The ad above appeared in the newspaper a few days ago saying that Abercrombie & Fitch had opened up a store in Olympia Tower so I passed by to check it out. I knew A&F hadn’t opened there and figured it might be just a store selling A&F clothing but I figured I would check it out anyway. To my surprise when I got there I realized the store was actually called Abercrombie & Fitch although they had sneakingly snuck the word “stores” into the name because obviously that makes it ok and somehow magically bypasses any trademark infringement.
The store sells both A&F and Hollister clothing and even though I couldn’t tell if they were authentic or not it really didn’t matter since by checking out the prices of some of the items I realized it would be cheaper to just order directly from A&F online.
On a side note I haven’t heard anything new recently on the rumor that the Chalhoub Group was acquiring A&F.
43 replies on “Abercrombie & Fitch has not opened”
That brand is tanking fast
MAF Fashions announced earlier this year that they’ve signed up A&F for the region. First store is opening at Dubai in 2014
Al Futteim are getting it, 1st store will be in Mall of the Emirates by end of next year. (1st they will open Hollister)
Hollister is opening soon in the Mall of the Emirates.
So funny, I passed by here today and I couldn’t figure out why an A+F store was selling Hollister. Abercrombie and Fitch own Hollister. Hollister was a sideline made up for teens aged 13-18 selling cheaper clothes. But the two shouldn’t be side by side in a store, they aren’t in UK stores anyway. Each have their own separate stores even though they are the same company. I never notice the ‘stores’ sign.
It could be a genuine franchise although I suspect it isn’t. Would be interested to know if it is or not. I almost bought a pair of trackie bottoms today but I didn’t as I wasn’t sure of the prices. Good to know they are cheaper online. If you hear anything else, please do let us know!
It’s absolutely not the genuine franchise.
I was flipping through a recent edition of Al-Kuwait Al-Youm and I recall seeing A&F being registered as trademarks to someone. However I don’t recall to who… you might want to search if you’re curious to know…
Reported to A&F brand protection department. Let them deal with it. Brand protection exists for a reason.
Well done, Andy.
Several prominent Kuwaitis have tried to bring the brand here before and A&F refused each time. Not until their stock prices starting taking a nosedive after 2010 did they reconsider.
So personally, I’m glad someone here is taking it to them. As long as they are selling legitimate products, I dont see a problem. And As far as price, this is Kuwait and name brand clothing costs double what it does outside–nothing new here.
You don’t see a reason for copyright laws? Good luck when YOU want to start a company and protect YOUR brand especially when the stock price starts to fall.
Also, it isn’t the genuine product and MORE expensive than the genuine product AND hoping to cash in on your ignorance. Looks like they are succeeding.
…It could be actual A&F they shipped out from the US? It wouldn’t be a copyright violation in that case, they’re just selling without being a legal distributor.
And the name of the store?
Calls for another post. illegal and legal depends on were the IP rights are registered. but yes generally illegal!!!
Ok the name of the store. Doesn’t automatically mean they’re counterfeit though.
I didn’t say they were.
perhaps they do have a distribution or reselling agreement instead of an exclusive dealership or franchise. A&F aren’t fools, they won’t sell a bulk of merchandise randomly, unless they are really idiots!
Let us not jump into conclusions now.
The same way they have a distribution or reselling agreement with all the stores in Souk Al Kabeer? No one is jumping to any conclusion, it’s pretyt clear the A&F store in Olympia is not an official A&F store. It’s not listed on their website and as posters above have mentioned the first one is set to open in Dubai next year. The store also doesn’t look like any A&F store and if it was an official store it would be much larger and most likely be located in Avenues or 360. Not sure why you’re trying to convince us its possible this is an official store.
I didn’t say they were.
How do you know Mr expert that these Items are not genuine products ?. I know 100% that they are . As for the franchiss store itself is not but the pdoduct is 100% authentic . Go check it out before you speak like you are an expert
a brand which does not exist in Kuwait.
and yet the whole population wears A&F
yes I’m surprised that it does not exist in Kuwait! LOL. I’m not a fan of this brand and never bothered to look for it, but I know couple of my friends wear this brand for at least the past seven years…
A+F is done…..Ageing CEO who has lost the plot, target market has abandoned ship….same store sales down YOY, massive earnings miss….
The brand is in trouble
Of course this isn’t a legitimate shop. It’s probable the guy just ordered his stock online, marked it up – and sold it in his pop-up store.
Sell 2 in the USA, Sell 2 million in Kuwait.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We will certainly look into it. This site is not associated with A&F.
AS I say, let them look into it. They confirm it is not associated with A&F hence, yes, it is illegal.
It’s not illegal, it’s a reseller of their products.
IF there is no official dealer in Kuwait – what they are doing isn’t illegal as they aren’t compromising anyone else’s investment. What are you talking about?
You can’t use a brands name and image without their permission.
That’s a different argument Mark. We are talking whether his business is illegal or not. Which it isn’t.
What the guys here have done is simply opened up a resellers shop.
Much like anyone could do.
Unless the original brand is operational in Kuwait – this guy isn’t hurting anyone’s business or investment.
It will be a totally different ball game when MAF open their official store here as they are now competing with an official franchise and there will be a legal battle for sure.
It will be interesting to see – as he’s already operational before the actual franchise is and I suspect A+F will simply have to cut the supply chain to this guy (bar internet sales to Kuwait ?) to force a shut down.
It’s a temporary business model at best – and totally Ill thought out as a) the brand is in decline and b) MAF (with extremely deep pockets) will hound him out as soon as they enter.
A reseller doesn’t become illegal when an official store opens. If that was the case then only Apple Stores would be allowed to sell Apple products in the States but that’s obviously not the case.
No one here is arguing about the fact the guy is selling A&F products. All the arguments here about the guy using their name brand illegally.
Actually that’s not true. If the franchise opens in Kuwait then this store will be illegal as A+F have signed an exclusive agreement with MAF to develop territories.
Apple is not the same, there is no exclusive dealer for a start. Apple don’t sign franchises. They develop their own stores but have reseller agreements in place.
So if I want to sell Ralph Lauren t shirts in my new clothes shop your saying that’s fine ? Of course not.
I checked out the store and products and found them totally genuine and price almost similar to USA prices. I actually bought 430 KD. and collection was nice and complete. Shop had good flow of customers as well.
I do not see a problem in it all since they are selling 100% genuine goods and that’s all what matters. I agree as they are not cheating or hurting any one in the process.
The prices are not almost similar to US prices. $29 shorts being sold for KD19 is not similar.
Nope. Sorry but I bought the shorts at 11 KD. $35.00
I checked all prices that i bought on the net now found them to be 15% on average higher then USA which is very logical. I would surely have to pay more then 15% to cover the courier charges and the customs, plus I would not have a free hand to pick the cloth by actually seeing it and trying it before being committed to paying for it. This is a big disadvantage for me when buying online.
Moody: Not sure what shorts you got but the ones I saw were priced at $29 but were selling for KD19 which means they’re selling for double the US price.
Just an FYI though, when you order from Abercrombie and Fitch online you pay just $10 to ship your stuff directly to Kuwait via FedEx no matter what or how much items you buy and you also don’t pay customs (I didn’t for my last 3 shipments).
Thanks for the tip but not accurate as this was not the case with me. My wife has done that last July, bought $680 and I had to pay 54kd. for courier charges and 14 Kd. for customs.
It amounted to 30% from my buying cost and 6 pcs. did not fit correctly, so I was very disappointed with the whole deal.
This is why it is by far much better to view the actual collection’s on hand, try it out and have the ability to return or replace or even refund my money which they do.
Next time order directly from A&F to Kuwait. It’s a flat shipping rate of $10 for ALL your items combined and they ship using Fedex.
Mark, am sorry, but how can this be accurate !!!!??? My wife order was indeed directly from A&F. How can you get shipment of 20 items by courier for the same cost of 5 items at a flat rate of 10 KD. ??!!! This can never work commercially. This is international rate and no company can subsidize this. If volume or weight increase the chargeable weight increase accordingly.
Further more, no one has control over customs in Kuwait. Not Aramex nor Abercrombie. It is simple process, whatever you import by courier to Kuwait (Even personal belongings or private buying) you still subjected to paying 5% customs. I was subjected to that many times.
Dude, if you have a problem with A&F charging only $10… contact them and let them know how upset you are about this and how you think their businesses model doesn’t work commercially. *face palm*
You don’t get it do you. I don’t have a problem with A&F, my problem is that you are making false claims trying to act like you know it all while you are feeding me wrong info. I do regular courier importation’s for my watch business and I know what am talking about.
Get your info. straight man or go look for a job that pays.
I’m not making false claims. They charge $10 to ship the stuff to you via FedEx. I’ve already used them before, so have my friends and so have a ton of other people. I’ve even posted about this here https://248am.com/mark/shopping/af-now-ships-to-kuwait/
You think you’re going to get the same rates as Abercrombie? Dream on. Companies in the US get special highly discounted rates from shipping companies because they ship a lot, it’s how quadratec, tirerack, amazon and A&F manage to charge very low shipping rates to countries like Kuwait.
Anyway as I said earlier, send an email to A&F, the shipping companies or whoever you want if you have a problem with their rates, just please stop posting here and annoying the fuck out of me.
I’m pretty gutted! I bought a pair of sweatpants from them, I did think its weird that hollister was included too but that didn’t affect my desicion to buy the pants, I won’t lie they’re really comfortable but next time I’ll order the legitimate items online or just get fakes from wataniya who at least sell them much cheaper.
They could be authentic since no one here knows if they’re fake or real