Abercrombie & Fitch Insists It’s Not A Teen Retailer As It Struggles To Shed Its Sexy Reputation

Abercrombie & Fitch is trying to change the notion that it’s all about scantily-clad teenagers. So far, those efforts are falling flat. Despite launching its largest-ever advertising campaign during the holiday season, comparable sales at the company’s namesake label tumbled 13 percent in the fourth quarter. That followed a 14 percent drop in the prior three-month period, pouring water on the promise that trends would improve in the second half. Now, with the company once again speaking to a second-half inflection, it will need to do a better job articulating the changes afoot at its namesake brand — and hope that customers like what they see. “They missed on [nearly] every metric,” Stacey Widlitz, president of SW Retail Advisors, said of the company’s fourth-quarter earnings results. “I don’t think things have gotten much better.” Under pressure from the growth of fast-fashion, off-price and online retailers, Abercrombie has been trying to reverse its sales declines by reinventing its brand. Read more at CNBC.