Turn down the music, tone down the cologne, pull up the blinds, cover up that midriff — these are just a few of the ideas Abercrombie & Fitch seems to be channeling from concerned parents and test-driving in a mock-up of its Hollister brand stores at its corporate campus, Bloomberg news reports.
Shrinking profits and weak sales have prompted a shakeup at the teen clothing retailer. Faced with a 77% drop in 2013 sales, CEO Mike Jeffries is decentralizing decision-making to two new presidents and a new chief operating officer, and the ideas in the pipeline could drastically alter the store’s image for the better, if you’re looking at it from the perspective of a concerned parent, or for the worst, if you’re a stick-thin night owl.
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Bloomberg reports that in addition to experimenting with brighter stores, lighter colognes and fewer nude pictures, the company may stock clothing racks with larger sized shirts. It would mark a noticeable departure from a no-plus-size policy that Jeffries once made explicit, much to the company’s regret. If the ideas test well with teenagers, they could roll out to 843 branches nationwide.
