Abercrombie & Fitch appoints Fran Horowitz as president & chief merchandising officer
US fashion brand Abercrombie & Fitch has promoted Fran Horowitz, president of its Hollister brand, to the role of president and chief merchandising officer of the company.
The news follows the departure of Christos Angelides who served as Abercrombie & Fitch brand president from October 2014.
In the newly created position, Horowitz will have responsibility for all of Abercrombie & Fitch’s brands and will report to executive chairman Arthur Martinez.
Martinez said: “Abercrombie & Fitch Co. continues to make encouraging progress executing on its strategy to provide compelling, customer-focused shopping experiences based on clearly defined brand positions. We are pleased with our performance for the quarter to date and are on track to deliver continued sequential improvement in comparable sales and achieve the profit expectations we had coming into the quarter,
“Fran’s merchandising skills and her exceptional leadership, which has inspired associates to focus all their efforts on an intense understanding and commitment to our customers, has ignited a turnaround at our Hollister brand. This promotion provides Fran the opportunity to play an even greater role in our future success as we focus on building shareholder value by positioning each of our brands for sustainable growth.”
As president & chief merchandising officer, Horowitz will have responsibility for all customer-facing activities across the company’s brands. This includes merchandising, design, planning, inventory management, marketing and stores.
Abercrombie & Fitch said it expects to name new presidents for each of its brands “at the appropriate time.”
Horowitz joined Abercrombie & Fitch as Hollister brand president in October 2014 from Ann Taylor Loft where she held the same role. Her previous positions also include stints at Express, Bloomingdales, Bergdorf Goodman, Bonwit Teller and Saks Fifth Avenue.
At the end of its third quarter, Abercrombie & Fitch operated 790 stores in the US and 175 stores across Canada, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
