Abercrombie Finds a Lifeline in Outlet Stores, Wholesale Business

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

Abercrombie & Fitch's sales have been spiraling downward for quite awhile now, and despite plenty of turnaround efforts, the latest sales numbers are still pretty dismal. While the brand's leadership cautioned on an earnings call this morning that it will take some time for the logo-less look to make an impact on revenue, there were other areas of the business that aren't fairing quite so poorly.

Abercrombie's wholesale business with ASOS was encouraging enough that the company is going to continue that partnership in the coming months, and Hollister will follow suit with its own wholesale business in the fall. In the perfume department, Abercrombie will start selling its infamous Fierce scent in Sephora and other stores through an agreement with Inter Parfums, plus the brand hinted at developing entirely new products to sell through both Inter Parfums and Abercrombie's own stores.

Another bright spot: Abercrombie & Fitch outlet stores. The company noted that it was "pleased with the performance" of the retailer's outlet locations, three of which just opened up recently. In the next year, Abercrombie plans to open nine new outlet stores in the US, compared to five new full-line stores. The retailer is also expecting to close 60 full-line stores in the same time frame due to lease expirations.