I like girls who wear Abercrombie and Fitch (Abercrombie & Fitch)

Member Name: Whizz11

Product:	Abercrombie & Fitch
Date:	22/10/09 (94 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fashionable clothes, good quality, hard wearing

Disadvantages: Expensive, high shipping costs

I like girls who wear Abercrombie and Fitch (a line from the song Summer Girls by LFO)

Abercrombie and Fitch is an America fashion retailer, a brand synonymous with casual, laidback but very stylish and fashionable youthwear. The brand is actually targeted to the 18 to 22 year olds but I still purchase items from there and I'm a bit older than 22 unfortunately.

The brand has actually been around since 1892. This date is actually used on a lot of their products to decorate the clothing. It was founded by David T. Abercrombie and actually began life as an outfitter of sporting and excursion goods. In 1900 Ezra Fitch joined the company as co-founded and hence in 1904 they were from then on known as Abercrombie and Fitch. According to an article I read, they actually suffered from bankruptcy in the late 1970's and it was only when the Limited Brands purchased them in 1988-1992 that the store was re-established as a youthful upscale fashion retailer.

The look is very preppy, distressed casual wear with emphasis on sweatshirts, athletic tee's, lots of denim and good quality cardigans. It's very hard wearing, I think this probably has to do with the fact that's its history is in excursion goods which needed to be long lasting and hard wearing. I have definitely been pleased with the quality of the items I have bought from there. Even though they are expensive they do last the test of time. I still have all the t-shirts and sweatshirts I have ever bought from there and still wear them to this day and I have to say they look almost as good as new. The fabrics are definitely of a high quality and have not bobbled or frayed or anything like that.

I first came across their stores when I lived in America in the early 2000's. A browse around one of their stores is an event in itself. The store is really well designed and youthful and fresh inside. They have a range of perfumes that they sell and they spray these all throughout the store to give each store the familiar A&F smell. If you have ever been in one of their stores you will know what I mean. Inside they have cool young music playing and all the staff are very young and very model looking. They all wear the A&F clothes so you can see them being worn when you are looking around the store deciding what to buy.

I can definitely see why the target age is 18-22 as there are some regular items sold in there that I would never hope or want to get into. Some of the shorts they sell are so short it is scandalous and you really must have the legs of an 18 year old to pull them off. Some of the tops are extremely short and skimpy too and just do not look good on regular sized people. They only really work on the typical Abercrombie and Fitch girl/boy model, stereotypical of the type of people they have working in their stores and the models in their catalogues and billboards who look great.

Mostly the stores are located in the United States of America but a flagship store was opened in London in 2008. It is located in Mayfair, just off Saville Row in an enormous building and if you like this brand is well worth a visit.

I guess my one criticism of the store would be that the clothing is very expensive. For example sweatshirts are approximately £60+ with jeans in the £80-£100 region and so on. If you wanted to shop here regularly you would have to be willing to spend some serious money but for the odd treat now and again I don't think it's too bad and is equivalent to most other nice brands. The one thing I do disagree with is their shipping prices from their website. The website is located at www.abercrombie.co.uk. If your merchandise is between £0 - £100 you pay £20 shipping!!!!! If you just wanted to buy a sweatshirt for £60 you are paying a third on top of that for shipping which I do think is a bit of a rip-off. Shipping goes up to £45 if you spend over £500!

That being my only criticism I do definitely recommend this store.

Summary: Abercrombie and Fitch