Abercrombie & Fitch Jumps As Hollister President Takes Charge Of The Main Brands

Much has changed for Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) since its long standing CEO Mike Jeffries stepped down about a year back. Merchandising, marketing and selling strategies are no longer centered on “sex appeal” and the brands have started to show some promising signs of a turnaround. However, the recovery at Hollister has been much faster than the namesake brand. This is why the management has let Abercrombie & Fitch’s brand president Christos Angelides go and promoted Hollister’s president, Fran Horowitz, to the newly created position of president and chief merchandising officer for the two brands. ^[1] Investors appear to have agreed with this change as the company’s stock jumped more than 7% after the announcement.

Abercrombie & Fitch’s management has been making changes proactively in order to ensure that its brands can regain some of their former glory. Within a span of one year, the entire merchandise portfolio has been revamped from mostly basic-logo to mostly classic and fashion forward. Hollister has been at the forefront of this change, thanks to the efforts of Fran Horowitz and the company’s management now expects her to help extend this success to its namesake brand as well.

Our price estimate for Abercrombie & Fitch stands at $28, which is just ahead of the current market price.

See our complete analysis for Abercrombie & Fitch

Hollister’s performance has improved considerably over the past several quarters, thanks to its updated merchandise portfolio and in-store environment. The management has dialed down the steamy ‘sex-appeal’ aura of its stores and overhauled the back end of the brand to improve the speed to market. Hollister has now been affixed with a ‘fast fashion’ tag and rightly so. Executive chairman, Arthur Martinez said that Hollister has gained quick traction due to its efforts of replacing basic logo inventory with fashion-forward merchandise and creating a relevant store and web environment. And at the center of all the changes was the brand president, Fran Horowitz. On the other hand, Abercrombie & Fitch’s recovery has been painfully slow. Even management has acknowledged that this area still needs significant work, which is why its reigns have been handed to Ms. Horowitz.

Upon her promotion to the role of chief merchandising office and brand president for Hollister and Abercrombie & Fitch, she  will report directly to executive chairman, Arthur C. Martinez. The company will even hire new separate brand presidents for Hollister and Abercrombie & Fitch, who will report to Ms. Horowitz. Fran Horowitz will be responsible for all customer facing activities across the company’s brands, and based on what she has done for Hollister, even Abercrombie & Fitch’s future looks bright.

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1. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. Names Fran Horowitz President & Chief Merchandising Officer, A Newly Created Position, Abercrombie & Fitch, Dec 22 2015 [↩]