Abercrombie is the website of the US fashion retailer Abercrombie and Fitch. The company was started in 1892 in New York by David Abercrombie. Ezra Fitch bought a sizable share in the company in 1900; and when the company was officially incorporated in 1904, the brand name “Abercrombie & Fitch” was born.
Today, the company is one of the most popular fashion brands in the world; but it wasn’t always an out and out fashion brand. They started as an outfitter for the outdoorsman. At the time, they provided high-end sporting, outdoor and excursion items such as fishing rods, boats, tents, shotguns etc.
Yes, Abercrombie & Fitch is a legitimate clothing company. Founded in 1892, the company has been providing stylish and quality apparel for men and women for over 100 years.
However, the company went under in 1977. Oshman’s Sporting Goods bought and resurrected the brand name in 1978, and started retailing hunting wear and novelty items. However, the brand’s journey to being the robust apparel retailer it is today began in 1988 when it was acquired by “The Limited”. The focus shifted to clothing pieces for young adult, and the rest is history. Shortly afterwards, the company went public and traded in the New York Stock Exchange.
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As the company grew, many more stores were opened all over the US. The international operation started in 2005 with the opening of a store in Toronto (Canada). Not long after (in 2007), Abercrombie & Fitch moved to Europe with the opening of a store in London; other stores followed in many more European countries.
The move to Asia was with a store in Tokyo in 2009, and that has been followed by other stores all over Asia including the Middle East. Currently, the company operates more than 1,000 stores (across all four brands) across sixteen countries.
Abercrombie.com is one of the websites of the US clothing giant – Abercrombie & Fitch. The company says that they are committed to offering products of enduring quality and exceptional comfort which will allow consumers around the world to express their own individuality and style.
Abercrombie and Fitch is a legit fashion store. It is not a scam because they will never steal your money or credit cards details. And also, you will definitely get the item you ordered from the store.
The question is whether Abercrombie & Fitch actually provide high-quality clothing pieces. What about the other elements that the go-to fashion shop should have (such as affordable prices, easy payment, fast delivery, easy returns, and effective customer service); does Abercrombie & Fitch have these elements? In the first place, is Abercrombie & Fitch genuine?
This review will examine Abercrombie and Fitch in other to provide you with the information required to answer those questions.
Abercrombie and Fitch is legit, not a scam. There are many cyber fraudsters crawling the internet, and if you do not determine that an online platform is legit before sending them your money, you may realize too late that you’ve been ripped off. Therefore, a review of any online store should include information for determining whether the store is legit or a scam.
In this regard, there is no doubt that Abercrombie & Fitch is a legit fashion retailer. First, the company is duly incorporated, which means they have 100% legal backing. Suffice it to say that no scam/ fake store will seek company registration. Also, Abercrombie & Fitch is a public company that has been trading in the New York Stock Exchange since 1996. This will be impossible if the store is a scam company; because even if a scam store will fake registration certificates to deceive the customers, there is no way they can use such fake certificates to be listed in a Stock Exchange.
Also, Abercrombie & Fitch started in 1892; even when they went under in 1977, the next owners spent big to acquire the brand name. There is no way that will happen if the brand is not legit and reputable. After its rebirth in 1978, Abercrombie & Fitch has been operating seamlessly and has grown to be the giant fashion retailer it is today. Suffice it to say that no fake/ scam store can operate for that long a time.
Lastly, a scam store can be summed up as a store that will take people’s payment but will not deliver. Abercrombie & Fitch cannot be a scam store because they have the capacity to fulfil orders and have been doing so for decades. Their 1000+ stores in 16 countries across the world hold hundreds of thousands of merchandise, and from those centers, they ship packages when customers place orders.
Abercrombie and Fitch are safe to use. When you create an account and shop in an online store, you share personal information such as your name, email address, telephone number etc, as well as sensitive data such as your payment instrument details. You want to make sure that such information is protected by the store; because if it is allowed to fall into the wrong hands, you’ll be defrauded. Thus, the ideal store will not only be legit but also safe in protecting customers’ data.
In this regard, Abercrombie & Fitch ticks the box. First, the online store section of their websites uses Transport Layer Security (TLS) and works with only web browsers that permit communication using the protocol.
TLS is a protocol which is used to create a private communicating link between a device and a web server on the internet. The secure link ensures the privacy and integrity of whatever data is shared in the link. TLS also use encryption to ensure that even if the data is intercepted it cannot be read by the hackers.
The use of TLS shows that Abercrombie & Fitch prioritizes the safety of customers’ data. This is because of most of the online fashion retailers in the market us SSL technology. While SSL is secure, TLS is a successor to SSL, it uses stronger encryption algorithms and has the ability to work on different ports.
Organizationally, Abercrombie & Fitch limits access to the databases that contain personal data. Also, they do not share customers’ data to unauthorized third parties. That said; there is no doubt that Abercrombie & Fitch is safe.
Apart from Abercrombie.com that sells Abercrombie & Fitch-branded products, the company operates three other brands – Abercrombie Kids, Hollister Co., and Gilly Hicks.
As the name suggests, Abercrombie Kids specializes in kidswear; Hollister Co. targets teens (13 – 18 years); while Gilly Hicks specializes in women’s underwear and loungewear.
One thing to look out for when checking a store is its product range. The ideal store would have a wide product range so that you can get all your related items in one place. Getting all your products in one place is, first of all, convenient, as it saves you the time and effort of checking out other stores. Also, it gives significant cost savings. If you get all your items in one store, the high order amount may qualify you for price discounts and other promotional offers. Also, you’ll be able to save from shipping only one order (if flat shipping rates are offered), as against shipping different items from multiple stores.
In this regard, Abercrombie & Fitch does well in their niche. The company provides fashion styles for both men and women; they hold different clothing items but focus on casual wears. In the website, you can shop from either the men or women section. The different items you’ll find in each section are as follows:
That said; if you want formal office wears (such as men blazers) or special occasion dresses, Abercrombie & Fitch may not be the right shop to go. However, if you want casual wears and everyday wear, Abercrombie & Fitch fits the bill.
Another important consideration is the size of inventory in a store. It’s not enough that the ideal store holds different clothing types; it’s also important that the store has a large inventory of each clothing type, so that customers will have a big inventory to choose from. For example, you are more likely to find a jumpsuit that you like in a store that holds hundreds of jumpsuits than in a store that holds only a few jumpsuits. In this regard, Abercrombie & Fitch comes out strong. The store holds a large number of items in each product category. You’ll find about 100 different styles of Coats and Jackets, Women Dresses, Jeans, and other items. With their large inventory, there’s no way you won’t find a clothing piece that you like.
Another important consideration is product quality. The ideal fashion retail store should also hold products of high quality. In this regard, it should be said that Abercrombie & Fitch is not some high-end brand that focuses on super-quality products; rather they are a brand that provides everyday wear with okay-ish quality to survive the everyday rigour.
As a result, you’ll find that on many independent customer review platforms online, there are many negative reviews of the quality of items from Abercrombie & Fitch. That said; if you want timeless clothing items with premium quality, Abercrombie and Fitch may not be the best online shop to go into.
Price is very important in any purchase. Though some customers will pay readily pay more for some perceived quality, there is still a limit above which they will not pay. Thus, the ideal store should have products that customers perceive as reasonably priced.
In this regard, Abercrombie & Fitch has made serious movements over the course of its existence. The company started as an outfitter for the elite, and they supplied items that were widely recognized as expensive. The movement to being the giant apparel company that they are today also caused a movement in their identity, from being a provider of luxury items to being a provider of near-luxury items. That shift meant that prices of listed items in the company came down from outright expensive to pricey (but not expensive).
For example, you’ll find costs and jackets at $100 – $200; you’ll find cute women dresses at $50 – $80; and you’ll find a lot of men and women gift items for under $50, and for $50 – $100. That said; if you want to shop cheap, Abercrombie & Fitch may not be the place for you; but their prices are not over the tops.
In order to provide customers with more value, Abercrombie & Fitch offer Price Adjustment. If you purchase an item from the store, and it is marked down within 14 days of your purchase, you can contact the company and they will credit you the price difference. Thus, you do not have to worry about not having waited a few more days before making your purchase so that you can get the best value.
However, a price adjustment is a one-time only offer; and it is available for only items purchased at full price.
Almost every business offer promotions; and the online fashion retailing business is no different. They offer promotions to drive more patronage. Promotions give customers the opportunity to get free products or to get products for less than their full prices; thus, the ideal online fashion retailer should offer a lot of promotions regularly.
In this regard, Abercrombie & Fitch ticks the box. They run price discount promos regularly. Like every other store, the promos are applicable to only specific items and for only a specific period of time. One enticing promo that was being offered at the time of writing this review is a price discount of 60% on many items.
Another promo promised 10% off your next purchase if you subscribe to newsletters from Abercrombie & Fitch. However, the company does not offer student discounts or a referral bonus.
That said; you’ll need to regularly check the homepage of the company to see what promo is being offered at any particular time.
The ideal store should support a wide variety of convenient payment methods. So that as long as you are in a supported country, you won’t have any problem finding, at least, one supported banking option to pay for your order without stress.
In this regard, Abercrombie & Fitch ticks the box, as they support more payment methods than many other online fashion retailers. They accept payment from the following options: JCB, American Express, Discover, PayPal, VISA, MasterCard, POLi, AstroPay, SafetyPay, QIWI, Yandex, and WebMoney.
However not all the options may be available to you from the location you’ll be shopping from. Also, Abercrombie and Fitch accept payment in different currencies including USD, AUD, NZD, EUR and more. Thus, some customers may not have to worry about currency conversion.
Shipping is one of the most important factors in online shopping. The main shipping considerations are shipping destinations, shipping cost and shipping times.
When you buy from online shops, you’ll need the package to be delivered to you. However, online fashion stores do not ship to every location on the planet. Thus, one of the first you should be checking is whether the shop will ship to where you’ll want to receive the package. If the shop does not ship there, you’ll want to look at another online shop. In this regard, the ideal online shop should ship to as many locations as possible.
Abercrombie & Fitch ships to all US addresses, military addresses and 83 other international countries. The countries include: American Samoa, Aruba, Australia, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, China, Christmas Islands, Cocos Islands, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, French Polynesia, Greenland, Grenada, Guam, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Macau, Malaysia, Marshall Island, Martinique, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Northern Mariana Islands, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Sates of America, Uruguay, US Virgin Islands, Venezuela, and Vietnam.
If you’ve checked reviews of other online fashion retailers, you’ll find that many of them ship to more locations than Abercrombie & Fitch. There are retailers that ship to as many as 200+ countries. That said; with Abercrombie & Fitch covering only about 80+ locations, customers from many international locations will be unable to buy from the store.
Shipping cost is an important consideration because where the cost is high, it can make the total expenditure on an item unacceptable even when the item itself had been acceptably priced. Thus, the ideal fashion retailer will have shipping costs that are as low as possible. In the same vein, you won’t want to wait forever to get your package; thus, the ideal online store will deliver orders as fast as possible.
For US orders, there are different delivery options which include Standard delivery, Two Days delivery, and Next Day delivery. The Standard delivery option cost $7.00 (but free for Gift Card only orders). It takes 4 – 9 business days for delivery for the 48 contiguous US states, but some areas may take up to 14 days. Delivery to Hawaii and Alaska may take 10 – 15 days, while delivery to military addresses may take up to 3 weeks. The other two delivery options will get you the package in the time suggested by their names.
The Two Days delivery will get you the package in two working days if you place your order before 2:00 PM EST (Monday – Friday); and it cost $15 (but $7 for Gift Card only orders). The Next Day delivery option will get you the package a day following the order placement, as long as the order is placed before 2:00 PM EST (Monday – Friday). It cost $22 (but $10 for Gift Card only orders).
Abercrombie and Fitch do not normally ship free of charge. However, at the time of writing this review they were running a promotion that included free shipping. The offer was for free shipping on orders over $150. While it is good to see free shipping at all, we’ll like to see it as a constant feature in the store. As part of a promo that is only for a specific period of time, it means that after the promo elapses, free shipping will no longer be available to customers. Also the free shipping offer Abercrombie & Fitch is not good enough because of its relatively high order-qualifying amount. If you’ve checked reviews of online fashion retailers, you’ll find that in many of the stores that offer free shipping, you qualify with orders of only $50 – $100. Thus, in Abercrombie & Fitch, you’ll have to spend more than you’ll do in these stores in order to get free shipping.
International Shipping also does not make for good reading. For example, when shipping to Canada the shipping cost increases with the order amount. Orders under $100 cost $15 for standard shipping (which takes 5 – 7 working days) and $20 for Express Air shipping (which takes 3 – 5 working days); orders of $101 – $300 cost $25 for standard shipping and $30 for Express Air shipping; and so on. Also, customers will be responsible for the payment of all customs duties, taxes and levies imposed on imported goods.
That said; there are many stores that offer flat shipping rates where you won’t have to pay more for shipping as your order amount increases. At the same time, you should want a store where you’ll not have to pay additional charges (COD charges, duties, taxes etc) upon receipt of your package.
The shipping service to some international location is anything but smooth/ convenient. For example, after your order is dispatched to the carrier, you’ll be contacted by the carrier to provide some information (that you’ll need to do on the carrier’s website). Failure to do this and your order will not ship, and you’ll have to process a refund. It is my opinion that efficient shipping service will save a customer the inconvenience of going to a third party site to provide information. All relevant information should be provided to the fashion retailer (at checkout), who in turn will sort out their carrier; and the only time the carrier should be reaching you is when they are delivering your package to your door.
That said; for the shipping times and cost of every other location that Abercrombie and Fitch ships to, you can visit the Shipping & Handling page on their website. However, you’ll notice that the standard shipping times is relatively longer than that of most online fashion retailers.
We looked up customers’ review of Abercrombie and Fitch in independent review platforms to know what real customers who have bought from the company are saying about it. To say the least, Abercrombie & Fitch was not highly rated in terms of delivery times. On the numerous platforms, customers complained of orders arriving later than expected.
Making purchases online may be convenient, but there is a risk that the item may not be to your liking when it is finally delivered. You won’t want to be stick with an item that you are not satisfied with, thus, you’ll want a store that allows you to return any item in your order that you do not like. Thankfully, like every other online fashion retailer, Abercrombie and Fitch allow returns.
If you are not totally satisfied with your order, you can start the return process by contacting Abercrombie about the issue and your desire to return the item. Abercrombie support two methods for returning any item in your order. You can return in-store, by taking the item to any of Abercrombie & Fitch stores around you, together with the sales receipt; or you can return by mail. For the later, they include a returns label which can be used for easy returns. All you need do is package the items you opt to return appropriately, attach the returns label to the outside of the box, and drop it off at the mailing service.
They allow a 30 days return window, which means that you have a full month from the day the item was delivered to you to return it to the company. But where the item was delivered in-store in the US, you have a returns window of 60 days to also return it in-store. The returns window is on par with what most fashion retailers offer; so there’ll be no problem of racing against time to get your returns to the company
If the returns are to be accepted and a refund issues, it is not enough that your items get to the company on time (within the returns window), there are some conditions that the returned items must meet. They must be in their new original condition. Thus, they must be unworn, unwashed, not altered, and undamaged. Also, all tags and labels must still be attached. Also, they must be in their original packaging.
There are certain items that cannot be returned. For hygiene reasons swimwear and underwear will not be accepted if the hygiene seal is broken. Also, all sales items are final sale, and cannot be returned for refund or exchange.
After the returned items get to Abercrombie & Fitch, they will review it, and only when it is accepted will they issue the refund. The whole process can take two weeks, and you’ll have your funds in your account.
If you’ve checked reviews of other online fashion stores, you’ll find that a two weeks refunds processing time is relatively fine. There are stores that can have you waiting for up to a month to get your refund.
Abercrombie & Fitch makes it clear that the cost of returns is the responsibility of the customers. For the US returns the cost of the returns label is $7, and that will be deducted from your refund. It also seems that the company charges a restocking fee; so you pay for not just the return shipping but also a restocking fee. This is sad because when you opt to return an item that you do not like you’ll have to spend more. There are some online fashion retailers that offer free returns.
As expected the stinging reviews that the Abercrombie & Fitch have received from customers are mostly because of the return policy, particularly the cost of returning items. In one of the most popular customer review platform (Trust Pilot), Abercrombie & Fitch has a bad rating of 1 out of 5. Reviews included comments like “they’ll rip you off on returns”, “worst returns process”, “rip off return fee from Abercrombie & Fitch”, “I got caught out on their returns policy”, “an amazingly unfair returns policy”. We can go on and on, and only one thing can be gleaned, which is that customers are not pleased with the returns policy. With the high returns shipping cost/ restocking fee that Abercrombie & Fitch charges, customers cry (rightfully, I must add) why it should cost so much to return an item. As a result, some customers decide it’s not worth it to return an Abercrombie & Fitch item and end up being stuck with a clothing piece that they will not use.
That said; while Abercrombie & Fitch does okay with their returns window, and returns/ refund processing time, the cost of returns pitch the whole returns policy at an all-time low.
When using an online store, one could run into roadblocks with questions about the company (and their offerings) or issues with orders. Therefore, the ideal online fashion store should have channels for addressing the question or issues that customers may have. More importantly, the channels should be effective and provide the needed assistance that will ensure customer satisfaction.
In this regard, the performance of Abercrombie and Fitch is, at best, mixed. They provide regular channels for contacting them, which includes email and telephone. There are different email addresses that they provide for different support issues; also they provide different toll-free telephone lines which means you’ll not have to worry about charges when calling them.
However, it must be said that customer reviews that can be found in numerous independent review platforms do not rate the customer support service of Abercrombie & Fitch. With some of the problems in the store highlighted (relating to delivery and returns), it’s only normal that customer support will be flooded. Unfortunately, not many of the customers were left satisfied. Reviews include comments like “shockingly bad”, “online help = total failure”, and so on.
There were too many cases of customer support service not providing status updates even on delivery that was past due, and not providing any help in instances of customers had issued with quality.
That said; Abercrombie & Fitch may not be the shop you’ll want to be when you have an issue with your order.
Abercrombie & Fitch is a legitimate and an established brand name in the fashion retailing business. The company is legit and safe; they provide men and women clothing, specializing in casual everyday wears. They have a large inventory, and you’ll also find high-quality apparel.
They started out as an outfitter providing expensive luxury items, but over the years the call to provide affordable clothing pieces have seen their status change to a provider of near-luxury items, with a consequential reduction in prices from outright expensive to just-pricey.
However, there are a few things that the company can work on. The supported countries are free, free shipping needs to be introduced, delivery is relatively slow, cost of returns is seriously plaguing their returns process, and customer service needs to be overhauled.
Do you have any experience with Abercrombie & Fitch? If yes, kindly use the comment section below to give us your brief Abercrombie & Fitch review.
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