Founded by David Abercrombie

Abercrombie Company was originally founded by David Abercrombie in 1892 in downtown Manhattan, New York. In the early stage of Abercrombie’s establishment, Abercrombie store was selling equipment with great quality for fishing, camping and hunting, which was attributed to David’s keen interest of outdoor activities (Abercrombie & Fitch, 2012). Ezra Fitch was an ordinary customer of Abercrombie. He was not only a successful lawyer in New York, but also a big fan of trekking. Fitch was attracted by the special outdoor gear that was sold in Abercrombie store. Quickly, he was so devoted to the company that convinced David to let him join as the co-founder after buying a major share of Abercrombie. Hence, the official name of the company was changed to Abercrombie & Fitch Company in 1904. Because two founders had irreconcilably different opinions of the company’s future core business, David resigned in 1907. Ezra cooperated with other partners and expanded the company’s products to reach to extensive customers, rather than limited outdoor professionals (McBride, 2005). In 1928, Ezra’s brother, James, Cobb, took over the company, and acquired a New York dealer -- Von Lengerke & Detmold. Abercrombie & Fitch achieved a great success in 1929 with net sales of $6.3 million and profit of $548,000. Ten years later, the company claimed itself as the “Greatest Sporting Goods Store in the World.” A&F opened winter-only stores in Florida and summer-only stores in New Jersey and New York in the 1950s at which period the company’s mission was “The Abercrombie & Fitch type does not care about the cost; he wants the finest quality.” (Abercrom & Fitch Co. History, 2012) However, from 1968 to the early 1970s, warehouse sales model and bizarre advertisements were introduced by Abercrombie. The result was that the company lost money continuously till to 1976 in which Abercrombie & Fitch fell into bankruptcy (Abercrombie & Fitch Co. History, 2012). In

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