Abercrombie promotes Fran Horowitz as President & CMO

Abercrombie & Fitch has promoted Fran Horowitz, President of its Hollister brand, to the position of President and Chief Merchandising Officer of the company, effective immediately. In this newly created position, Horowitz will have responsibility for all of the company's brands, reporting to Arthur C. Martinez, Executive Chairman. Christos Angelides, who served as Abercrombie & Fitch brand president since October 2014, has left the company.

“Abercrombie & Fitch continues to make encouraging progress executing on its strategy to provide compelling, customer-focused shopping experiences based on clearly defined brand positions,” said Martinez, adding, “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. At the appropriate time, the company expects to name new presidents for each of its brands, who will report to Horowitz.

Horowitz joined Abercrombie & Fitch as Hollister Brand President in October 2014 from Ann Taylor Loft, where she also held the role of brand president. For nearly eight years, she worked at Express, rising to the position of executive vice president of women's merchandising and design. Prior to Express, Horowitz spent 13 years at Bloomingdales in various merchandising roles, and prior to that she worked in buying positions at Bergdorf Goodman, Bonwit Teller and Saks Fifth Avenue.