Talented Blonde Retail Analyst On Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Departure: 'You Can't Turn A Brand Like That Around'

When asked what she thinks of Abercrombie & Fitch Co. ANF CEO Michael Jeffries retiring from the company, Talented Blonde President and retail analyst Kristin Bentz said the Street seems to like it.

“The market is saying, ‘Good, we got rid of this loser,’’’ she said.

Bentz explained that Abercrombie stock is popping today because investors are hoping that someone can come in and turn the company around.

But she warned that’s always how the market feels on the first day of this kind of news.

“Then reality sets in,” she said. “You can’t turn a brand like that around.”

She referenced a similar situation with Gap Inc GPS, which has been attempting a turnaround for almost a decade.

Bentz said that the company has been through a number of different creative directors and recently launched an ad campaign that tanked, in addition to not being able to figure out what to do with its Banana Republic brand.

“You can have the most well-known brand in the country and after a while you can’t get it back,” she said. “That’s the million-dollar questions with Abercrombie.”

Image credit: Ludovic Bertron, Flickr