Rumour has it that the once all-the-rage Abercrombie brand has been seeing great losses in sales over in America.
Today’s teens are underwhelmed by the half-naked models and blaring, dimly lit stores. And they’re less inclined to wear Abercrombie’s uniformof denim and graphic T-shirts.- South China Morning Post, Nude Awakening by Sapna Maheswari, Aug 27, 2012
Hence, a strategic move to Asia, which has yet to experience the brands risque promotional direction.
While many would argue that it is vacuous objectification in it’s shallowest form, you do have to admire their PR campaign. The irony of it all - selling clothes via half naked bodies. Genius. An idea that now cannot be replicated by other brands without being slated as ‘copycats’ of their predecessor.
During the run up to the grand opening of the first store on Pedder Street,Abercrombie’s famed muscle men took to the streets and made themselves known. To those who are unfamiliar with the brand, these minimally clad ‘gweilos’ became a hot topic. ”Have you seen them?” The brand also relied on Hong Kong’s obsession with smartphones and ubiquitous wifi - exemplified by excited spectators sharing pictures on Instagram and Facebook.
However, one has to wonder if the success of Abercrombie’s opening will be enough to sustain the brand once all the models fly back to the US and the media hype dies down.
Still, in a hyper-connected world, it won’t take long for Abercrombie’s fading cool to become apparent to shoppers in Dubai and Shanghai.- South China Morning Post, Nude Awakening by Sapna Maheswari, Aug 27, 2012
Pondering this, another preppy clothing brand (this time from the UK) springs to mind: Jack Wills. Upon it’s launch, there would be long queues formed outside the store and the brands signature pink and blue stripes would be seen toted or worn by the HK locals and expats alike. Several months down the line, following a string of attempts to revive enthusiasm with exclusive parties and ‘Live Music’ nights, the Causeway Bay store is now virtually empty during the day.
It seems that there has been a trend of popular Western clothing labels relocating to Hong Kong (Jack Wills, GAP, Forever 21 and Abercrombie) in hopes of tapping into the attractive Asian market. Their status overseas ensured that there would be interest. Still, once the novelty of these foreign brands wear off and they become just another staple in the skyline of Hong Kong, one can expect that the initial peak in sales will eventually flatline as people start to see nothing more special in the stores other than overpriced items they can now get locally. Thus the biggest challenge for foreign brands would be to stay relevant enough to remain profitable in the face of sky rocketing rent prices. Nonetheless, there are still those who are optimistic of the brands presence in HK such as editor of Sassy Hong Kong, Rachel Read. (For the full post click here)
In a land of the ‘Welcome to ZARA’ ‘Welcome to SAAASAAA’ bot, where staff routinely ignore you, offer only the most cursory help and practically laugh you out the store if you don’t adhere to Asian sizing, then long may Abercrombie’s all American hospitality and warm welcome continue to rule the roost. I wish them every success.The tagline for the launch was ‘The Hottest A&F Guys Make History In Hong Kong’ – and make history they did. Can you think of any other store that could generate this level of hype, orchestrate a campaign of such scale… and execute it so successfully and effortlessly? I feel a little sad it’s all over and that we’re unlikely to see anything of its like again… but I can also say I was here for THE most exciting marketing campaign to hit HK, probably ever. Pretty cool, eh?
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