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Abercrombie & Fitch (IPA: /'æbɝkrɒmbiː ænd 'fɪtʃ/) (NYSE: ANF) (A&F) is an American clothing company. Its five brands are Abercrombie & Fitch, abercrombie, Hollister Co., RUEHL No.925, and Gilly Hicks. more...

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According to Mike Jeffries, A&F is "all about sex," something "this country is cynical about".

Abercrombie & Fitch operates 362 same-brand name stores and a total of 1004 stores across all four brands, located throughout the United States except in Wyoming. With six stores in Canada and one international flagship store in London, England, the company plans to continue expansion outside of the United States. A&F's fifth brand, Gilly Hicks, is scheduled to launch future stores throughout 2008. A flagship for the Hollister brand in SoHo and for the Abercrombie & Fitch brand in Tokyo are in development for openings within 2009.

Founded in 1892 by David Abercrombie and Ezra Fitch, A&F was for many decades an outfitter of quality sporting and excursion goods. It struggled financially from the late 1960s until it was purchased by The Limited in 1988 and repositioned, under the management of Michael S. Jeffries (current Chairman & CEO), as the "Casual Luxury" lifestyle brand in present day.

History

At the beginning of the 20th century, Abercrombie & Fitch Co. was a retail store for New York's elite sporting expeditions, selling products from clothing to firearms. Prominent American figures who have patronized the company include Teddy Roosevelt, Amelia Earhart, Greta Garbo, Katharine Hepburn, Clark Gable, Cole Porter, John Steinbeck, and Ernest Hemingway (who is said to have bought the gun he used to commit suicide at Abercrombie & Fitch Co.).

Foundation and beginnings

Further information: David Abercrombie, Ezra Fitch

Abercrombie Co. was founded by David T. Abercrombie on June 4, 1892 as a small waterfront shop at No.36 South Street in downtown Manhattan, New York; wealthy New York lawyer Ezra Fitch was one of his regular customers. In 1900, Fitch left his law practice and bought a major share into the growing company, thus becoming co-founder. There afterwards, Abercrombie Co. moved into larger quarters at 314 Broadway, and Fitch began to implement experimental ideas on how to renovate the store. In 1904, the his surname was incorporated and so the official name was changed to Abercrombie & Fitch Co. Partnership between the founders did not end well. The two men, envisioning different ideas for the future of A&F, quarreled frequently although the company grew increasingly successful. Abercrombie opposed Fitch's envisions of expanding the company's appeal to the general public, where as Abercrombie was more conservative and wanted to continue selling professional gear to professional outdoorsmen. As a result, Abercrombie sold his share in the company to Fitch in 1907 and returned to manufacturing outdoor goods. Fitch continued the business with other partners and was, for the first time, able to direct the company in a manner to his pleasing.

Read more at Wikipedia.org