Abercrombie is back
Abercrombie is back
And so are other mall brands
Abercrombie was impossible to miss this summer. Specifically, I kept spotting the men’s cropped tee—with its frayed collar and washed-out colors—all over the city and my vertical video feeds. Seemingly overnight, the once notoriously problematic and hyper-sexualized brand of our adolescence had morphed into the stylish outfitter for a certain breed of Brooklyn-residing millennial—including me. Its stock price reflects this renaissance, up 43% year to date. There’s also no shortage of Abercrombie discourse, with The Cut providing my favorite take so far.
Walking into Abercrombie in 2024 is now mostly a pleasant experience: bright lighting, white walls, friendly young staffers. However, long fitting room lines and a limited in-store assortment remind me of why shopping online is still so tough to beat. My experience with the men’s lineup has also been a mixed bag.
Things I like:
The heavyweight cropped tee - too thick for summer, but perfect for right now.
The linen shirts - loved these on vacation, especially in black.
This camo workwear jacket - just bought this for Raf; friends think it’s Carhartt.
The sweats - currently eying these.
I’ve also heard great things about their denim but, honestly, I don’t need more jeans.
Things I dislike:
The Bode-adjacent crochet shirts - way too trendy.
The cute double-breasted suiting - very scratchy fabric, which makes sense at $180 for a tailored jacket.
The linen pants - thin, cheap-looking.
Their sizing is a mess—I’m a medium in the cropped tee but an extra small in the cropped tank.
Abercrombie’s rebirth fits into a broader trend of mall brands making a comeback—J.Crew is back (I’m excited for a few sweaters I preordered to arrive), GAP is back, even Old Navy is starting to turn a corner! Nineties nostalgia aside, I suspect what’s really happening is a brain gain from the graveyard of failed DTC brands. Design talent is returning to legacy brands, reshaping them, while consumers are tired of phony IG brands that promised sustainability and transparency but have devolved into fast fashion.
I find that the quality(fabrication) of these big brands are much better than overpriced DTC brands for simple items like t-shirts& linen shirts like you shared - maybe because they can buy higher volume of high quality fabric at cheaper price/well oiled quality control that comes from established infrastructure .
Great take on the boomerang back to “90s mall brands”