Abercrombie & Fitch: The Story Behind the Story of an Iconic American Brand

On this episode of Our American Stories, Abercrombie & Fitch clothing stores conquered malls in the late ’90s and early ’00s with gorgeous models, pulsing dance beats, and a fierce scent. What most people don’t know is that the company was founded in 1892 in New York City as an outfitter for elite outdoorsmen. Here to tell the full story is Ashley Hlebinsky, former co-host of Discovery Channel’s Master of Arms, former curator in charge of the Cody Firearms Museum, and co-founder of the University of Wyoming College of Law’s Firearms Research Center.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we continue with our American stories. Abercrombie and Fitch
stores conquered males in the late nineteen nineties and early
two thousands with gorgeous models, pulsing dance beats, and a
fierce scent. But over time, revelations of exclusionary marketing and
discriminatory hiring practices began to engulf the popular brand in scandal.

(00:34):
What most people don't know is that the company was
founded in eighteen ninety two in New York City as
an outfitter for elite outdoorsman. Here to tell the whole
story is Ashley Lebinski. Ashley is the former co host
of Discovery Channel's Master of Arms, the former curator in
charge of the Cody Firearm Museum, and she's the co

(00:57):
founder of the University of Wyoming College of Laws Firearms
Research Center. Here's Ashley.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
The name Abercrombie and Fitch, especially today, doesn't always invoke
the most positive image. If you've been into the store,
you know that it's known for being darkly lit and
heavily perfumed and not very inclusive. I always call it
the trendy teenage clothing company that gotten to a lot

(01:30):
of trouble for not necessarily welcoming a lot of different
people into their store. And I can say that from
personal experience because I worked for Hollister and Abercrombie. But
in the recent years they have decided to do a rebrand,
and within that rebrand, the clothing line is a little
bit more grown up.

Speaker 3 (01:50):
They have real normal sizes that you can wear.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
But what's so fascinating to me about this whole thing
is that there have been documentaries about kind of the
drama behind the company, but what they often ignore is
the fact that for almost a century, Abercrombie and Fitch
was considered one of the best sporting goods stores in
the world, and they actually had international reach back in

(02:14):
the early nineteen hundreds, and they catered to presidents like
Theodore Roosevelt and John F.

Speaker 3 (02:20):
Kennedy.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
They actually outfitted Charles Lindbergh, and they also provided clothing
for Amelia Earhart. The company was founded on June fourth,
eighteen ninety two, by David Abercrombie, and the kind of
concept behind the store was to bring a little bit
of wilderness into the urban environment of New York City.
So it started in New York City, which used to

(02:42):
house a lot of different firearms related products, outdoor products,
despite the fact that it was in the city and
it was an outdoor retailer that focused in camping, hunting,
and fishing gear. In nineteen oh four, the other company
namesake that we know, Ezra Fitch, became a partner in
the company and that's when kind of the iconic.

Speaker 3 (03:02):
Brand was born.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
Unfortunately, though, the relationship was kind of a rocky one,
and so Abercrombie ended up walking away from the company
in nineteen oh seven and left Azra Fitch as the
sole owner, and they call those the Fitch years. The
brand wasn't limited to on store though in New York
City Fitch. One of Pitch's pet projects was the fact
that he wanted the company to have broader appeal, so

(03:27):
he had his employees create and think about this, this
is early nineteen hundreds.

Speaker 3 (03:31):
He had his employees create a four hundred.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
And fifty plus page catalog in nineteen oh nine to
distribute around the world, and it wasn't the greatest financial
decision the company could make because of the expense to
produce it, but they ended up making over fifty thousand
copies of this catalog and their client base wasn't just
limited to your average sportsman, so Abercromby and Fitch today

(03:56):
isn't always associated with inclusivity. However, they saw back then
the value in marketing to sportswomen. In nineteen ten, Abercrombie
and Fitch became one of the first companies to sell
their products to both men and women, and these investments
actually paid off, because in nineteen thirteen they were considered quote,
the greatest sporting goods store.

Speaker 3 (04:15):
In the world.

Speaker 2 (04:18):
In nineteen seventeen, Abercrombie and Fitch expanded to a twelve
story building at Madison Avenue and East forty fifth Street
in New York City, and this store was quite the production.
So they owned the twelve story building and they actually
utilized the whole building, and I don't know that seems
kind of hard to believe back then. And then, to
make it even more ridiculous, in the basement of the store,

(04:40):
there was a shooting range. The mezzanines sold gear for skiing, archery, diving,
and lawn games. The second through the fifth floors had
gear for various terrains and temperatures. The sixth floor was
a picture gallery and they had a sporting arm focused bookstore,
a watch repair shop at a golf school, and the

(05:01):
golf school even came with a golf pro. The seventh
floor was home to their gun room and also randomly
kennels for animals. The eighth floor was for fishing, camping,
and boating equipment.

Speaker 3 (05:13):
As well as a desk.

Speaker 2 (05:15):
That had fly and bait casting instructors who gave their
lessons at wait for it, the rooftop pool of the
building and their fishing section alone had over forty eight
thousand flies and over eighteen thousand fishing lores, And if
you think about it, the store by today's standards, is massive.

(05:36):
Let alone, the fact that it was around in nineteen
seventeen now Abercrombi and Fitch would ultimately be labeled by
Forbes later in its life as a quote hodgepodge of
unrelated items end quote.

Speaker 3 (05:50):
And that was kind of towards the end of its
sporting brand.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
But the foundation for that assessment certainly flourished far earlier.
So you've got all of these sporting goods items, you've
got shooting ranges, you've got pools, you've.

Speaker 3 (06:05):
Got golf pros.

Speaker 2 (06:06):
But it was also the first store to import the
Chinese game of Majong, and Fitch even went to China.
So one of their customers was, like, I found out
this game, I think it's really cool, and so Fitch
went to China to acquire the game and to get
an English translation for it, and they would ultimately sell
over twelve thousand sets. In nineteen twenty eight, as a

(06:29):
Fitch retires, so this is kind of the first ending
of the company as we know it. But then he
sells it to his brother in law, James Cobb, and
so he decides that he wants to continue to expand
the company, and they end up acquiring multiple sporting arms
related companies. They acquire a store that dealt in high

(06:51):
end European sporting arms and phishing tackle, and they even
acquired Griffin and Howe, which is incredibly well known even today.

Speaker 3 (07:00):
And before the.

Speaker 2 (07:00):
Great Depression, Abercrombie and Fitch was boasting six point three
million dollars in sales with half a million dollars in profit.
Of course, the Great Depression, though, hit everybody hard, and
Abercomi and Fitch was no different to that.

Speaker 3 (07:15):
But then they also.

Speaker 2 (07:16):
Managed to continue to expand and over the following decades
into the nineteen sixties. Ultimately stores are popping up all
over the country, from New York to California and everywhere
in between.

Speaker 3 (07:28):
I think there is even one in Beverly Hill.

Speaker 2 (07:30):
So you get cities that you do not associate with
sporting arms and they have these giant stores. And Abercrombie
and Fitch does something really smart too, kind of later
in its history, and they secure a deal with the
Rock Hudson film Man's Favorite Sport, and it serves as
a venue for the movie. So this company has been
around for a really long time. They've got this sporting reputation.

(07:53):
They're kind of hemorrhaging money a little bit, even though
it seems like they're expanding, and so they're trying to
kind of keep the brand relevant as we start to
come into a more modern America.

Speaker 3 (08:05):
In the post World War II period.

Speaker 2 (08:07):
But ultimately the company is not going to survive as
the sporting goods store of yesteryear, and as it's starting
to struggle financially, a Texas based company known as Ashman's
Sporting Goods buys it and tries to kind of keep
that momentum going. But by the late nineteen eighties, they're
acquired by a company called Limited Brands. Limited Brands had

(08:31):
a lot of different kind of companies under its belt,
including Limited and also Limited To, which was a clothing store,
a kid's clothing store when I was a kid, that
turned into justice.

Speaker 3 (08:40):
And at this point, you.

Speaker 2 (08:42):
Know, in the late nineteen eighties, the company kind of
bids a dow to its wilderness.

Speaker 3 (08:46):
Days and they no longer set.

Speaker 2 (08:49):
Their sites down range, but rather at a new target,
which is the mainstream clothing market.

Speaker 3 (08:55):
I mentioned that most of the recent documentaries pick up
the storyline from here, although they may ment in thirty
seconds or less kind of the original intent of the company.

Speaker 2 (09:07):
But obviously today's drama tends to fuel a lot of
viewership on things like Netflix and Hulu, and so they
focus more on the former CEO who made some rather
colorful comments about who he does not want to own
the brand, and fortunately for them, they are starting to
pull themselves out of it.

Speaker 3 (09:26):
But it's as.

Speaker 2 (09:28):
A historian, it's fascinating and it's also disappointing that almost
a century of history and legacy was ultimately washed away
by acid washed genes, graphic te's and the most potent
cologne on the planet.

Speaker 1 (09:44):
And a terrific job on the editing, storytelling and production
by our own Greg Hangler, and a terrific job is
always by Ashley Lebinski. The story of Abercrombie and Fitch.
Here on our American Stories