Abercrombie & Fitch—a mainstay of 2000s teen popularity—reported growth in same-store sales for the first time in three years, a sign its decision to be a little less sexy may be the right move.
To regain esteem, Abercrombie in the last two years turned up lighting in its once-dim stores, ended overtly sexy advertising and gave employees more say in how to display clothes. Those changes came after years of bad headlines.
In 2015 its own employees sued over the company’s ”look policy,” and in 2014 longtime CEO Mike Jeffries (who later stepped down) was found to have enforced creepy clothing policies for the young, muscled men who served him on his private plane.
“While we accomplished a lot, there is much more progress we need to make to fulfill the potential of our brands,” said company chairman, Arthur Martinez in a statement. Despite same-store sales growth, net sales fell 3% to $509.4 million.