Abercrombie & Fitch Case Study
Abercrombie & Fitch is one of the leading clothing companies in the world. They manufacture
and sell apparel that target the 18-24 year old demographic who represent the “All-American
Look.” Many people argue about the definition of what is “All-American,” since the United
States continues to evolve and include many different cultures and races. Abercrombie & Fitch
has been successful for over 100 years, but recently has come under constant scrutiny about its
hiring practices.
Company Overview
Abercrombie & Co. was founded by David Abercrombie on June 4, 1892. In 1900, Ezra Fitch
joined the company and it then became known as Abercrombie & Fitch. Since the very
…show more content…
What did the company do to change its policies? Did they change
their definition of “All-American?” Do they still enforce the new diversity policies in their stores
today? Abercrombie & Fitch continues to operate and successfully sell their apparel in the
United States and around the world.
Situation Overview
In June 2003, Eduardo Gonzalez, along with several other African American, Hispanic, and
Asian former Abercrombie & Fitch employees, filed a class action lawsuit against the company
for racial discrimination. The former “brand representatives” felt that the company assigned
them specific tasks and areas to work in based on their ethnicity.
The lawsuit, Gonzalez v. Abercrombie & Fitch was originally filed in U.S. District Court in San
Francisco in June 2003 by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
(MALDEF), the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Asian Pacific American Legal
Center and the law firm of Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann, & Bernstein, LLP. The suit was
consolidated with other cases charging employment discrimination against women and
minorities filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the law firm of
Minami, Lew, & Tamaki, LLP., and the law firm of Kohn, Swift & Graf, P.C.
Even with overwhelming evidence being present and several employees coming forward to attest
to
Parties: Plaintiff: Howard I. Ginsburg, as Administrator of the Estate of Bradley Marc Ginsburg, Defendants: City of Ithaca and Cornell University.
Weintraub Genshlea & Sproul, Rosemary Kelley, Charles L. Post, and William S. Jue, for Plaintiff Nosrat Khajavi.
The “Zimpfer vs. Palm Beach County” case is about a lawsuit filed by Mr. Bryce Zimpfer
As alternatives to Hollister, customers likely consider brands located in the surrounding areas such as American Eagle, Forever 21 or Urban Outfitters. The choice to purchase Hollister, however, involves buying into the company philosophy and history. Hollister, similar to other Abercrombie subsidiaries, devised a fictional company history to aid in its credibility and marketing. Abercrombie designed a character, John Hollister, who founded the company in Southern California in 1922 after years of travelling the world. The brand also positioned itself as a sponsor of surfing contests and events in seaside California cities such as Santa Cruz and Huntington Beach. While these creative concepts remained fictitious, they became powerful assets in
HollisterCo is a beach themed clothing company. It was founded in 1922 by Mike Jeffries where back then it was still not a well-known company until the founder of Abercrombie and Fitch takes over it. It offers a wide range of apparel and accessories for men and women which includes logo tees, graphic shirts, tanks, bottom wear and even sleepwear. It also provides colognes, perfume, gloss products, body care products as well as gift cards. (“Short Title”, 2014). Hollister has 51 outlets in 19 different counties. Hollister also enable buyers from other countries to purchase their products through their online store.
Abercrombie & Fitch ANALYSIS REPORT Fundamentals Of Retail Design Group 03 Erik, Herr | I-Chu, Liao | Karan, Shah Kuan-Ling, Tseng | Chen-Hua, Wang ABSTRACT This report intends to analyze the unique brand values, the distinct marketing strategies and the compelling competitive dynamics of Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F), the noted American retailer of casual luxury wear. The purpose of this analysis being to understand the context and motives that drive brand A&F; to draw insights from it‘s past and current strategies and use these to launch a, new sneaker offer‘ within it‘s existing product ensemble. For doing this, we‘ve researched the story of the brand; it‘s original and potential target market, it‘s financial
The plaintiffs were represented by a team of attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California (ACLU-NC), the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights (LCCR) and the law firm of Heller Ehrman. It should be noted that unlike the first two firms Heller Ehrman worked the case pro-bono.
The retailer announced their decision to continue a plethora of store closings after suffering a $63 million loss for Q1 of 2015, worsened by the fact that their losses exceeded the expectations of market analysts (Investopedia). Following the absence of CEO Mike Jeffries as of June 2015, Abercrombie’s stock dipped to its nearly annual low of $19 per share. The company continues to increase promotional efforts while offering uncharacteristic discounts in an effort to lure consumers back into their stores despite weakening profit margins. Abercrombie & Fitch has also furthered its efforts to expand and improve its e-commerce site to develop a more user-friendly shopping experience in the wake of over 200 required store closings nationally. While Abercrombie’s Executive Chairman, Arthur Martinez, attributes the company’s losses to a transitional phase that will likely take several quarters to reflect results of their strategic efforts, analysts continue to suggest that its unlikely consumers will return to the brand despite its new incentives (Forbes Contributor). Currently, Abercrombie’s dismal annual report and small scale efforts to rebrand itself makes it a risky investment option, albeit has potential to improve in the future given their focus on improving their online presence and providing a better return for investors.
Carreon, a former Corporate Legal Counsel of PLA Co., or Atty. Henry Sinyo who was then the
While the company may be seeing the start to its decline, past years are proof that Abercrombie and Fitch have made a good name for themselves. How does the industry operate one might ask? There are many sides to the coin when it comes to determining how this company functions, but let’s start with its
COUNSEL: For Plaintiff: Mona C. Engel, Esq., Law Offices of Robert F. Danzi, Westbury, New York.
According to Keyton, organizational culture is "the set of artifacts, values, and assumptions that emerges from the interactions of organizational members" (Keyton, 2014, p. 550). Over the past few years, past and potential employees of the clothing brand Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) have taken to the media to explain the negative organizational culture that exists within the company. The management values and company policies that create this “image-obsessed culture” have led to multiple human rights lawsuits, which has damaged the reputation of Abercrombie & Fitch globally (Benson, 2013).
Hollister Co. was founded in 2000 and is based in Los Angeles, California. The company operates as a secondary business for Abercrombie & Fitch Management. The company provides clothing and accessories for men and women. Hollister’s main target consumers are teenagers. Hollister retails its products through a chain of stores in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. They also sell their products online. The marketing strategies that Hollister use to promote their products are by using a logo, a slogan, and informing what their products are pertaining too. Two of the marketing strategies are very effective in attracting consumers while one of the marketing strategies needs more research to be done. Because of Hollister’s well known slogan, attractive logo, and the way they use celebrities to represent their product, this makes them unique compared to other clothing businesses.
In 1947, the incredible apparel retailer was founded by Erling Persson in Sweden. Over half century, Persson’s 34 years old grandson, named Karl-Johan Persson,