Just three years ago, Abercrombie & Fitch looked like a dying relic of early-2000s mall culture.

Customers had fled. The stock was tanking. 

The brand faced criticism following a harsh Netflix documentary that revealed its discriminatory hiring practices, which involved primarily hiring white, slim individuals to promote a highly sexualized image targeted at young people.

Despite the backlash, Abercrombie is now experiencing a remarkable comeback in the retail industry. Over the past five years, its stock has risen by more than 400%, surpassing even some of the major players in the tech sector.

On Wednesday alone, shares jumped 32 percent after the company posted blowout earnings and forecast strong sales for the rest of 2025. 

Abercrombie attributes its resurgence to its modernized offerings such as printed jeans, dresses, and denim with a vintage flair, attracting a fresh cohort of consumers.

Hollister, its younger-skewing sub-brand, in particular is grabbing new customers. It saw same-store sales surge 23 percent year-over-year — with demand booming for fleece, skirts, and retro tees. 

CEO Fran Horowitz said stores are seeing a surge in customers and pledged to ramp up marketing during the crucial summer season. 

Since Abercrombie & Fitch’s multiple controversies, the brand has gone through a major refresh that has made them popular with millennials and Gen Z

Abercrombie & Fitch was the mall hot spot in the 2000s, famous for its perfectly preppy, tanned, and well-coiffed employees

The transformation began when Fran Horowitz took over as CEO in 2017, steering the brand away from its Mike Jeffries-era playbook of shirtless models and exclusivity. 

Under her watch, Abercrombie ditched its toxic image, embraced inclusivity, and made fashion-forward tweaks like vintage denim, printed dresses, and gender-neutral basics. 

The turnaround is more than skin deep. In its latest quarter, Abercrombie posted $1 billion in sales — a 22 percent jump — and crushed Wall Street expectations on earnings. 

Compare that to 2014, when Jeffries resigned after 11 straight quarters of shrinking sales, and the brand was hit with a $40 million discrimination settlement. 

A 2022 Netflix doc, White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch, cataloged it all — the racist t-shirts, the ‘look policy,’ the refusal to carry XL sizes, and Jeffries’ infamous line: ‘Are we exclusionary? Absolutely.’  

Horowitz has been behind Abercrombie & Fitch’s strongest profits in its 133-year history.

In the early 1990s and 2000s, it ran ad campaigns chock full of sex appeal primarily featuring attractive and in-shape white models. In some of the ads, the models were practically wearing nothing at all.

Their ads also had incredible star power, featuring Taylor Swift, Karlie Kloss and Jennifer Lawrence early on in their careers. 

Hollister, Abercrombie & Fitch’s teen-focused sister brand, also rebounded — with same-store sales up 23% year-over-year, thanks to demand for retro tees, fleece, and skirts

In the early 1990s and 2000s, Abercrombie & Fitch ran ad campaigns chock full of sex appeal primarily featuring attractive and in-shape white models

In some of the ads, such as this one promoting boxers, the models wore practically nothing at all.

Taylor Swift and Karlie Kloss modeled for Abercrombie early on in their careers

Jennifer Lawrence remembered her 2006 shoot in an interview: ‘They wanted natural pictures, so they made us play football on the beach. The other models played football in a pretty way, but not me. My face was bright red, and I was sweaty with flaring nostrils’

A model is pictured in a recent Abercrombie & Fitch summer promotion on the company website

Mike Jeffries, former chairman and CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, was known for making brash statements some found offensive

Today, Abercrombie’s website features models of all races and sizes. 

Its favorability among millennials hit a record high in 2024, according to Morning Consult, and Gen Z now sees it as ‘hip’ and ‘stylish,’ per QuestBrand data. 

That’s a far cry from 2002, when the company proudly sold a line of T-shirts with Asian stereotypes and caricatures.  

One of the offending shirts featured the slogan ‘Wong Brothers Laundry Service — Two Wongs Can Make It White’ with two caricatures of Chinese men.

The brand’s controversies weren’t limited to the clothes themselves. Their stores, just as much as their ads, were committed to the idea that sex sells. 

That meant rejecting people applying as in-store models who didn’t fit a certain ‘look,’ which allegedly included minorities. 

Subsequently, nine people of color filed a class-action suit against Abercrombie & Fitch for alleged discrimination against African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans. It was settled for $40 million in November 2004.