Case study analysis

CASE METHOD EXERCISE: ABERCROMBIE & FITCH

(by Meg Connolly, in Marketing Ethics: Cases and Readings (2006), edited by Patrick E. Murphy and Gene R. Laczniak)

Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) of today differs dramatically from the original waterfront shop in New York that carried high-quality clothing suitable for camping, fishing and hunting. The A&F of 2002 can be found in virtually any major mall in America, and its target market includes preteen and teenagers. Indeed, the shift has been rather dramatic, and it could certainly be asserted that the direction A&F has recently headed strays substantially from the original vision of its founders.

The style of clothes offered by A&F could be described as worn, casual, and rather rugged. Some critics contend the merchandise at A&F is seemingly overpriced considering that it is arguably no more unique than any other store of its kind geared toward the same market. One aspect of A&F that does make it unique from other stores, however, is their catalogue that was first published in 1997 and comes out four times a year with a spring break, summer, back-to-school, and Christmas issue. The Quarterly is a magazine-hybrid that, in addition to the clothing portion of the catalogue, has interviews with actors, musicians, directors and even some famous scholars. Fashion legend Bruce Weber does many of the photographs that appear throughout the magazine, and “these photos depict young, healthy, presumably red-blooded Americans posing, frolicking, and generally living what could be considered ‘the good life.’ They do this in Abercrombie clothes, sometimes; other times, they do this out of Abercrombie clothes.”

As mentioned previously, the first publication of the Quarterly was released in 1997, and the catalogue was immediately met with controversy and public outcry. The attorneys general of Illinois