Since opening the doors to its New York City boutique on Elizabeth Street in 2021, Abbode has become a go-to brand for all things kitschy and fun. After pivoting the business in 2022 to focus on custom embroideries and lifestyle products, founder Abigail Price has partnered with the likes of C.O. Bigelow, L.L. Bean, Djerf Avenue and J.Crew. 

Now the brand is teaming with Abercrombie & Fitch on a collection of denim fashions and accessories featuring Abbode’s signature, playful embroideries. 

“They reached out to us first, which was crazy and so flattering that a brand like that would even have us on their radar,” Price told WWD of being introduced to the brand via a mutual friend in Columbus, Ohio, where she had coincidentally attended school at Ohio State, near to Abercrombie & Fitch’s global headquarters. During her college years, the founder noted she visited the fashion brand’s HQ while immersed in her school’s fashion programs, making the collaboration “extra special and sentimental,” she said.  

She added that in addition to growing up as a Millennial and loving the American retailer’s clothes, over the last few years she had been purchasing A&F’s garments to embroider for her Abbode campaigns, as the brand solely focused on accessories at its inception.

“Actually, the overalls that are coming out in the collection were directly inspired by a pair of Abercrombie & Fitch overalls that I had bought and embroidered [with Western icons] for myself to wear to our Dallas pop-up in October of last year,” she explained of the collaboration’s cream overalls decorated in embroidered New York City motifs. 

For the collaboration, Price noted that their styles serve as not only an extension of Abercrombie & Fitch’s latest campaign, centered around New York City, but also as a love letter to the city.

“We are thrilled to partner with Abbode, a SoHo-based embroidery and lifestyle brand that shares Abercrombie’s appreciation for creativity and personal style,” said Corey Robinson, brand president of Abercrombie & Fitch. “As a brand with more than 130 years of New York City heritage, collaborating with a local business that celebrates individuality and self-expression felt like a natural fit. We’re excited to introduce this New York-inspired collection to both new and existing customers.”

The collection features nine styles including the cream overalls, dark wash jeans, a denim skirt, white button-down shirt, white and red striped tank tops, a light wash ultra-loose jean, a denim tote bag and Abbode’s signature travel pouch, reimagined in denim. Each style features the emerging company’s signature embroideries, with motifs inspired by New York City including hot dogs, pretzels, apples, pizza, taxi cabs, NYC monograms and more.

“We started with denim because a denim collaboration has been on my manifestation board for years now. We may move into apparel in different directions, but we’re never going to do denim,” Price said of the partnership and Abbode offerings. In addition, she was attracted to the company’s elevated essentials and bestsellers for their shared customers’ fall wardrobing.

The Abercrombie & Fitch x Abbode collection is available to shop via Abercrombie & Fitch’s North American e-commerce and in select stores, including its SoHo and Fifth Avenue locations. To celebrate the partnership, the SoHo store will offer complimentary Abbode embroidery on qualifying purchases, as well as a complimentary Abbode bag charm with purchases over $150, while supplies last.

“I feel so fortunate and so honored that brands at [Abercrombie’s] caliber, who are known across the country, want to work with us. I think it’s also really important to me that we do continue to step things up as we go,” Price said of leveling up her product assortment and creating custom motifs and fonts to stay true to the brand’s origin; focusing on specific collaborations, and growing her retail footprint as the Abbode brand approaches its fifth anniversary later this year.