Abercrombie and Fitch were outfitters for Amelia Earhart and Ernest Hemingway

bBefore Abercrombie & Fitch’s Mike Jeffries crafted a 2000s shrine to soft-core eroticism, ersatz sophistication and sexual exploitation scandals, the store was a pioneer in a very different way: as the first stop on every explorer’s expedition .

Abercrombie Co. first opened in 1892 on New York’s South Street, a short walk from the brokerage houses, banks and law firms of Wall Street, but a world away from the decorous tumult of gentlemanly business.