Dive Brief:

• Abercrombie & Fitch Co. is suspending its search for a CEO, the company said Tuesday.

• The company has been run for more than a year by a group of execs rather than one chief executive, including COO Jonathan Ramsden, Hollister brand president Fran Horowitz, and Abercrombie brand president Christos Angelides. 

• The company is paring that down, however, and some observers say that, though the company says the search is off, it’s down to Horowitz and Ramsden in the race for CEO. Angelides has been let go, and Horowitz is taking on the newly created position of president-chief merchandising officer, the company said.

Dive Insight:

Abercrombie is the second teen-apparel retailer this month that will keep a certain status quo in its executive ranks. American Eagle Outfitters made official Jay L. Schottenstein’s role as CEO there earlier this year, one he’s filled on an interim basis since January 2014 and held previously from 1992 through 2002. 

At Abercrombie, longtime CEO Mike Jeffries stepped down a year ago after years of creating a “cool kid” ethos at the retailer, something that didn’t seem to resonate with shoppers anymore. Rather than launch an executive search, the company at that time created an “office of the chairman” that included Ramsden, Horowitz, and Angelides.

Executive chairman Arthur Martinez noted that the retailer has emerged from its recession-era doldrums with a new approach that has helped revive the brand away from the logo-centric model that had fallen out of favor.

”Abercrombie & Fitch Co. continues to make encouraging progress executing on its strategy to provide compelling, customer-focused shopping experiences based on clearly defined brand positions,”  Martinez said in a statement. “We are pleased with our performance for the quarter to date and are on track to deliver continued sequential improvement in comparable sales and achieve the profit expectations we had coming into the quarter."

And he praised Horowitz’s merchandising skills, for good reason. Merchandising is key to the turnaround in the apparel space, which is requiring differentiation and pivots from past trends these days.

"Fran's merchandising skills and her exceptional leadership, which has inspired associates to focus all their efforts on an intense understanding and commitment to our customers, has ignited a turnaround at our Hollister brand," he said. "This promotion provides Fran the opportunity to play an even greater role in our future success as we focus on building shareholder value by positioning each of our brands for sustainable growth."