The CEO behind Abercrombie & Fitch’s turnaround says the retailer is not chasing ‘cool’; desires to be a ‘way of life’ model as a substitute

A decade in the past, the ‘it’ model of the 2000s and early 2010s crashed. Customers have been turned off by the extremely sexualized advertising and marketing and management’s disdainful perspective towards buyers it mentioned weren’t cool sufficient for Abercrombie & Fitch’s garments.

So when Abercrombie CEO Fran Horowitz, beforehand president of A&F’s sister model Hollister, went about repairing the guardian firm in 2017, she had her work minimize out for her. As detailed in a Fortune function in 2022, she dropped her predecessors’ command-and-control approach of managing the corporate in favor of letting the rank and file have extra enter. She raised the standard of the clothes and, crucially, determined to eschew chasing traits.

“Cool is a tough word,” Horowitz advised the Fortune Most Powerful Women summit in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. “It’s not what we’re aspiring to be. We’re aspiring to be a long-lasting lifestyle brand that
someone can wear and enjoy for many, many years.” (Her sentiments echo these of designer Ralph Lauren who as soon as famously mentioned, “I don’t want to be too hot.”)

Horowitz’s technique has labored. A&F’s gross sales practically doubled to $2.6 billion between 2019 and 2024; Hollister, which had additionally struggled, boomed too. This 12 months, the mixed gross sales of each manufacturers will prime $5 billion for the primary time.

Keeping that upward momentum is Horowitz’s huge problem. One tactic she’s employed is in search of out new partnerships. This summer time, Abercrombie Kids began promoting its clothes at Macy’s shops. Separately, the National Football League selected Abercrombie & Fitch to be its first ever vogue accomplice with the retailer carrying merchandise comparable to mesh t-shirts and half-zip sweaters for every of the 32 NFL leagues.

The upside of the NFL deal, Horowitz mentioned, is the publicity to tens of millions of NFL followers, half of whom are ladies. The CEO says that group hasn’t at all times been properly served by group merchandise that too usually has been “pink and sparkly”—not the extra refined merchandise she is betting they wish to put on on sport day.

“The opportunity for us specifically is customer acquisition and brand awareness,” mentioned Horowitz, a New York Giants fan. “Even although 50% of their fandom is feminine, maybe they’re not acknowledged or celebrated as a lot as they are often, and so they haven’t been served by merch precisely.