Retailer tones it down

NEW YORK -- Abercrombie & Fitch is saying goodbye to the shirtless beefcake models who greeted customers at its doors.

The New Albany, Ohio-based company, which operates stores under its namesake brand and Hollister, announced Friday that store associates will not be hired "based on body type or physical attractiveness" and it will no longer call them "models" but "brand representatives." It also said that its employees can be more individualistic when they dress, ditching its "look policy," which banned eyeliner and certain hair styles among other things.

It's also bidding adieu to "sexualized" photos in marketing materials in its stores and on its gift cards and shopping bags, starting in late July.

The moves are part of a new set of changes the retailer announced Friday as it distances itself from the controversial sexualized image established by former CEO Mike Jeffries, who abruptly resigned in December amid sluggish sales. Jeffries was at the helm more than two decades. But analysts wonder: if Abercrombie ditches the "sexy," what new marketing gimmick will the retailer embrace to get shoppers back in its stores?

"Abercrombie & Fitch has to find its niche. I don't know what that's going to be. Edgy was it," said Ken Perkins, president of Retail Metrics LLC, a retail research firm. "You are not going to see totally wholesome, but I think the era has passed it by. They need to do something different."

Jeffries had reinvented the chain from an ailing retailer of hunting apparel to a seller of teen clothing that became a must-have brand for young consumers fueled by racy ads and catalogs and eye candy associates that helped keep sales sizzling. A big tradition: using shirtless models for store openings and events.