Income Taxes (Deferred Income Tax Assets (Liabilities)) (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	Jan. 31, 2015	Feb. 01, 2014
Deferred tax assets:
Deferred compensation	$ 83,157	$ 91,585
Accrued expenses and reserves	17,695	22,403
Rent	38,881	49,170
Net operating losses (NOL) and credit carryforwards	14,897	12,611
Other	1,403us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsOther	307us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsOther
Valuation allowances	(6,730)	(202)
Total deferred tax assets	149,303us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsNet	175,874us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsNet
Deferred tax liabilities:
Property, equipment and intangibles	(16,059)	(36,266)
Inventory	(11,332)	(8,487)
Store supplies	(7,046)anf_DeferredTaxLiabilitiesStoreSupplies	(7,798)anf_DeferredTaxLiabilitiesStoreSupplies
Prepaid expenses	(2,438)	(2,116)
Other	(1,424)us-gaap_DeferredTaxLiabilitiesOther	(3,754)us-gaap_DeferredTaxLiabilitiesOther
Total deferred tax liabilities	(38,299)us-gaap_DeferredTaxLiabilities	(58,421)us-gaap_DeferredTaxLiabilities
Net deferred income tax assets	$ 111,004us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsLiabilitiesNet	$ 117,453us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsLiabilitiesNet

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