Abercrombie and Fitch, considered by some a bellwether of the ‘massclusive’ market because of its various refusals to discount during the recession and other flailing efforts to stay an aspirational brand for high-school and college kids getting a nascent grasp on class warfare, reported widespread fail in its US stores:

Sales at stores open at least a year dropped 13 percent in the quarter. This figure is a key indicator of retailer performance since it measures growth at existing stores rather than newly opened ones.

Abercrombie reported declines across all brands for sales at stores open at least a year. At Hollister, the key sales figure slipped 19 percent, while abercrombie kids posted an 11 percent decline. For its namesake stores, the key sales figure fell 8 percent.

Abercrombie’s full-year profit sagged to $254,000, or break-even, from $272.3 million, or $3.05 per share, in the prior year. Annual sales slid 16 percent to $2.93 billion.

Profits also suffered from the closure of stores that sold a spinoff line called Ruehl, which still has a website, and its meta description tag reads “Ruehl defines the aspirational Greenwich Village lifestyle.” Yeah, not the kind of thing that was likely to survive when the economy was less Greenwich and more Canarsie.

These numbers were still good enough to beat estimates and the chain also reported an 86% increase in international sales. And, from what I can tell, they will be saving on advertising costs by using the exact same signage with half-naked grainy photos that they use in the US. It also appears they are using the same half-naked Anglocentric models – reinforcing my suspicion that they actually have a cloning machine: