Logos are a no-go for Abercrombie & Fitch Co., at least in the U.S.
The company, owner of Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister Co. and Abercrombie Kids brands, announced Thursday it will be diminishing the logo attire of all of its labels in U.S. stores to “practically nothing” by Spring 2015, in hopes of improving sales among teen shoppers.
The American retailer has been struggling with decreasing sales for 10 straight quarters, including its most recent second quarter, which saw net sales drop 6 percent to $891 million from 2013. Net sales for Abercrombie & Fitch decreased 1 percent, Abercrombie Kids decreased 6 percent, and Hollister Co. plummeted 10 percent.
Abercrombie & Fitch Co. CEO Mike Jeffries, said, “In the past quarter, we believe we have made great progress in evolving the fashion component of our assortment, and this progress is clearly evident in our back-to-school presentation. In a continued challenging environment, our sales for the second quarter were somewhat below plan, but we have seen modest improvement since the back-to-school floorset.”
The company is working to reinvent its image by evolving the look of its stores as well. New Hollister Co. storefronts were tested in early 2014 and are set to roll out soon. Abercrombie & Fitch stores are in the process of being remodeled and are expected to be completed next year. And in order to balance its online and in-store presence, Abercrombie & Fitch said it plans to close about 60 U.S. stores.
Currently, the company has 836 U.S. stores and a total of 161 stores in Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Middle East. It expects international growth during the next year and will keep logo attire in its stores outside of the U.S.
Jeffries added, “Despite the challenging conditions, we were able to exceed our earnings expectations coming into the quarter through continued excellent progress on our profit improvement initiative. We remain highly focused on returning to top-line growth and driving long-term value for our shareholders.”