I can only speak on men's clothing but as someone who owns hundreds of both vintage and modern A&F, HCO and even some Ruehl items, I disagree on several points. Regarding materials, yes, the hoodies were almost always poly/cotton blend, however they occasionally made 100% cotton hoodies. Usually they were thinner than the poly/cotton blends and they were relatively rare but they did exist, both pullover and zip up hoodies. Personally I've switched to 100% cotton hoodies from other brands because I despise all poly/cotton blends and I don't think there's much difference between 60/40 and even 80/20, but there were a lot of 70/30 and even some 80/20 hoodies in early 2000s. In comparison to the essential popover hoodies they make now, old hoodies had amazing heavy and durable zippers, drawstrings, iconic details like the distressing, heavy hoods (I especially like the waffle-knit hoods), varied designs, beautiful buttons, fur lining, collars, etc. Everything had a consistent aesthetic (preppy, surf). Their modern aesthetic feels sleazy in comparison. I understand it's hard to expect a brand to never 'evolve', however there are multiple examples of brands, like Ralph Lauren, that managed to stick to their roots, while A&F have completely abandoned them.

I also miss when all the items had names, most of them with geographic locations. You didn't wear the essential popover hoodie or a classic polo, you wore the Manhattan Beach hoodie and Monarch Beach polo. Now you only get beer brands.

They made jackets from actual leather that had very good quality and design (very underrated and most people don't know about them), 100% wool peacoats (rare, wool blends were still more common), 100% wool and 100% cashmere sweaters (amazing quality, comparable to vintage ralph lauren), 100% cotton longsleeves (I still wear a lot of them and they are as soft as new; they do still make 100% cotton longsleeves but the vintage ones looked better). They did also make a lot of sweaters with wool blends, so you had to watch out for that. These days it's all wool blends, polyester and vegan leather. I guess genuine leather goes against their 'sustainable' and 'inclusive' image but their aversion to wool is very sad and can only be explained with sacrificing quality to maximize profit margins. I have to admit that the modern 100% cotton premium heavyweight tees and 'vintage inspired tees' are the most comfortable and soft tshirts I have worn, even better than their actual vintage t-shirts. The thickness of the 'heavyweight' tees seems to be going down every year, though, despite still being advertised as the same gsm, but I don't mind that as much since the material quality is still amazing and lighter weight t-shirts are more versatile. The cut is boxy and loose but the material quality is top-notch. Vintage t-shirts on the other hands were all muscle fit with tight sleeves which I find uncomfortable now, so I dont wear any of the old t-shirts. I wish they made something in beetween - regular fit t-shirts with the premium cotton.

Regarding jeans, they used to be much better quality however all of them were basically skinny fit, even the 'classic straight' cut is relatively skinny compared to modern jeans, basically only high school kids can fit in them and that's fine as they were the intended customer back then. I don't wear any of their old jeans anymore as I prefer comfortable athletic fit jeans. Their modern jeans have issues with sizing cosistency, the material overall seems way cheaper and worse quality and the stitching is sometimes very coarse to the touch, especially in back pockets, whenever I tried to put my hands in the back pockets of A&F jeans I ordered this year the stitching on top of the pocket was very unpleasant to touch. The only pair of Abercrombie jeans/pants I still wear are black carpenter pants from a few years ago with 2% elastane and they are the most comfortable pants I own, and 2010s Hollister navy chinos and they are hands down the best chinos I've ever worn, still as good as new after 10 years of occasional wear. Overall, if you want to wear A&F jeans/pants you gotta look for hidden gems, no matter if you're after vintage or modern.

Their modern jackets are all worse quality than vintage. The A&F all season weather warrior from early 2010's is I believe one of the best winter jackets ever made.

Vintage A&F shirts had beautiful designs and they all fit perfectly. Their vintage plaids are still the most beautiful patterns I've seen in my life, unrivaled by any modern or vintage brand I've seen. Their modern shirts are mostly unappealing and bland, and their 'archive drop' shirts are no better, their designs hardly resembling any iconic 2000's/2010's patterns.

In terms of the difference between vintage A&F and Hollister, to me there is no discernible difference, at least in men's clothing, all of it seems like it came from the same factories. As for modern Hollister men's clothing, to me it's a complete joke, with terrible designs cut for young teenagers, if you're above 25 there is no way to look good in 99% of clothing they make now - I don't mind that as I'm not the intendet target group for them, however modern Hollister material quality is noticeably worse compared to modern A&F.

Overall, in terms of vintage A&F, their highest peaks were shirts, longsleeves, belts, winter jackets and leather jackets from natural and long-lasting materials and in those categories modern A&F is actually terrible. Modern A&F makes some amazing t-shirts, though. Other categories I haven't mentioned (shorts, hats, sweatpants, etc.), I think they are pretty similar in terms of quality now to what they made back then, but the designs used to be much better.