Abercrombie & Fitch's Iconicity

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American Icons October 11, 2013 Abercrombie & Fitch and Its Iconicity Abercrombie and Fitch originally started in the nineteenth century. The two key figures that influenced the course of this brand were founders David Abercrombie and Ezra Fitch. The store was first introduced by Abercrombie as A&F in 1892 as an upscale sporting goods store. Once Abercrombie partnered with Fitch, the company started to expand throughout the twentieth century. The store continued to grow but both of the founders ended up parting ways because of their different views on what they wanted this store to end up being as far as the style of apparel they had in mind. Abercrombie wanted to keep his ideas going of an outdoor gear shop while Fitch wanted to dip more into general retail clothing that would appeal to everyone. In 1910 it became the first store to offer clothing to both men and women. It progressed and opened a 12 story store on Madison Avenue; by this time in 1939 it was considered “The Greatest Sporting Goods Store in the World.” In 1927 Abercrombie and Fitch was the official outfitter for Charles Lindbergh’s flight across the Atlantic Ocean. Ernest Hemingway and Teddy Roosevelt were also clients of A&F. This early history of the brand was only the beginning of how it successfully transformed worldwide before our own eyes. A&F eventually hit its sales peak in 1947 and started to expand more stores in the 50’s with shops in Florida and San Francisco. However, by the 1960’s net sales were dropping because the new president of the company refused to have in store sales or cut prices. Surprisingly you would think nothing would get in the way of this continuously booming brand, but the exact opposite happened in 1977 when the company filed bankruptcy. It tried to re-open stores afterwards still under the A&F name but tried to make more modern products for sportswear clothing.

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