Talk:Abercrombie & Fitch

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To-do list for Abercrombie & Fitch: edit  · history  · watch  · refresh
  • add more images i.e. jeans, t-shirts, or better yet, the models
  • break the article up in different sections (clean up)
  • give citations for unsourced claims
  • add more details on flagship stores like Hollister Co.
  • Fuse redundant sentances, paragraphs, and sections together so the article reads with less repetition
Priority 3
If there are factual errors, feel free to correct them. But please do not delete or otherwise try to set aside the factual, truthful criticisms of A&F. I have no sort of vendetta with them and am professionally neutral with regard to their industry, but I note with alacrity that there is a pervasive pattern at A&F in that they "surface" in the national news now and then for less than honorable reasons, respond to public outcries, and then go back to business as usual. One premise is that they are doing this quite intentionally, with the goal of both so-branding the company and getting free advertising in the process. It's an interesting if not necessarily honorable way to market their company, but:::Your edits look fine, Mike. Glad we talked a bit...I do respect your judgment and maturity. Enjoy your time at 'SC...it goes fast. --AustinKnight 03:39, 10 November 2005 (UTC)

One more thought. The history of the death of the store chain, and then its subsequent revival, is not listed. I think i am correct in recalling that there was a time when the store was completely gone, and then it was brought back. And then later it morphed into the lifestyle brand. I believe it was an early tenant in Trump Tower in 1980s. Not sure who all those folks are. BrandlandUSA 04:26, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Ages of the Board

I nominate that the ages of the board be deleted. There is no reference to when their date of birth is, so this information could quickly become out of date. It really doesn't matter how old the VP is anyway. Gilliamjf 20:49, 2 December 2005 (UTC

[edit] Merged

Amazingly, this article has had a doppelgänger at Abercrombie since 2004 until about ten minutes ago when I changed that article to redirect here. The two articles were almost exactly the same except for two paragraphs from the other that I tacked on to the Abercrombie & Fitch today section. ([http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Abercrombie_%26_Fitch&2006 (UTC)

Thanks for noting it - that's a weird case of vandalism. No, it shouldn't be a redirect here, as there are other (barely) notable subjects by that name. However it may be that we should assign the name to the disambiguation page now at Abercrombie (disambiguation). There's a stale discussion of this topic on its talk page. -[[

[edit] Copyrighted Image

I noticed that the Image, Sum5 is copyrighted but on the page it says that the copyright holder gave up rights to it. Is this true and can it be verified? --PaladinWriter 12:28, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

Extremely unlikely. - Jmabel | Talk 19:16, 16 June 2006 (UTC)'I maintain this article. I've never seen any sign of the marketing department. -Will Beback 02:11, 24 June 2006 (UTC)
Alright, but as an employee of the company I just really have to say that the writing in all the articles on A&F stores seem to have the tell-tale signs of something written by marketing...and the history section especially of the A&F article seems to be paraphrased from the Company's own official history that appears in the employee handbooks, etc.--ArrowHead 15:16, 24 June 2006 (UTC)
I don't have access to the employee handbook. If that is the source then it should be included in the references. The unfortunate fact is that for most corporations the only history available is the one that they write. -Will Beback 21:45, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

== Store locations ==Someone deleted that there is no store in New Mexico. There used to be a store in Albuquerque, but it was closed this year, making New Mexico and Wyoming the only states to not have a store. I changed it back.

Someone has vandalized this again, I will add it back 24.247.222.255 01:23, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] websites

the websites Abercrombie.com.au and Abercrombie-Models.com - only contain a limited amount of abercrombie & fitch material and seem more like they are simply being promoted by the creator in here.

I removed the website. It seems like a spam website too. mirageinred 19:49, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] lifestyle brand

it seems to me that recent changes are completely un-NPOV. as a current associate in the Company I can state that the differences between Impact and Model at most stores are almost non-existent. often times, models after a few months will decide to switch to impact (and vice versa) suggesting that neither position is really more desirable than the other. secondly, no one simply "works in the back" as if they were confined to a dungeon. at any given time several impact team members will be on the floor in an a&f store, working on updates, filling, etc. moreover, a lot of people simply do aspects of both positions on a regular basis. the idea the a&f banishes people to the backroom who are non-white continues to be brought up again and again, but is simply not true. and if a store manager were doing that, he or she could basically be instantly fired after a complaint was logged anonymously with a&f's discrimination hotline. the same stands for any form of discrimination at a&f--racial, sex, sexual orientation, religious, whatever. there is a zero tolerance policy on discrimination of any sort. just anecdotally, i work with two latino/a and two african american managers at my store (out of a total of roughly 10), so i would say that it is hardly an un-diverse work environment. --ArrowHead 06:22, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

The main point is indeed true, however, may I say that there is a difference between Impact and Brand Representatives. They have a completely different job description. The fact that you said it is "non-existent" is not true.--Samweber 21:25, 30 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] closed store list

do we really need a partial list of "closed since 2004" stores?? I say we strike that whole section, no one needs a directory of closed store locations. Stuph 03:08, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

If it's available offsite, we could just point there. -- Beland 00:18, 3 August 2006 (UTC)
Tried to make it available offsite, but someone keeps deleting it.
what is the relevance? should we edit the mcdonalds article to list every former and current location? should we attempt to plot the location of every phone booth in america? no. its pointless information for an encyclopedia, and if someone really wanted to find a list of "closed" stores, they can use google. Stuph 01:18, 23 August 2006 (UTC)
Completely agree. There is no need for any information such as this besides for sentimental value.--Samweber 21:26, 30 August 2006 (UTC)
any others willing to voice an opinion on this? Otherwise, I will continue to remove the list. Stuph 03:57, 6 September 2006 (UTC)
I do not see any reason to list closed stores, and support the deletion of the material. Retailer chains open and close stores routinely, and the material is not encyclopedic. -Will Beback 05:45, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] References

Reading the article, it looks like it's unreferenced, but then there are a pile of references at the bottom. It would be nice if sections or specific claims got matched up with particular citations. -- Beland 00:19, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

I totally agree. Anyone want to see where some of the claims come from? My suggestion would be to enter the claims in a search engine and see what websites provide them, therefore providing a solid reference. Nenyedi 00:02, 11 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Abercrombie and Fitch today is too long

It should be broken up, but I don't know where to start from mirageinred 22:13, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

agreed, and a lot of the length is pointless information, like the closed store list, or the story about mike's sandals. I think people need to think "encyclopedia" not "sandbox" when they edit this article. Stuph 01:21, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Homosexuality?

Can anyone confirm the comments about the partners' sexual orientation in the "Abercrombie & Fitch Co." section? Seems like vandalism to me (probably by an American Eagle customer). Someone with knowledge on the subject may want to rewrite the entire section. Come on...Everyone knows A&F meant Aryan and Fag. Well, at least in certain circles.

We should remove these comments as soon as possible. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.183.79.82 (talk • contribs) .

[edit] Lifestyle Brand

This current section is not from a NPOV, and should be made more encyclopedic in my opinion. Nenyedi 01:27, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Links

An editor removed the links to A&F websites with the edit summary:

  • rm 1 broken link, 1 link to promotional business site, 2 to purely commenrcial sites.

When I tried them they all seemed to work and to go to official websites. I beleive those are allowed by WP:EL. It's natural that company websites would be promotional and commercial. -Will Beback · † · 00:30, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

The links were deleted in keeping with EL: Links normally to be avoided, specifically #1 and #3. The links add no information beyond that available in the article, AND they are all commercial sales sites. 2 strikes, they're out...Doc Tropics Message in a bottle 01:39, 19 November 2006 (UTC)
This is an article about a company. The linked sites belong to the company. They are totally appropriate.Mwdelta 02:12, 19 November 2006 (UTC)
That makes your personal feelings clear, but they remain a violation of WP:EL as specifically cited above. The sites in question have no encyclopedic value and add nothing to the article. --Doc Tropics Message in a bottle 02:19, 19 November 2006 (UTC)
OK, good compromise by Mike Dillon. I can accept the link to the "official" site if the other links remain relegated to their appropriate articles. --Doc Tropics Message in a bottle 06:09, 19 November 2006 (UTC)
That works for me too. Thanks Mike. -Will Beback · † · 06:40, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Aberzombie

Readded aberzombie to trivia with a citation from the urban dictionary where it hjad several entries allready, plus the google test garnered 11,500 hits. Aryan & Fag, Abersnobby & Bitch, Aberzombie and Bitch, and Asshole & Bitch were not really all thereQrc2006 00:20, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Trivia

Tom Welling and Ashton Kutcher i know about, but i was watching Conan Obrian and this blonde chick on some dump diseny channel show said she used to work there and also at hollister and wet seal, since she was forced to work even tho she was wealthy to learn the value of the dollar she chose af etc for the discount and its what she was into at the time, shes like the niece of Ron Popeil from the infomercials she said, whats her name? if you know add her in.Qrc2006 02:11, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Store totals and new mexico/wyoming?

Ok, so do we need a total number of Abercrombie & Fitch stores as a corporation, or as the individual brand? http://www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=ANF&script=410&layout=6&item_id=931224

if we go there, to the company's 3rd quarter report, (The next one isnt until Feb. 20th, 2007) we see this

The Company operated 355 Abercrombie & Fitch stores, 171 abercrombie stores, 369 Hollister Co. stores, and 11 RUEHL stores in the United States at the end of the third quarter of 2006.

a total of 906 stores. And if the total number is counted as that, (either way i think there should possibly be a listing for each brand total and corporation total) and its the only number used, wyoming would be the only state without an A&F brand in it. new mexico i believe has four Hollister locations at the current time.

anyway, the opening of this article seems like it should start off with the corporation, and quickly detail the lower brand numbers. then when talking about the individual brands, mention the numbers of each. With it being written as it is currently, stating there are 350 stores, it sounds like that is the total number that the corporation currently holds between all brands. and hmmm, i think i repeated myself a bit. ill stop here. my username is kmccusker2 if you want to leave me feedback personally on this.

[edit] Merino / Australian Wool boycott

Over at the Mulesing article there is a bit of mention that Abercrombie & Fitch, in response to pressure from PETA, stopped stocking Australian / Merino wool products.

Can anyone advise,

  1. Did they actually carry Australian / Merino wool products before the "boycott"?
  2. Did they indeed cease selling Australian / Merino wool products?
  3. The boycott was requested in 2004 - are they selling any Australian / Merino wool now?

Specifically, products effected would have the woolmark. Ideally, we'd need promotional material which could be cited. An e-catalogue or something would be fantastic!

To be honest - I don't even know what A&F sell. I guess the main types of items for wool would be suits / blazers and woolen jumpers. Other woolen products probably wouldn't mention country of origin or wool type in the label - it'd just be "wool socks".

Any help appreciated!Garrie 21:20, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Outlets?

Didn't see any mention that they have recently been opening outlet stores for all of the brands except ruehl. should it be mentioned?Kmccusker2 23:07, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Concept 5

The article says that Concept 5 is Jillian Hicks then it says it is Gilly Hicks which one is it?--Holtville 04:56, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] outlets, minorities, and who the heck is RMC?

Back to my earlier talk post, after listening to the last conference call for Q4, the outlets created for both A&F and Hollister are used for clothing with quality issues only. The statement about minorities being more likely to work in the back is, first, a biased statement. Also, from my experience, in 4 different stores, I have actually experienced the opposite for employment titles, which with 944 stores is in no way a representation of all stores, but just a display that the opposite side of the statement can also be found. And RMC, in the song list for the companies being mentioned, I do not think it is significant, a first for the brand, and especially not done by a popular culture, or even known (judging from his myspaces 720 total page views) recording artist, and therefore should not be in the article.

[edit] fashion season

Is this needed? i took it out as it is always changing with seasons, and isn't encyclopedic. I think, especially since we are trying to move away from reading like an advertisement, this should stay deleted. Kmccusker2 21:04, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] WEBSITE!?!?

does this article really need a section on the website itself? can't you simply sum something up about it in one sentence in a section about the company itself? if you have that, you'll need one for the other three brands as well, which is unnecessary. Kmccusker2 04:11, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

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