Has Abercrombie figured out they're history yet?

[Miss Tequila]

Sept 23, 2013 9:40:25 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

They have their market niche and as girls age out of it, others will follow. DD and her friends once shopped there, now they wouldn't be caught dead wearing their stuff. Kind of reminds me of that young girl store, Justice, is it? You grow up and stop wearing that stuff.

Yep...my youngest still loves Justice (thank God, because it is inexpensive!lol) but my 14 year old would sooner go nekkid than wear something from there.  But a few years ago, the 14 year old LOVED shopping there. 

[zibazinski]

It happens. HOLLISTER was the be all and end all for DD and her group. Now she mocks it as we pass the store. I say nothing because what's the point? "How can anyone shop there? Ooh, it's so icky and you have to be skinny." Um, yes. And just a few years ago, you were all in there giggling and shopping away. Sigh.

[Virgil Showlion]

Boxers, jeans, any old tee-shirt.
Boxers, jeans, any old tee-shirt.
Every day it's what he wears.
What's the brand name? No one cares.
Boxers, jeans, sweatpants if you're jogging.
It's great to be a boy.

[milee]

Sept 23, 2013 9:54:48 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

Boxers, jeans, any old tee-shirt.
Boxers, jeans, any old tee-shirt.
Every day it's what he wears.
What's the brand name? No one cares.
Boxers, jeans, sweatpants if you're jogging.
It's great to be a boy.

OK, granted I'm not a boy so could be way off on this one, but boxers while jogging seem like a really, um, painful idea...

Plus in Florida if you ever wore sweatpants while jogging, you'd burst into flame.  (There are maybe 3 days a year where it's cold enough to want something that's even full length, much less something full length and insulated.) 

So I'm picturing some poor guy painfully bouncing along and on fire to boot. 

[sheilaincali]

When our German Exchange student got here he was very concerned and wanted to know what "brands" the American teenagers were wearing in Minnesota.  DS just gave him a blank look and shrugged his shoulders.  Neither DS nor anyone in his social circle gives a rat's ass about labels and brands of clothes.  Some of the jocks are obsessed with Under Amour or whatever it's called.

In his school in Germany the kids are very aware of name brands and logos and only wear things that are cool or popular.  He was very shocked that the kids dress so casually here and that every school day isn't a fashion show.   He did say that he thinks it's probably better that the kids here are more casual and less obsessed with clothing brands.

He told us that he had a horrible Christmas last year because his parents bought him normal black sweatpants and not the A&F brand ones that he wanted.  Said it ruined his whole Christmas.  DS could not even fathom why it matter what brand his sweatpants were.

[imawino]

I thought you were talking abou Abercrombie & Kent, and I was all "No!  They are a great travel company!"  LOL. 

I'm totally out of touch with the tween set.  Pretty sure my niece in high school stopped wearing the A&F stuff a couple/few years ago.  But I think my friend's 9 year old likes it.  Are they moving to a younger target demograpioc?

[milee]

Sept 23, 2013 10:07:55 GMT -5 sheilaincali said:

When our German Exchange student got here he was very concerned and wanted to know what "brands" the American teenagers were wearing in Minnesota.  DS just gave him a blank look and shrugged his shoulders.  Neither DS nor anyone in his social circle gives a rat's ass about labels and brands of clothes.  Some of the jocks are obsessed with Under Amour or whatever it's called.

In his school in Germany the kids are very aware of name brands and logos and only wear things that are cool or popular.  He was very shocked that the kids dress so casually here and that every school day isn't a fashion show.   He did say that he thinks it's probably better that the kids here are more casual and less obsessed with clothing brands.

He told us that he had a horrible Christmas last year because his parents bought him normal black sweatpants and not the A&F brand ones that he wanted.  Said it ruined his whole Christmas.  DS could not even fathom why it matter what brand his sweatpants were.

I think this isn't a Germany vs. America thing but more of a difference between schools and regions.  Even within our smallish town, some schools are not brand conscious, some are actually anti-brand and some are very brand conscious.

As for the Under Armour, I like their stuff as well not because of any brand but because it fits well, holds up to exercise and really wicks sweat away.  And I'm not a brand snob at all, I have some favorites from every range of maker, from Walmart to Lululemon.  So maybe the athletes are partly brand conscious and partly into what gear is comfy and works for them? 

[Deleted]

Sept 23, 2013 10:10:59 GMT -5 imawino said:

I thought you were talking abou Abercrombie & Kent, and I was all "No!  They are a great travel company!"  LOL. 

I'm totally out of touch with the tween set.  Pretty sure my niece in high school stopped wearing the A&F stuff a couple/few years ago.  But I think my friend's 9 year old likes it.  Are they moving to a younger target demograpioc?

I don't think it's A&F, I think kids are becoming conspicuous consumers earlier than they used to. 

[sheilaincali]

Milee- that may be the case here.  DS and his friends have zero interest in clothes or brand names but they are not the popular kids.  My son goes to the richer of the two schools in our city.  kids from the wealthiest families tend to be more casual while some of the other kids seem to overcompensate and want everything to be name brand so they look like they fit in but in reality it just looks like they are trying too hard.
One of my co-workers lives in a town 45 minutes away from here and he claims his daughters are bullied for not wearing the "right" clothes.  Maybe it's a girl thing too? IDK.

To be fair- DS and his friends are total geeks.  They have a good sized social group (like 30 that hang out at lunch and stuff) but they are way more interested in class ranking and who has more AP credits than they are in fashion or the next football game.

[Wisconsin Beth]

Aeropostale seems big here.  I see a lot more of that then A&F. 

[wvugurl26]

I love Under Armour. We water ski in cold gear. The stuff works. Unfortunately there are no discounts on it for us here in the motherland of UA.

[milee]

Sept 23, 2013 11:03:07 GMT -5 sheilaincali said:

To be fair- DS and his friends are total geeks.  They have a good sized social group (like 30 that hang out at lunch and stuff) but they are way more interested in class ranking and who has more AP credits than they are in fashion or the next football game.

My oldest son, too.  He and his Robotics Club friends probably don't even know what Abercrombie clothes look like.  He'd rather wear his "I'm not slacking, I'm compiling" geek t-shirt than anything designer.

Sigh.

I'm never going to get grandkids, am I?  When my friends and I were talking about this issue last weekend and how if he goes to MIT I'll either end up with no grandkids or a grandkid with a unibrow, my best friend consoled me with the fact that there are lots and lots of smart Asian girls at MIT and maybe he'll be lucky enough to snag one of them.  I can only hope. 

[sheilaincali]

Mille- that was our fear too BUT his group has plenty of girls in it now.  Most of them are quite normal even.   We figure there is hope since there are girls in his group now.

My son and his friends' school activities are:
Robotics Club, Math League, Knowledge Bowl, Science Club, Youth in Government, and History Club.  Plus a couple of the kids are in Pep Band and/or orchestra.  They try to be well rounded- one kid is on the tennis team, one of the golf team and one runs Cross Country. Plus one of the girls is wicked good Hockey Player and on a couple of different teams. 

as for grandkids with a unibrow-  DS has a friend that is quite hairy, as in has been shaving since 7th grade.  When my son introduced him to our German Student he said "This is my friend Teen Wolf, he'll try to convince you he has a normal name but really it's Teen Wolf" 

[zibazinski]

DS was the same way. Wouldn't wear anything that had a logo on it. Said they weren't paying him for advertising so why should he?

[milee]

Sept 23, 2013 11:28:18 GMT -5 sheilaincali said:

Mille- that was our fear too BUT his group has plenty of girls in it now.  Most of them are quite normal even.   We figure there is hope since there are girls in his group now.

My son and his friends' school activities are:
Robotics Club, Math League, Knowledge Bowl, Science Club, Youth in Government, and History Club.  Plus a couple of the kids are in Pep Band and/or orchestra.  They try to be well rounded- one kid is on the tennis team, one of the golf team and one runs Cross Country. Plus one of the girls is wicked good Hockey Player and on a couple of different teams. 

as for grandkids with a unibrow-  DS has a friend that is quite hairy, as in has been shaving since 7th grade.  When my son introduced him to our German Student he said "This is my friend Teen Wolf, he'll try to convince you he has a normal name but really it's Teen Wolf" 

Unfortunately, we're hairy, too.  We're super light blonde, though, so even if one of us had a unibrow it wouldn't show.  Guess that's a small mercy.    But if he marries a girl with dark hair, the results could be disastrous.

As for girls in the robotics club, DS says there are here, too.  But I haven't seen them because it's not a parent involvement type club.  He's only let DH - who is an EE and awesome programmer - help with a very few things.  Maybe I'll get a glimpse of these mythical creatures at the upcoming tournament?  Yay!

[sheilaincali]

Sept 23, 2013 11:34:00 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

DS was the same way. Wouldn't wear anything that had a logo on it. Said they weren't paying him for advertising so why should he?

Pretty much.  My DS won't even go clothes shopping with us.  We did all of his back to school shopping without him.  We came home and handed him a stack of jeans, like a dozen tshirts and two pair of shoes (One to keep in his PE locker and one for every day wear) and our only reaction was "Cool, thanks" and then he shoved it all in his closet.  I asked him yesterday while we were at the outlets for the German Kid if he would wear a certain shirt if I bought it for him.  He told me "if it was on the top of the pile of shirts in my closet I would". 

[swamp]

Sept 23, 2013 10:00:38 GMT -5 milee said:

Sept 23, 2013 9:54:48 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

OK, granted I'm not a boy so could be way off on this one, but boxers while jogging seem like a really, um, painful idea...

Plus in Florida if you ever wore sweatpants while jogging, you'd burst into flame.  (There are maybe 3 days a year where it's cold enough to want something that's even full length, much less something full length and insulated.) 

So I'm picturing some poor guy painfully bouncing along and on fire to boot. 

Milee wins the award for disturbing mental image of the day!!!
Go Milee!!!

[milee]

I aim to please.

[Miss Tequila]

Sept 23, 2013 11:06:51 GMT -5 Wisconsin Beth said:

Aeropostale seems big here.  I see a lot more of that then A&F. 

Aero is popular for the middle school kids here...Hollister for the high school more so than A&F.  But I think that is only because the closest A&F is in the next county (sounds worse than it is...30 to 40 minute drive to that mall).  But brands are important.  God forbig my daughter wear soemthing from Target...people will think she is poor! (her words, not mine!).  I kindly remind her that SHE IS poor, her parents aren't

[Otto the Orange]

Sept 23, 2013 12:59:53 GMT -5 Miss Tequila said:

Sept 23, 2013 11:06:51 GMT -5 Wisconsin Beth said:

Aeropostale seems big here.  I see a lot more of that then A&F. 

Aero is popular for the middle school kids here...Hollister for the high school more so than A&F.  But I think that is only because the closest A&F is in the next county (sounds worse than it is...30 to 40 minute drive to that mall).  But brands are important.  God forbig my daughter wear soemthing from Target...people will think she is poor! (her words, not mine!).  I kindly remind her that SHE IS poor, her parents aren't

You can tell your daughter is already becoming a leech, just like her mom

[Wisconsin Beth]

Aero is in the same mall at A&F by us.  I don't think there's a Hollister in there though.

[hoops902]

::Who wants to wear/advertise a brand the prides itself on flagrant discrimination?::

They made their living priding themselves on discriminating based on looks...so apparently the answer is that a lot of people want to wear it based on that.  Do you think their brand prior to this was "ugly people wear our clothes"?  They've always discriminated based on looks, just differently.

[Deleted]

I think I love my kids even more now.  They never tortured me over the need for specific brands in HS. They spent college in sweats and tees from the college shop.  I guess they saved me a lot of money on clothes & got it back on their college education 

They were activists of a sort, peaceful demonstrations on issues they felt strongly about and some boycotts. No arrests. Reasonable 'getting your point across' efforts that got some press.  I think I'm lucky to have conscientious, well grounded kids.

[formerroomate99]

Who wants to wear/advertise a brand the prides itself on flagrant discrimination?

Teenagers. 

[Deleted]

Sept 23, 2013 22:06:15 GMT -5 @rockit said:

I think I love my kids even more now.  They never tortured me over the need for specific brands in HS. They spent college in sweats and tees from the college shop.  I guess they saved me a lot of money on clothes & got it back on their college education 

They were activists of a sort, peaceful demonstrations on issues they felt strongly about and some boycotts. No arrests. Reasonable 'getting your point across' efforts that got some press.  I think I'm lucky to have conscientious, well grounded kids.

Lucky??!? I think you should take some credit!