Mike Jeffries (CEO)

The company, founded in 1892, had been purchased by Limited Brands in 1988 after bankruptcy.

Jeffries was the main architect of the company's new brand.

It was rebuilt as an upscale apparel retailer for the collegiate.

He built the brand around "sexualized marketing", for example shirtless beefcake male models greeting patrons in stores, and likewise scantily-clad male models posing in sexually-suggestive positions in large advertisements and billboards.

Jeffries created a cult following among young buyers.

Michael Stanton Jeffries (born 1945 (age 57)) is an American businessman who was CEO of clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch from 1992 to 2014.

Jeffries attended Claremont Men's College and the London School of Economics before receiving an MBA from Columbia Business School in 1968.

In 1968, Jeffries joined the management training program at Abraham & Straus, a Brooklyn department store which was owned by the umbrella corporation Federated Department Stores, which was rebranded Macy's in 1994 after that property was acquired by Federated.

He worked for 12 years at Abraham & Straus, before moving to Bullock's in Los Angeles, owned by Federated, as executive vice president for merchandising.

He then worked for three years at Federated headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio.

In 1984, Jeffries founded Alcott & Andrews, a brand targeted at career women.

The store fell into bankruptcy in 1989 due to over-expansion and closed, with the New York Times noting that the store offered "too little variety in its merchandise."

After the Alcott & Andrews bankruptcy in late 1989, Jeffries worked in merchandising at Paul Harris, a Midwest clothing chain that also went bankrupt, in early 1991.

It was a successful turnaround during the 1990s and early 2000s.

He was a controversial CEO.

By the mid-1990s, Abercrombie & Fitch had opened dozens of new stores globally.

"Abercrombie led the pack of teen fashion brands in the 1990s largely as a result of the image created by Mr. Jeffries", according to the Wall Street Journal.

The approach also became a liability for Jeffries and the store, "the marketing approach that made A&F into a financial success also made it an HR and PR nightmare".

A&F attracted controversy from different interest groups, such as the feminist movement and the American Decency Association, and a number of lawsuits ensued.

Jeffries ran the company from 1992 to 2014.

During that period, he completely changed the brand, image and focus of the company.

Jeffries was hired in 1992 by Les Wexner (CEO of LBrands, then named The Limited) to invigorate Abercrombie & Fitch.

In 2003, Black, Latino and Asian American employees filed a class action lawsuit against the company claiming that minority applicants were discouraged from applying.

The American Decency Association called for a boycott of A&F.

A group of Pennsylvania high schoolers called for a "girlcott" of the brand.

An outspoken businessman, Jeffries made statements in the press that were controversial.

For example, he once said, "We hire good-looking people in our stores. Because good-looking people attract other good-looking people, and we want to market to cool, good-looking people. We don't market to anyone other than that."

In 2004, he earned approximately US$25 million with a "stay bonus" of $6 million, which dropped from $12 million after a controversy involving his "excessive compensation".

During Jeffries' tenure, Abercrombie & Fitch grew from a "fashion backwater" losing $25 million yearly to a lifestyle brand grossing $2 billion yearly by 2006.

Jeffries was criticized for using semi-nude models in his company's advertising, selling clothes with racially and sexually insensitive slogans, and his candid stance that Abercrombie & Fitch marketed solely to the "cool kids".

In 2023, Jeffries was named in a civil class-action lawsuit which alleged that during his tenure as CEO of the company, he engaged in sex-trafficking with over 100 young men, in exchange for promises of employment for coveted modeling spots, money, and drugs.

Jeffries grew up in Los Angeles, the son of Donald R. Jeffries, who owned a chain of party supply stores.

After a string of bad results during the financial crisis of 2007–2008, plus other controversies related to the brand he created, he stepped down in 2014.

Jeffries refused to lower prices or offer discounts at Abercrombie & Fitch stores during the retail recession of the financial crisis of 2007–2008, until September 2009, after the company posted same store sales losses for 17 consecutive months.

After surveying 2,000 US corporations, the Corporate Library named Jeffries as the "Highest Paid Worst Performer" of 2008, after he received a compensation package valued at $71.8 million.

Sales recovered in 2011.

His total compensation in 2011 was estimated at $46,609,075, most of this being in the form of stock options.

, Jeffries owned about 2.9% of the company's shares, making him difficult to remove without his consent.

At that time, his recent contract called for a payout of over $100 million should he lose his job due to an ownership change.

Jeffries was once one of the best-paid CEOs in retail but he saw his compensation shrink 72 percent in 2013.