Abercrombie & Fitch – The Rise and Fall...And Rise Again

At its peak, Abercrombie & Fitch sold $3.74 billion of clothes a year, ran more than 1,100 stores, and its stock traded above $83 a share. In April 2020, that same stock fell below $8 — and the whole company was worth less than a billion dollars. Then came one of the great comebacks in retail: record sales of $4.95 billion, a stock near $197, and a market value that beat its 2007 peak. This is the full story: the 1892 expedition outfitter, the 1988 resurrection by The Limited, Mike Jeffries and the 'cool kids' empire, the exclusionary quotes that went viral in 2013, the ouster, and Fran Horowitz's turnaround. Sources: Wikipedia — Abercrombie & Fitch; Mike Jeffries Company 10-K filings (net sales series via companiesmarketcap / WallStreetZen) SEC.gov — December 9, 2014 press release (Jeffries retirement) EEOC.gov — 2004 $50M discrimination settlement Salon (2006) via mediapost.com / etonline.com — the 'cool kids' quotes and the 2013 viral resurfacing MacroTrends; financecharts.com; stockanalysis.com; stockscan.io — stock price history Retail Dive; TheStreet; Business of Fashion — Horowitz turnaround coverage AP; Law360 — Jeffries 2024 arrest and trial reporting (charges alleged, not proven) Keywords: abercrombie and fitch, abercrombie & fitch, what happened to abercrombie, abercrombie and fitch comeback, mike jeffries, hollister, fran horowitz, retail comeback, business stories #BrandAutopsy #BusinessStories #ComebackStory