it was fine to do Abercrombie and Hollister although Hollister was seen as slightly cheaper American Eagle. You can get away with their jeans and stuff like that as long as they didn’t have the logos, but it still never looked quite as nice as Hollister and Abercrombie and aero pastel looks in quality wise always felt like an H&M and forever 21. There is definitely a difference in quality.
Interesting to know Abercrombie & Fitch goes back to the 1800s! The biggest thing that always deterred me from shopping there was the low lights and massive perfume use. Perfume because I'm allergic (thus, natural deterrent for me lol) and low lights because I didn't feel safe nor comfortable shopping there. So I opted for one of their competitors who see to be brighter, more friendly, genuine, and inclusive.
If it's not already on your list, will you please consider doing a video about American Eagle and its sister women's apparel store Aerie? Thank you for your time to make these videos
I bought some cargo shorts there in the early 2000s that were incredibly well-constructed. They were far more durable than the ACU cargo pants I was issued in the army. I went back a few years later and the quality was crap.
I used to buy from there too, the quality was good and the clothes fit well but after checking recently, it seems that they deliberately sell ill-fitting cuts. The quality was also worse too, I'm surprised they're apparently doing better.
Yep. Exactly. And man. Those cargo shorts were huge enough to completely conceal a full size Arizona tea can on the way into the dollar theater. With tons of other candy.
A & F used to be the Cabella's of their day.
More bass pro shop
@@qazhr cabellas is owned by bass pro
@@jenniferroney6593 true but the front name is bass
Abercrombie and Fitch was really popular when I was in college and then they went out of style, they discriminate against hiring older people. That location closed down and then they reopened in the mall just several years later, with older employees and brighter lighting.
Wasn’t Hollister the same?
@@joesmith-em2cd Hollister has a different image from A&F, and they have separate customers.
When I was in high school any hot girl wasn’t verified hot if she hadn’t been stopped in the mall and offered a job at Hollister. That stuff was like a Michelin star verification back then 😂
@@Markimark151that cannot be true. The only people who wear A&F or Hollister are white upper middle class teens and college kids. What's the difference?
Every clothing store discriminates against old people, if it is a youth brand, and even gender.
9:30: To correct the record, Abercrombie addressed the protests over the offensive depiction of Asians on t-shirts by stating, "We're velly, velly, velly solly." Needless to say, this did not calm the situation.
I worked there in 2007 in the stock room 😑 the restock manager bullied people into doing chew, so that should tell you enough about company culture back then.
NICe broadabrushing. One manager does not define the entire company.
Want me to point you to the lawsuits instead? 🙄
@@raviamodernepicsure...point away
Not wasting my time helping Internet randos find the obvious
@@OldPirate1718 lmao like there's lawsuits about ...chewing tobacco?
If you were in high school in the early/mid-2000s A&F was the paramount brand for that kind of douchy posh person. Outside the US it was seen as very aspirational, as, at the time there were few or no international stores and people wearing the brand demonstrated the purchasing power to travel abroad. Their notorious marketing and the cloying scent of Fierce... the dark stores and the thicker paper of the shopping bags and receipts. The mark of an era.
I embarrassingly bought so much A&F this summer that I feel like I'm reliving my childhood, but the new threads are eye-catching and comfortable. This video is very timely for this company's latest reincarnation.
I bought some last year - some of the items labeled "vintage" or "retro" on the site - they were cheaper and the cut (jeans) were what I was looking for. The quality is pretty decent (they hold up to daily wear and daily washings). I sell to A&F so while it's not required or really expected it's sort of courtesy that you wear a few of their products when you vist.
Brought back my college days. I worked there so i could meet hundred people immediately. Super fun group and held bar crawls almost every month. Best college job, nothing beyond that.
I will buy their older sweaters secondhand. They actually did manufacture some good quality clothing. Nothing with the big logo on it though. Tacky
I passed a store recently and realized how different it was, they were definitely an experience then and MUCH less cool now.
Some of the stores are pretty nice but it’s honestly I get they want to change it up, but their stores feel much more similar to most stores now versus back in the day. Abercrombie and Hollister felt so high-end even if you go to an older style one now it still feels very modern. They really were decades ahead of the style. It’s funny seeing all that gray black and white all over Abercrombie back in the 2000s and recently in the last couple years literally everything is green and white and peoples homes they really were ahead of the trend. I missed that styleI like the mysterious allure of their stores.
I have a friend who is a sweet down to earth young woman. She explained to me once that she was a pretty toxic person in high school and college. (Think Regina George from mean girls). She explained how throughout this period she worked at A&F and like they kinda pressured her to maintain that personality at work. Things like flirt with unattractive or overweight guys who were shopping to try to get them to leave the store as quickly as possible. She said that like they made interviewing potential employees get stared down and then graded their attractiveness. She said that store management directly contributed to her eating disorder at the time. Like the company had a real tangible effect on her developing a mental health issue.
My son loved shopping here when he was 5-7 years old. His older cousins loved this store so he did what they did! Once they grew out of it he was done.
Interesting fact they didn’t sell black clothes in the 90’s. I interviewed at this store in the 90’s I wasn’t hired because I wore black to the interview. I worked in another store and had that store clothing on for my before work interview.
Why was that?
@@RT-qd8yl For preppies, navy blue is your black. Unspoken rule
@@RT-qd8ylMike Jeffries hated the color black, so it was never sold in stores.
All the cool kids in school wore A&F. I was so envious of them.
It's okay. You aren't there anymore.
Don’t worry some of those cool jocks are now bald.
Same with American Eagle outfit. All the cool christians kids were wearing it and I was kinda envious not having one.
Well, I’ve heard of them. I have never been there and I sure do. Enjoy my educational Wednesdays with a company man. Thank you.
Well, I'm from the generation that's familiar with the A&F during its outdoors/sporting goods era.
The retailer got a lot of marketing publicity from the movie: "Man's Favorite Sport," from 1964, starring Rock Hudson and Paula Prentiss. Hudson's character is a proficient sales person for A&F, specializing in fishing gear. Yet, the character himself was an inexperienced fisherman.
That's interesting, thanks for sharing
I always perk up/take a shot whenever companyman mentions Dallas the city I live in
Same.. I'm in Fort Worth
I remember hating the kids in junior high school that wore Abercrombie & Fitch, I thought of them as preppy and too good for everyone else.
I was in high school at the height of Abercrombie popularity. It's the one "preppy" brand I never wore. I had American Eagle, Aeropostale, and Hollister, but never A&F. It just seemed a little too pretentious even to my simple high school brain. Looking back, all those brands seem very similar, and I view them as a relic of the 2000's.
I remember when Mike Jeffries said that A&F was only for good looking people. I hadn’t seen him before at that point; but when I did, I and a lot of other people were like, “THAT guy?”
You forgot to mention the song "Summer Girls" by LFO. That hit song gave A&F a lot of free marketing.
Honestly, the only thing I associate with Abercrombie & Fitch was the scandal that they apparently would rather burn unsold merchandise rather than donate it so that no one who didn't fit their image would wear it. This was years ago and I can't find a source to back it up, so I don't know if it's true, but of course it affected my perception of them. (Admittedly, I know next to nothing about fashion.)
Aside from that, I remember occasionally seeing the logo at high school and the like, and that's about it. Back then, I actually assumed A&F (and other brands like them) must be cheaper clothing, because I thought wearing shirts with logos looked tacky, and "obviously" the only reason to wear it was because it was cheaper. I still can't quite wrap my head around paying extra for the "privilege" of giving a company free advertising.
I never shopped there as a teenager but I do remember that iconic night club look to the store when Id go shopping. I remember this rich girl in my high school kept a shopping bag from there with the topless male model and would bring it to school using it as her lunch bag, lmao. I actually recently stopped by the store and was pleasantly surprised to see that it has been completely transformed to appeal more to millennials in their 20s and 30s with some cool classic offerings. Its like H&M with better quality items. I like the more subtle look and have recently enjoyed shopping there, picking up a few nice shirts and jeans.
You can always tell where one was with their front of store format
It feels weird to require higher diversity in advertisement as something court ordered, and I disagree with it. For advertising at least, you should be able to hire people to model based on any and all kinds of looks, including race.
I don't totally disagree, but the way they say it sure makes the brand sound like something class A jerks & high school bullies would wear. They gotta accept the hate.🤷♀️
Sure. But than get ready to get cancelled fast 🤷🏻♀️👋🏼
I'm a black man and used to work for Hollister and Abercrombie & Fitch when I was in my mid 20's. Working there was strict and the pay was low. They had what was called the look policy. Males had to shave their face, and females had to remove nail polish and use light makeup. They only allow workers to wear Vans, and chuck taylor converse in white, blue and red. New employees work 2x per week and if the mangers like you, they'll add more hours. Race plays a role. White workers were more prilvaged especially if the are exotic looking. Things has changed since I left. Guys can now grow facial hair and the store now sell black clothes, only colour they never had.
I'm in my 50s and work with a lot of people under 30. Believe me, there is still a "cool group" and they all strive to be in it. It might not center around fashion anymore but it's still there.
In the eighties my stepfather used to shop at their store in the Beverly Center mall in Los Angeles. Back then it was more for older gentlemen with money and obviously not what it became later. One time I saw Vincent Price shopping there. When I started seeing younger people wearing their clothes in the nineties I was wondering why they were wearing such an old person brand.
I’m a millennial and never shopped at AF, never really knew what it was. Recently I saw some of their stuff and tried it out myself. Very glad I did. They make awesome stuff now
my family always laughs whenever we walk past a Hollister- Hollister California is nowhere near the beach! Still feel the need to sneeze whenever I walk past an Abercrombie too!
I found out about this company not from shopping for clothing at their stores but from Mad-TV skits in the 90s .
Anyone who has ever been to the town of Hollister would never wear clothing that advertised that town.
Cannot wait for "The rise and fall...and rise again" of General Motors.
add a few more rise and falls in the title ;-)
The East Coast/ Ivy League look is timeless, and as a college student in the 1990s, they nailed it; if you could afford it you probably wore it.
Back in high school my friend got approached by a talent scout when we were shopping there to model for them but we were fourteen at the time so they told her to come back in TWO YEARS. In hindsight, I've never been able to get over how slimy their marketing felt because of how young the models they were willing to recruit could get and it really alienated me from the brand even though they rebranded. Also given who the former ceo of L brands had connections with, it makes the thought significantly worse ☹️
He dodged a massive bullet buddy. Jeffries was just arrested by the FBI for sex trafficking.
Got some news for you…
Oh memories. A&F was my first job ever so it'll hold a special spot in my heart. Even though I haven't been in the store in decades
Sounded like a microphone change around 11:30? Not in a bad way I just wanted to mention it.
Great video, thanks man
I remember that Jersey Shore dude with the abs who got practically a cease and desist order from A&F to stop wearing the brand on the show.
Letsss gooo, I was hoping you'd make a video on them!!!
I have some jeans that’s at least 10 years old still looks good. They had some decent denim men’s jeans
Never heard of this company growing up. Recently started shopping there as someone with little taste in fashion but who enjoys simple clothing made with reasonably solid materials. Been happy with most items and get compliments on them often.
Being from NYC back in the day I’d see A@F downtown and through I never shopped there, I kinda knew it was another of those upscale shops that dotted midtown. Thanks for the video as I learned a lot about the place and now I know that this shop wouldn’t be for me. Good job!
I went to the store in Amsterdam to pick up a Sherpa-lined hoody. Idk i liked how it looked and the materials are high quality. I was like 19
Brilliant video, really interesting.
As a European, I never heard about anyone of these companies you are mentioning recently... It's cool!
I recommend you a Vivendi Games history, or a FOX history, or a Ted Turner history.
A&F torched for "exclusionary" marketing. Meanwhile at FUBU...
For Us By Us 😂
Sure sure, but having exclusionary hiring practices and selling racism on t-shirts is okay?
@@blakelyhall8191 It's fuckin great.
@@emilyadams3228why pick fight with Asians tho? Curious
It's weird they are singled out for a very common clothing industry practice. Certain brands want a certain image. And this still happens to this day. You want generic go to Old Navy or something.
5:40 young white muscular individuals
6:00 shows young muscular black individuals
I’m glad Company Man said it. As a young black kid who wasn’t the thinnest in high school, I always felt as though A&F was geared towards thin, white, young people. I only shopped at Aeropostale. I never stepped foot in an A&F, I always felt like I wouldn’t belong there and quite honestly, I wasn’t jealous of the kids who sported their apparel.
Aero was my go-to in high school also. How you described feeling about A&F is how I mostly also felt about American Eagle and Hollister at the time.
@@TheNewgreatlife I have to agree with you. AE and Hollister were the same to me too. Aero felt the most inclusive. I stepped foot in AE once and couldn’t find anything in my size. I said I wasn’t the thinnest, not because I was overweight, I was quite thin, but not a size zero. I couldn’t find a damn thing in that store that I could fit and just left. Hollister, never stepped foot in one either. I didn’t feel as though I fit that “beachy” aesthetic either.
I applied for a job 80,000 times at Aero, though, and never got as much as a call. Applied at a lot of other stores in the mall and got calls and interviews coming out the wazoo. It was quite interesting.
Not mentioned here but worth noticing is how the value/stock was falling then a new CEO came and drastically switched thing around. She made the stock value grow faster than Nvidia.
I love it when new management comes and drastically makes things better. Impressive skills, indeed.
I loved the kid store. All my kids wore it from 2000- 2013 but by then my kids loved forever 21, Charlotte rouge and some H&M. They were in high school now they are grown. But I did go back to there kids store for my stepdaughter and still love it to this day.
In the late 1980s and very early 1990s, I remember the stores had plaid carpeting, hanging chandeliers of antlers, and doors and walkway openings of dark-stained wood with lancet arches. It really exuded New England prep school golf course pro shop vibes. The whole place smelled strongly of their fragrance, of course, too.
As someone who sells to A&F I know that they've changed a lot in the past 20 years - they've become very successful around on-line retailing - the do as the video pointed out attempt to ride trends and start them. If you have a "dad bod" body type you'll need to add at least a size (maybe two) unless you like a tight fitting garment. I don't have personal experience with lots of their clothes but the jeans seem to hold up well but not unlike other more fashionable brands the room in the pockets (even for guy jeans) is sparce, t-shirts seem to hold up for a long time - they're soft and not too thin...
A&F was my first job ever. I was one of only a few black people working on the floor. They def had the majority of the black people in the back working.
I worked there part time back in the mid to late 90's and ur right, the Black men were unloading the truck and stocking but the effeminate white men were on the floor. The same with The Gap.
I remember people countering Jeffries' remark about A&F being for "young, good-looking people" by raising big campaigns to give their logo branded shirts to the homeless. Zing.
I remember badly wanting to wear an A&F jacket in high school bc it was a status symbol of not only Cool but also wealth and thinness. By the time i was able to fit into their clothing, i was already in college and the Cool brand in West LA was Brandy Melville lol
As a child, I was fortunate enough that our family liked to shop at A&F. Still have some clothes from that era, and the quality used to be leagues better than anything offered today.
I wore a lot of Ambercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle, and Pacsun clothes back in Jr High and High school. (which was from 2004-2009, when a lot of people still frequented malls) The shirts from A&F and Pacsun were my favorite, very comfortable and were designed to a hot environment, which I preferred because I used to get overheated easily. American Eagle had the best Jeans, though and that's where I'd get them.
Sadly, Pacsun and A&F are both long gone in our indoor mall here in my hometown and only American Eagle remains. My dad introduced me to Rue 21 during my last senior year of high school and I started using their black and carbon cologne. Still one of my favorite smells to this day! Sadly their store also closed in the mall after they recently filed for bankruptcy.
Gotta tell you I literally got an Abercrombie ad in the middle of this video. The ad was for their new collaboration with the NFL. The marketing is still focused on young people and honestly still looks pretty preppy, it just looks like preppy streetwear
Welp probably should've waited for this one to drop with the news about the ceo
Stopped there once in high school looking for a black and white striped shirt. The atmosphere was exactly as you described. The associate told us they didn’t sell anything black.
I miss their stores. It was the only place that sold tons of clothes in my size.
I was always curious why they didn't rebrand Abercrombie & Fitch to simply "Abercrombie", since that's generally what the public call it, and it would be easier on the logo. I had no idea the founder (Abercrombie) left and Fitch carried thr company! The brand Fitch definitely doesn't sound right 😅
I remember when Hollister was making the rounds within apparel back when I was in junior high school. I never appreciated the brand, but I enjoyed some of the music selection and fragrances when occasionally entering the stores.
I associate Abercrombie & Fitch with the 2000s. It's a nostalgic store for me; I'm happy that the brand pivoted and came back with a new philosophy and look. It's a success that should be studied.
I worked as a Front Desk guy at A&F's home office for a couple summers in college. We were the test subjects for the new outfits the floor models would wear in the stores. Dress code was pretty strict then. Mike Jefferies required we all say "Good morning, Mike" each morning as he walked in.
My bf and I consistently visit Abercrombie during our mall visits. Malls in the Dallas area are thriving businesses which maybe you should look into because it really makes me forget how malls are declining most everywhere else. Anyways we go because of the clothing quality, they have a fantastic men’s selection especially
I was in college when A&F Quarterly first dropped. It was a sensation. Previously, we had only had the J. Crew catalogue to look forward to.
I even wrote a term paper about it for a sociology course I took. I actually analyzed the photos to see how often a model was topless and how often they were bottomless. I don’t have my stats on hand, but I would say that around 10% of models were both, meaning the lacked a shirt and pants or a skirt. But none were “nude” per se. They most you saw was a naked butt. I always found it interesting that you would have models that weren’t even wearing the clothes. The clothes themselves were always feature on a crisp white page, neatly folded, very similar to J. Crew.
I recently learned that virtually the entire staff of the magazine were young gay men, who without significant oversight were intentionally pushing boundaries, showing men in “homosocial” situations, but really they were trying to be as homoerotic as possible. The creative style was actually based off of the photographs of Bruce Weber, himself now known to be a very controversial figure who was known to be engaged in some recurrent inappropriate workplace behavior.
Their vintage inspired shirts and blank shirts are some of the best i have ever wore!
I loved A&F. I'm glad they're making a comeback. I miss the old marketing though, when it had personality and edge and ego, versus now it feels gentrified and mid. I think their clothes quality took a hit for a while, but seems better now. Better than the disposable junk like H&M or Forever 21 or Shein and other fast fashion garbage. I mean, it's not super great, but it is much better than most of their competition.
I'm glad they're back. They made it incredibly easy to spot douche bags and trend chasers... Oh shit! I didn't know they were also Hollister. No wonder Hollister because the douche du jour.
I didn't know about their history as an outdoors store. They weren't on my radar until high school in the mid-late 90s. It's interesting that they have been able to make a comeback recently when stores like GAP and Banana Republic have closed 300 or so stores in the last couple years.
To an extent i appreciated the male sexualization in their ads. I am a straight male, but i am for sexualizing men more rather than sexualizing no one at all. We shouldnt be afraid or ashamed of sex, we should just be more equatable about it. Straight women and gay men appreciate eye candy too. Its kind of sad that this formerly enormous vector for male sexualization is just lost now.
Whether due to nature or nurture, women are just not as visual about sex as men are. For gay men yes because they are still men and are wired to seek out visual stimulus. What is weird is that it's not like women don't discriminate on looks. But even in private they don't seek out male eye candy. My Instagram is full of thirst traps while my female friends do not follow any male models.
In middle school I had either a Holister or Abercrombie and Fitch shirt that I got as a hand me down or my aunt found in a thrift store. Kids always treated me a little differently when I wore the shirt, and one kid always asked if I wore that brand. I was always ki d of confused and said "I'm wearing the shirt now so I guess I do." To me it was just a shirt though, no different from the wide variety of t-shirts I wore the rest of the time.
Abercrombie & Fitch sounds like some undead horror... Because IT! WON'T! JUST! DIE! ALREADY!
To be fair, I've never shopped there. I was young and thin back then, but the store was clearly not marketed to someone like me. Also, I didn't have A&F clothing money, and I have NEVER been in the Cool Kids Club. (I was and still am the polar opposite as a D&D, Marching Band, Nerd/Geek/Dork/Dweeb.)
The mad tv parody is hilarious! Good times
My friend put it in words well. He said that Abercrombie rebranded to be a step higher than fast fashion for a more posh market but not intrude into the more high end like Ralph Lauren and Lacoste .
We’ve all been wanting this and it’s the top suggestion: The Decline of MySpace
Also I’d like to see Walmart and Hastings Books.
You need to watch Mad TV’s parody on this company
I’m a big fan of this channel! 😄 I watch every episode!!
me too except the ones i never heard lol from a southern californian
Out of curiosity, which ones have you not heard of?
@@companyman114 blimpie, ponderosa, wawa, menards, among others
Okay, that makes perfect sense. Thanks for letting me know. So glad you've been liking the channel.
This is my 1st time hearing about this store. It's good to see them turn it around.
OMG are you for real!????? You must never have been much of a mall person I'm assuming?