They don’t want to be a folksy “mom at a bake sale” because they sell to discriminating teenagers who generally prefer DIY shopping anyway. They need to differentiate themselves from their main mall-based competitors, American Eagle and Aeropostale, and they accomplish this with the exclusiveness factor.

But rather than charge a fortune they just follow the Abercrombie “nightclub” approach. The personnel is arrogant and aloof but their lack of needing the customer is exactly their appeal. It may not be directly evident but indirectly it is a very powerful mechanism to grow demand.

Just look at how Europeans from London to Milan are going head over heels to buy merchandise from this palace of cool.