Before Mike Jeffries turned Abercrombie & Fitch into a 2000s-era shrine of soft-core eroticism, ersatz sophistication, and sexual-exploitation scandals, the store was a trailblazer in quite another way—as the first stop in any explorer’s expedition.
Abercrombie Co. first opened its doors in 1892 on New York’s South Street, a short stroll from Wall Street’s brokerage houses, banks, and law firms, but a world away from the decorous tumult of gentlemanly business.
