assignment #4

The popular brand that I chose is Abercrombie & Fitch. I actually learned a lot about the brand that I didn't know.  I chose this brand because when I was in high school, I was obsessed with A&F and Hollister (which is another store from their company), because that's what all the cool girls were wearing. I still remember the first shirt I bought from both stores. Abercrombie & Fitch began in 1892 in Manhatten, NY, originally selling outdoor equipment such as fishing rods and tents. That lasted until 1976, when they filed bankruptcy. Another sporting store took over in 1978 for ten years, then it was sold to the clothing chain The Limited & slowly began producing young adult clothing and more stores. Abercrombie now hold 3 lines ; A&F, A&F kids, and Hollister. Hollister is aimed more towards teens where as A&F is more toward young adults like college kids. Their image slowly proceeded to become popular but hit it big when they opened a store next to Prada in 2005, but not all good things last. In 2013, they took a 15.6 million dollar lost. They are the most expensive brand amongst stores aimed for young adults and competition like H&M are hurting their sales with their cheap clothing. A&F refuses to lower prices stating it would cheapen their clothing.
Their clothing image is upscale casual luxury. They have fine cashmere, pima cotton, high quality leather, and exclusive denim.

They use to use celebrities as ad models, some before they really became famous such as Lindsay Lohan in 1998 and Karlie Kloss in 2007. Some other celebrities who modeled for A&F were Ashton Kutcher in 1998, Chaning Tatum in 2001, Sienna Miller in 2002, Olivia Wilde in 2004, and some others.

 There weren't many celebrity models. I couldn't find any recent celebrity ad's either. However, I did find a funny fact. In 2011, A&F paid Jersey Shore's Mike Sorrentino, "The Situation", to not wear their clothing on the show feeling that his trashy image would hurt their brand and sales.
They actually use store employee's as models for their advertisements, they hold casting calls. They wouldn't call them employee's, they called all store employees 'models' because they were meant to model (look good) wearing A&F clothing rather than act like an employee and help customers.

There have been legal issues over these practices and they have recently been reinventing their image. They've been known for their racy photography of their models in advertisements, pictures in stores, even on the shopping bags.
As of May 2015, these shirtless models have been taken off the shopping bags and stores. They are aiming to reduce their sexualized advertising and improve their customer service in hopes that it will improve sales.