Abercrombie & Fitch Women's Fashion Brand

Abercrombie & Fitch is an American retailer that focuses on upscale casual wear for young consumers. Its headquarters are in New Albany, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus, and the store name is also the company brand. The company operates two other offshoot brands: Abercrombie Kids and Hollister Co. For women, the label is built around the pieces named first - tops, jeans and tees - cut close and finished to a standard the company prices above the ordinary high street.

That positioning has a name of its own. A&F introduced the trademark Casual Luxury as a fictional dictionary term, with definitions such as using the finest cashmere, pima cottons and highest quality leather to create the ultimate in casual, body conscious clothing, and incorporating time-honoured machinery to produce the most exclusive denim. Whether or not a shopper uses the phrase, it describes the women's range accurately: familiar casual garments, made from upgraded fabrics and sold as a lifestyle rather than as single items.

The Near-Luxury Image

The brand image is heavily promoted as an international near-luxury lifestyle concept. The company began cultivating its upscale image after the 2005 opening of its Fifth Avenue flagship store, alongside Prada and other upscale retailers. Having for years used high-grade materials in the construction of its merchandise, and pricing them at near-luxury levels, the label could open stores in international high-end locations and further promote the image by pricing its merchandise at almost double the American prices in those markets.

For a women's shopper, the practical meaning of that image is consistency. The jeans, knitwear, shirts and dresses change with the seasons, but the fit language stays recognisable: slim through the body, logo-quiet in its more grown-up lines, and heavily styled as complete outfits. Buying one piece usually means buying into a look the store has already assembled, which is precisely the lifestyle selling in action. Apparel Search also keeps a fuller company profile of Abercrombie & Fitch, plus financial and news pages for the company, linked from this guide.

Shopping the Women's Range

Start with denim, the category where the brand's fabric claims are easiest to test. Check the denim's weight and recovery in hand, read the fibre label for the cotton and elastane balance, and try two rises rather than one - a body-conscious cut forgives very little guessing. Tops and tees are the entry point for price: the pima cotton versions are the ones that justify the near-luxury ticket, while basic logo tees are bought for the name as much as the cloth, and are better value on promotion.

Knitwear rewards the same label reading. The Casual Luxury definition name-checks cashmere, so check whether a sweater is pure cashmere, a cashmere blend, or simply cashmere-soft marketing language - all three appear at different prices. Fit notes that apply across the women's range: the cuts run young and close, so shoppers between sizes usually take the larger one in tailored pieces; and international stores price higher than American ones, so the same jeans can cost markedly more abroad.

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