I’m British and toward the end of secondary school in the late 2000s, Hollister, Gilly Hicks and Abercrombie were the ‘cool’ brands. The stores were a dimly lit and heavily fragranced experience and the quality of the clothing was pretty good. Every piece I bought new is still in great shape despite frequent wear. Every piece I bought second hand is pretty okay, maybe not as good because they were bought with imperfections.

I recently waked past a Hollister store and the entire style has changed. I feel like Hollister used to have a very distinctive colour scheme, Abercrombie’s was slightly different. But that seems to have changed a lot. The stores atmosphere is also different.

What happened? I still love my A&F group clothing, just curious as to what the story of the shift was.

I’m also extremely nostalgic for the smell of 2000s Hollister but don’t like perfumes because they give me headaches. Any body spray dupes?