To find the roots of Abercrombie & Fitch you need to look earlier than 1892. The company wasn't merely "founded" in 1892 by David Abercrombie and Ezra Fitch, it was undoubtably dreamed up years before and took shape through dealings the two men had with one another over time. The roots here then are in the dreams of these two men. To build a business, a retail store, an experience.
As years passed by, ownership changed to Oshman's as a result of bankruptcy in the late 1970's, until The Limited bought the brand and gave the reigns to Michael Jeffries for him to pursue a focus on a brand promoting a lifestyle of casual luxury. In over 20 years of running the show at A&F, Mr. Jeffries has built an amazing company, rivaling many other S&P 500 components. How did this happen? Was it an incredible advertising plan? Marketing beyond comprehension of 1990's and 2000's college textbooks? While advertising was heavy in the late 1990's, the A&F Quarterly was a great catalog/magazine, billboards tend to show up in NYC every once in awhile, the rest is left to consumers and the music and scents that draw consumers into well placed stores in shopping centers and stand alone stores across the globe.
So what is missing? What is next? What could change? What if anything could attract those consumers that were in the A&F/ Ruehl market segment? What new product could be introduced? How does A&F go back to their roots?
Answer: Lifestyle
In a move that I don't think is a far move from A&F's core, I propose A&F offers to its customers experiential travel services to party destinations, remote locales, luxury bungalows that encompass the true lifestyle of A&F. This move will bring together the past of being an outfitter to the present of being a casual luxury clothing store, to being a lifestyle promoter. Don't just wear the clothes, the colognes, and listen to the music, go to places where the models get photographed by Bruce Weber at parties with other models. Experience the lifestyle. This is what is missing in many of the consumer experiences that happen every day in the stores and online. The consumer already wants to live the lifestyle, but a travel option, potentially all inclusive with real models, would let the consumer live it, and I bet they would be willing to spend a ton of money to do it.
