During a tour of Abercrombie & Fitch’s newest store on Oxford Street, managing director of EMEA Scott Clarke-Bryan talks to Retail Week about the brand’s ongoing expansion, the significance of its new location, what it means to be ‘cool again’ and how it remains ahead of the competition
It’s been a strong start to the year for Abercrombie & Fitch with two new central London store openings on Oxford Street and Long Acre, Covent Garden.
That follows a remarkable turnaround for the brand, which has regained popularity from Gen Z and revived its status as a “cool” fashion brand once again.
Walking around the brand’s new 9,663 sq ft store on Oxford Street, managing director of Europe, the Middle East and Africa Scott Clarke-Bryan credits this to current group chief executive Fran Horowitz.
“I joined a year-and-a-half ago and I found a team, led by Fran, who I think are amazing and have set the tone for a great culture of openness, respect and collaboration,” he says.
“Putting the customer at the centre of everything was probably a new way of thinking that came from Fran and our store experience now is very different to anything from the prior era and I think that’s what’s resonating with our customers.”
So with an “elevated” customer experience in some of London’s best-known shopping destinations, including a personal fitting room available for bookings on Oxford Street, and a light, bright and inviting experience awaiting shoppers, Clarke-Bryan talks to Retail Week about the significance of its new location, the global growth opportunities he sees for the brand and the secret to Abercrombie’s revival.
What’s the significance of your newest location on Oxford Street?
“Stores are really important in our business, it’s a place where you welcome the customer, you give a real experience of who you are, they connect with our associates and really feel the brand. Finding a location like this one that is in such a prominent intersection of the high street and luxury just feels very right for where we’re positioned and it’s us stepping up as a brand in the UK.
“There are great things on Oxford Street and great development on Oxford Street, and we’re excited to see how the co-tenancy of this area evolves. We feel confident that our audience is here and around here and there are some great retailers around us.
“I think you feel our excitement from the outside; it’s proud, it’s a great projection of what we’re about. Hopefully, it feels inviting to customers coming into the space, we want customers to feel that. Having the space to tell the stories about our different capsules throughout the store is something we can only do in a location like this with the kind of space that we can occupy here.”
Activewear brand YPB by Abercrombie has been introduced in UK stores. Why now?
“It started originally in the US and one of the great things about Abercrombie is that we have a lifestyle customer but we started to see that working out and being fit and healthy was a massive part of that customer lifestyle. We were seeing on our platforms that customers were searching for activewear so we launched it and it’s been very successful.
“We tactically chose to focus on the core of Abercrombie in Europe initially, because we felt that we were still on that journey and wanted to make sure people understood what we stood for. Now felt like the right time to extend and bring that proposition into our store experience. We know it’s just as relevant here now as it is in the US and it’s had an encouraging start since we put it into the stores.”
What is on the horizon for Abercrombie in 2025?
“In the third quarter update, we put out a message that represented the fact we saw international expansion and growth as a key, strategic opportunity. I think that’s absolutely true in EMEA and it’s particularly true in the UK – our biggest market outside of the US.
“We have 10 stores for Abercrombie in the UK so it’s a very famous brand with a small footprint. We’ve had a flying start this year and we think there is a pathway for real acceleration in 2025 and there’s lots of white space beyond that.
“We’re still focused in central London but there’s opportunities for us up and down the country. We are looking, exploring opportunities and we’ve got plenty in the works. I think the next store that will open in the summer will be on Kensington High Street.
“There is also an opportunity for our Hollister brand as we have 30 stores in the UK, so we see opportunities for both brands in the UK. If you look across the European landscape, we see opportunity too; Germany is another focus market for us where we will be trying to expand, resonate and execute our playbook. We also have a strong business in the Middle East. Now, it’s about making sure we can execute it and continue to be successful.”
How important is the value proposition in an increasingly competitive fashion market?
“We certainly feel like the proposition of being an iconic brand that makes cool, trend-relevant product at a quality that customers can trust and feel and at a price that’s accessible is a great recipe. That’s probably a little bit of the metaphor of us being right here on these two streets at the intersection, that’s the Abercrombie positioning and it’s certainly working for us.
“It’s a broad landscape out there and what we have is pretty unique. Pricing being accessible is important because you end up in a place where customers are able to come in and shop lifestyle with us; we see that all the time. They buy outfits because they can and they treat themselves to several items.
“We also have a nice balance between menswear and womenswear. The history is that we used to have a bigger menswear business but we’ve seen significant growth in our womenswear business and both are important to us. We sometimes get them shopping together, groups will come in or people shop on their own, but ultimately we want to win across both.”
What are the biggest challenges for Abercrombie right now?
“Customers have endless choices where they spend their money and retail isn’t the only place – there is so much going on. People want to travel and have experiences, so there is loads of competition for the share of wallet that we want to have. The main thing is staying laser-focused on our customers because things move fast, it’s not static and we need to be there so we stay relevant.
“If we’re not understanding what they want, we will fail. If we get that right, we will win no matter what’s happening outside of our context. We are trying to stay focused on what we can control and we will take our share. At the moment, customers are choosing Abercrombie, which is fantastic.”
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