Abercrombie and Disposable Income....

I try to keep an eye on fashion trends so I am not a walking time warp for the 90s. I certainly don't jump at every new trend for the sake of it being "trendy", but I would be lying if I said I don't peep catalogs and my inbox does not occasionally get occupied with fashion news, future trends and industry tid bits. Well, today I was checking out this email from A&F. Call me crazy, but why is the demographic for that clothing plunging to the teen set? Really. The models are mostly in their teens and the styles are pretty overly casual. I know, I know, AF does use that stupid tag line of "Casual Luxury". Lame! What teen has the disposable income to drop $69 on a button up shirt, or $59 on a pair of "distressed" shorts or a polo. That is crazy. I would certainly not consider myself an AF person since I like to mix up my wardrobe and can usually find at least one piece from any store I go to or site I visit although I have a shirt or two from AF I got on clearance and notice at least the two I have to be of slightly higher quality than your average brand...SLIGHTLY. Certainly not enough to drop $69 on it several weeks before it hit clearance.
Back to my point of this post. Since it does seem AF's target audience is younger than I and many college students, how do these teen kids afford this crap? Man, I could go broke trying to get all the latest clothes from this place. I know the vibe in the store is like we are supposed to be transferred to the 90210 zip code and flossin' like we were in Bev. Hills, but come on... I guess daddy's credit cards keep these kids looking good and you can catch me at the clearance rack if you need me... :p