posted December 10, 2014 04:34 AM            

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-09/abercrombie-fitch-ceo-mike-jeffries-to-step-down-immediately.html

quote:

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Chief Executive Officer Mike Jeffries, who helped create the definitive wardrobe for 1990s teens before losing his status as a tastemaker in recent years, is stepping down.

Jeffries will retire immediately as CEO and a member of the board, the New Albany, Ohio-based company said today in a statement. The board is now seeking a replacement and has enlisted an executive-search firm to identify both internal and external candidates.

Jeffries, 70, came under fire after the Abercrombie and Hollister clothing lines lost their cachet with teenage shoppers. The company also suffered from a broader drop in shopping-mall traffic, contributing to 11 quarters of same-store sales declines and a 77 percent plunge in profit last year. Jeffries’s departure reflects a change in strategy, said Simeon Siegel, a New York-based analyst at Nomura Holdings Inc.

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posted December 10, 2014 09:41 AM            

On a more serious note, I believe as though his brand has been failing because teenagers are into different trends now. The market is different. It's not like it was back in the early 2000s. Kids don't want to dress "preppy" anymore. I think the "preppy" aspect is what caused his success back in 2000s. At that time, kids thought they were "cool" when they wore A&F clothes.

Now, kids are into other trends (hipster, high fashion, street style, hippie). A&F can't compete because the brand is based on "casual" "classic" clothing. A&F is no Ralph Lauren and doesn't seem to want to adapt to today's fashion tastes. Their marketing was based on "good looking cool kids". When their branding strategy came to the surface and was subjected to media coverage, the brand started going downhill.

I'm sorry but more now than ever, kids are aware that such "exclusivity" is discriminatory. He specially said he only wanted "exclusive" people to wear his clothing and didn't want "fat" people to wear A&F. What kind of a marketing strategy is this? This is bullying and discrimation from a distance. This strategy wasn't going to attract more customers, on the very contrary. I would be ashamed of working at any store that would market their brand in such a repulsive manner (not that they'd want me to work there anyway ha).

A large majority of his stores are closing. Even in Europe the sales are declining because it's not a "fancy" as he made it out to be. A&F is not fancy in anyway.

His marketing strategy caused the death of his brand. He made his own bed and he can now lie in it.

I have a bunch of friends who worked at A&F during HS and of course, those were your typical "good looking cool kid". You'd think they'd hire "normal" teenagers to appeal to a larger customer base but nope. Not wanting to change their marketing and their design was the kiss of death.

posted December 12, 2014 02:59 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Barbiegirl19:
I shopped only there when I was in HS, seems to be a phase with preppy high school kids. Now that myself and old prep friends are older we could careless about Abercrombie, Hollister or brand that we're wearing, as long as we look good. Crazy how superficial HS kids can be. It boggles my mind when I reflect on the amount of money I spent on clothes at Abercrombie, which isn't good at all for an impulse shopper such as myself

I don't feel bad at all for the company. Instead of giving away their old clothes to the homeless or misfortunate, they have them shredded or thrown away. My best friend worked at Abercrombie and hardly anyone ever went in there, and she was always forced to work stupid, unreasonable hours. Another friend used to work for Shredex(spell check) and they shredded clothes from them like you wouldn't believe. They'd rather throw away money than have someone who can't afford to buy their clothes wear them.

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Personally speaking, I haven't found anything that Abercruddy and Filth ever sold to be appealing to me; Ever! Their clothes looked cheap and the quality seemed on par with something you would pick up at Wal-Mart. By comparison, CK had provided better options interms of style and better prices as well. More bang for my buck all the way around.

The only thing you are ever paying for when you buy Abercruddy and Filth is their filthy brand name.

quote:

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Originally posted by MineAgain:
He's coming of age anyway.

On a more serious note, I believe as though his brand has been failing because teenagers are into different trends now. The market is different. It's not like it was back in the early 2000s. Kids don't want to dress "preppy" anymore. I think the "preppy" aspect is what caused his success back in 2000s. At that time, kids thought they were "cool" when they wore A&F clothes.

Now, kids are into other trends (hipster, high fashion, street style, hippie). A&F can't compete because the brand is based on "casual" "classic" clothing. A&F is no Ralph Lauren and doesn't seem to want to adapt to today's fashion tastes. Their marketing was based on "good looking cool kids". When their branding strategy came to the surface and was subjected to media coverage, the brand started going downhill.

I'm sorry but more now than ever, kids are aware that such "exclusivity" is discriminatory. He specially said he only wanted "exclusive" people to wear his clothing and didn't want "fat" people to wear A&F. What kind of a marketing strategy is this? This is bullying and discrimation from a distance. This strategy wasn't going to attract more customers, on the very contrary. I would be ashamed of working at any store that would market their brand in such a repulsive manner (not that they'd want me to work there anyway ha).

A large majority of his stores are closing. Even in Europe the sales are declining because it's not a "fancy" as he made it out to be. A&F is not fancy in anyway.

His marketing strategy caused the death of his brand. He made his own bed and he can now lie in it.

I have a bunch of friends who worked at A&F during HS and of course, those were your typical "good looking cool kid". You'd think they'd hire "normal" teenagers to appeal to a larger customer base but nope. Not wanting to change their marketing and their design was the kiss of death.

Good luck to them on making this has-been brand rise from its ashes.

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Couldn't have it said it better (though IMO you are giving A&F too much credit by calling their clothing "stylish" Lol!)

Mike Jeffries has issues... SERIOUS issues! He was one of the best payed CEOs in the Retail world. That quickly changed after he decided to effectively kill his career by making that absurd "Mission Statement" about his brand. Before he was fired (Oops! I mean, before he "stepped down,") he was earning a dismal 2.24 million a year. That is quite a bit less from his earnings in 2011 for instance where he was raking in almost 50 million a year.

posted December 12, 2014 11:51 AM            

A friend went to A&F to buy some jeans and got hired on the spot. My last "ex" had a similar experience.

What a discriminatory recruiting policy.

posted December 15, 2014 08:15 AM            

All the fat and uncool kids will unite, boost their egos and take over. I bet it'll do a ton better than anything A&F and it's cool kids have ever accomplished.