| abercrombie | |
|---|---|
| Type | Division of Abercrombie & Fitch Co. |
| Launched | July 1998 |
| Headquarters | New Albany, Ohio, U.S. |
| Key people | Michael S. Jeffries (CEO) |
| Theme | Classic Cool |
| Color scheme | Navy |
| Target consumer age | 7 through 14 |
| Apparel style | Classic Cool |
| Abbrev. | a92 a&f |
| Logo | Moose |
| Store locations | 183[1] in: United States Canada Italy |
| Revenue | US$ 382.579 million (2010)[2] |
| Website | Abercrombiekids.com |
Abercrombie kids (marketed as abercrombie) is an American lifestyle brand by Abercrombie & Fitch. Targeting consumers aged 7–14,[3] the concept is designed as the children's version of A&F and is marketed as "Classic Cool". The children's sized casual wear is inspired by that of A&F and made available in store and on the online abercrombiekids.com.
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Abercrombie & Fitch introduced abercrombie in 1997 with 9 stores. The purpose was to attract a younger audience to the American Abercrombie brand. The name of the concept took the same font of its parent, but with a navy color. The abbreviation from "Abercrombie & Fitch" to "abercrombie" with lowercase letters was intended to provide a children's image. The store prototype was as the A&F one, but with variations also intended to appeal to the younger audience. Early abercrombie models include Ronnie Smith, Cassie Ventura, Christina Akatsuka, Christian Valentin, Lindsay Lohan, and model Karlie Kloss.
Abercrombie kids stores are designed to give off a "classic cool" effect. They are designed as "canoe stores," displaying a similar floor layout as Abercrombie & Fitch's (the retail space is divided into multiple rooms). However, the kids prototype does bear differences. It has no louvers to cover the windows, has brighter lighting, is smaller in retail space, blasts electronic dance music and pop music from young artists, and displays marketing pictures with young models resembling those at A&F. The signature fragrance, "Clutch", is sprayed store-wide. As of 2011, abercrombie operates a total of 179 stores in the United States.[1] abercrombie kids opened its first Canadian store on August 21, 2008 at Sherway Gardens in Toronto, Ontario. Another abercrombie kids store opened at Toronto Eaton Centre in Toronto, Ontario around the end of November.[4] As of February 2011, there are stores in every state except for Alaska, Delaware, Maine, Mississippi (closed), Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont (closed in 2005), West Virginia, and Wyoming.
On October 29, 2009, the brand opened its first flagship store in Milan. It is located within the Abercrombie & Fitch Milanese flagship at 12 Corso Matteotti.
abercrombie kids' apparel is designed to mimic Abercrombie & Fitch clothing, and the brand carries most the styles that A&F does. Most abercrombie kids clothes that have the labeled moose on them are to resemble their parent company "Abercrombie & Fitch" but the kids signature moose is smaller to symbolize that they are children. The trademarked term, "classic cool", was used to promote the clothing on an in-store and website level from abercrombie and it acted as a more juvenile version of A&F's slogan "Casual Luxury". The "classic cool" trade mark was retired in 2007 along with Abercrombie and Fitch's "Casual Luxury". Jeans bear the same back-pocket-stitching pattern as A&F as well as the same fits respective to sex. The logo moose is prominently displayed on clothing as is the name "abercrombie" as well as the year of establishment, "1892" (Abercrombie & Fitch was itself established in 1892, but in reality, the children's' line "abercrombie" was not started until 1997). Clothing is categorized within the "guys" and "girls" divisions. Price points are on par with those at sister brand Hollister Co.
The brand carries the following fragrance collections: "Phelps" cologne, "Chase" cologne and "Cologne 15," as well as "Emerson," "Spirit" perfume, and "Perfume 15". The brand released the "abercrombie" cologne and perfume set previous to 2006; however, it was retired Christmas 2007. Chase and Spirit were released Christmas 2006 and were followed by Cologne 15 and Perfume 15 being released Christmas 2007. Chase and Spirit have begun the phasing-out process and have had their price reduced permanently, as of Fall 2010. New fragrance Phelps and Emerson were released for Christmas 2008. On July 9, 2010 the newest girl's fragrance was launched called "Hadley", while the newest guy's fragrance, "Clutch," was released as part of the Christmas floor-set 2010, and has a scent similar to that of "Fierce," although more age appropriate and subdued.
The Abercrombie Kids brand will begin its international expansion, following its sister brands Abercrombie and Fitch and Hollister Co., in Canada. The first store has opened at Sherway Gardens with the opening postponed by a few days. Toronto Eaton Centre opened an abercrombie kids store on November 26, 2008. In 2009, abercrombie kids opened a location at the West Edmonton Mall, directly under the adult Abercrombie. abercrombie kids may soon follow the international expansion outside of North America.
Abercrombie & Fitch has begun planning openings of non-A&F flagships for its brands in high-retail venues. The Company has opened the first Hollister Co. flagship in SoHo July 2009. abercrombie kids will follow this trend.[5][6] This opening is one of the main comminments the A&F company has for fiscal 2009.[5]
After the opening of the Milanese abercrombie flagship, a second flagship in New York City was planned to open in 2010 on 666 Fifth Avenue,[7] with 22,000 square feet (2,000 m2) of retail space.[8] However, A&F has decided instead to open it as an HCo. EPIC flagship location instead.
Humor tees from the brand have always had a following of criticism and controversy. Most slogans are taken as degrading girls (e.g. "I'm not allowed to date unless you're hot"). They also show arrogant messages or disrespectful slogans ("'I will make you an all-star on the walk of shame'"). They are anti-education slogans as well: "'I'd do your homework, but I don't even do mine'; 'School is for catching up on sleep'). Girls' shirts are sold with slogans that typically show off their looks ("It's better being brunette", etc.). Perhaps the most controversial of all was the line of underwear for young girls with the sayings "Wink Wink" and "Eye Candy" screenprinted on them.[9] Parents mounted storefront protests in outrage of the sexually-suggestive underwear. CEO and Chairman of the Board Mike Jeffries said to an interviewer that he did not think the underwear to be "bad", but more so "cute."[10] In mid 2011, Today Show featured a segment on padded triangle bikini tops being marketed towards 7-16 year old old girls. The bikini was criticized as being "sexually ostentatious" and "promiscuous."
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