Trend flips around
In the past 15 years, A&F became huge through clothing which featured its logo in a prominent place. Teenagers found it cool to wear these clothes as proof they belonged to a certain group.
That trends has violently flipped around: nowadays, more and more teenagers buy (logo-free) clothing at Primark, H&M and Forever 21, which are cheaper to buy. Forever 21 has jeans for under 10 dollars (7.5 euro) while A&F charges 75 dollars (60 euro).
A&F’s policy basically went against the trend, which shows in the ever-slowing sales in the past 10 quarters. Turnover in its last quarter dropped another 6 %, to 891 million dollars (676 million euro).
Close stores to save money
That is why CEO Mike Jeffries has decided to switch tactics. By early spring 2015, all logos should be removed from all clothing, while costs have been cut in order to make A&F clothing cheaper. In North America alone, 60 stores will close once the rental agreement has expired.
The supply chain will also be streamlined, so that A&F can quickly respond to any new trend.
