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Bloomberg
After years of being relegated to the back of the closet, Hollister has been reborn.
Though the heyday of the seagull logo is long past, the teen apparel brand with the California vibe has charged back into the mix, trying to turn things around for its struggling parent, Abercrombie & Fitch Co. The bird was once a stamp of approval for cool kids—until it wasn’t, and sales tanked. The broader demise of logo apparel didn’t help.
The Hollister of today isn’t the same, Abercrombie CEO Fran Horowitz said. She repositioned the brand as a cheerful, carefree version of its former elitist self—logos are mostly out, fashion tops and denim are in.
“We have very much evolved from what was a very specific thought of a beach brand,†said Horowitz.
The numbers are encouraging: Hollister reported its third straight quarter of positive comparative store sales, up 5 percent from the same period the year prior. Hollister stores are noticeably different.