Is this fashion's Men-Too moment? Industry under the spotlight as ex-boss of Abercrombie & Fitch and his British boyfriend face sex-trafficking charges, and claims of drug-fuelled parties where young male models were abused By Tom Leonard Published: 22:01, 25 October 2024 | Updated: 22:10, 25 October 2024 e-mail View comments There were the half-naked male models and pretty girls hanging around nonchalantly by the entrance, the so-called 'greeters' enticing customers into stores that resembled nightclubs – poor lighting, pounding music and the pungent smell of Fierce, the house cologne. And there were the brand's preppy but provocative black and white advertising campaigns which were shot by the celebrated fashion photographer Bruce Weber and featured, before-they-were-famous stars such as Jamie Dornan , January Jones , Jamie Bell and even Taylor Swift . What teenager could resist? It was hardly surprising that in its heyday in the early 2000s, for many young people, fashion retailer Abercrombie & Fitch was the epitome of cool.
Its hyper-sexualised cachet in America was so great that when the first European flagship store opened on London 's Savile Row in 2007, it sold £140,000 of stock in the first six hours. That was a lot for branded T-shirts and low-cut jeans. 'You could literally write Abercrombie & Fitch in dog **** on a hat and sell it for 40 bucks,' claimed a company insider, bluntly.
The company's astonishing success made a business icon of its American chief exec.
