Company type | Public |
---|---|
Industry | Retail |
Founded | 1970Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. (as Free People) | , in
Founders |
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Headquarters | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , U.S. |
Number of locations | 700 (2023) |
Area served |
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Key people | Richard Hayne (CEO) |
Products |
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Revenue | US$3.9 billion (2019) [1] |
US$231 million (2019) [1] | |
US$168 million (2019) [1] | |
Total assets | US$3.3 billion (2019) [1] |
Total equity | US$1.4 billion (2019) [1] |
Owner | Richard Hayne (19.9%) [2] |
Number of employees | 24,000 [1] (2019) |
Subsidiaries |
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Website |
Urban Outfitters, Inc. (URBN) is a multinational fast-fashion company headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. [3] Operating in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, select Western European countries, Poland, [4] the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Qatar, the Urban Outfitters brand targets young adults with a merchandise mix of women's and men's fashion apparel, footwear, beauty and wellness products, accessories, activewear and gear, and housewares, as well as music, primarily vinyl records and cassettes.
The company was founded as the retail store Free People by Richard Hayne, Judy Wicks and Scott Belair in 1970 as a project for an entrepreneurship class at University of Pennsylvania. [5] It was renamed to Urban Outfitters and incorporated in 1976. [5]
Urban Outfitters, Inc. (URBN) carries multiple stores within the URBN portfolio of brands, which also includes Anthropologie, Free People, Terrain, BHLDN and the Vetri Family restaurant group. Much of the merchandise is designed and produced by the company's wholesale division on these multiple private labels. [6]
In the 1970s, Dick Hayne opened a store and called it Free People in West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As the store eventually grew from one to two storefronts, the name was changed from Free People to Urban Outfitters. [7]
In 2007, the company received the National Preservation Honor Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation for the Urban Outfitters Corporate Office Campus located on the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.[ why? ] [8]
In 2011, it agreed to sell limited editions of Polaroid ONE600 instant cameras and Type 779 instant film in partnership with the Austrian entrepreneur Florian Kaps, who acquired the rights to manufacture 700 copies of the defunct product. [9] In January 2013, it hired the Abraham & Roetzel lobbying firm, led by former Republican Sen. Spencer Abraham, to advocate on its behalf in Washington, D.C., regarding retail industry policy. [10]
In Q4 2015, the company announced plans to acquire the Vetri Family, a Philadelphia restaurant group. As the company was facing declining same store sales and foot traffic, the acquisition illustrated the retailer's shift in strategy. This includes restaurants Amis Trattoria, Bar Amis, and Pizzeria Vetri. There are two Pizzeria Vetri locations in Philadelphia, with other locations in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, Devon, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. [11]
In 2019, the company drew attention by announcing the sale of used VHS tapes for $40. [12] In the same year, Urban Outfitters launched Nuuly, a subscription clothing rental service. Following that, the company launched Nuuly Thrift, a resale platform for buying and selling women's, men's and kids’ apparel and accessories from URBN labels and other brands. [13]
As of 2020, Urban Outfitters does not publicly disclose which factories produce the brand's clothing. [14] It also has no human resources department. [3]
In December 2022, Urban Outfitters announced the departure of its president, Francis Pierrel, from the company. [15] [16]
Urban Outfitters' products have also been the subject of multiple complaints and criticism, largely from religious, ethical, and ethnic pressure groups including a local chapter of the NAACP, [17] [18] Anti-Defamation League [19] and Navajo Nation for some of their products.
On November 27, 2009, URBN drew the attention of the Swedish press for denying collective bargaining rights to employees at their Stockholm store by making all 38 workers redundant and re-hiring them through employment agency Academic Work. [20] [21] In response to the move, ombudsman Jimmy Ekman called for tougher laws to prevent other firms denying collective bargaining rights in this way. [22]
In 2019, a former executive of Chinese descent with 40 years at the company sued it for ethnic and age-based discrimination. [3]
In 2021, the company only received a score of 11-20% in the Fashion Transparency Index, they also have no evidence of ensuring paying living wages to their employees. [23]
Polaroid Corporation was an American company best known for its instant film and cameras, which now survives as a brand for consumer electronics. The company was founded in 1937 by Edwin H. Land, to exploit the use of his Polaroid polarizing polymer. Land and Polaroid created the first instant camera, the Land Camera, in 1948.
Wawa, Inc. is an American chain of convenience stores and gas stations originating in the Philadelphia metropolitan area and located along the East Coast of the United States, operating in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Florida, Alabama, and North Carolina. Wawa is based in, primarily associated with, and mainly concentrated in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, though in recent years it has gradually expanded its store locations beyond the Philadelphia area. The company's corporate headquarters is located in the Wawa area of Chester Heights, Pennsylvania in Greater Philadelphia.
American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. is an American clothing and accessories retailer headquartered at SouthSide Works in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1977 by brothers Jerry and Mark Silverman as a subsidiary of Retail Ventures, Inc., a company that also owned and operated Silverman's Menswear. The Silvermans sold their ownership interests in 1991 to Jacob Price of Knoxville, Tennessee. American Eagle Outfitters is the parent company of Aerie, Unsubscribed and Todd Snyder.
Zara is a fashion retail subsidiary of the Spanish multinational fashion design, manufacturing, and retailing group Inditex. Zara sells clothing, accessories, beauty products and perfumes. The head office is located at Arteixo in the province of A Coruña, Galicia. In 2020 alone, it launched over twenty new product lines.
Gimbel Brothers was an American department store corporation that operated for over a century, from 1842 until 1987. Gimbel patriarch Adam Gimbel opened his first store in Vincennes, Indiana, in 1842. In 1887, the company moved its operations to the Gimbel Brothers Department Store in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It became a chain when it opened a second, larger store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1894, moving its headquarters there. At the urging of future company president Bernard Gimbel, grandson of the founder, the company expanded to New York City in 1910.
Ryohin Keikaku Co., Ltd., or Muji is a Japanese retailer which sells a wide variety of household and consumer goods. Muji's design philosophy is minimalist, and it places an emphasis on recycling, reducing production and packaging waste, and a no-logo or "no-brand" policy. The name Muji is derived from the first part of Mujirushi Ryōhin, translated as No-Brand Quality Goods on Muji's European website.
Sheetz, Inc. is an American chain of convenience stores. Its stores, which are open 24/7 year-round, offer made-to-order fast food, and most include a gas station, while a few locations are full-scale truck stops, offering showers and a laundromat. The family-owned company has over 21,000 employees, and operates more than 750 company-owned stores located in Central and Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, and Michigan.
Free People is an American bohemian apparel and lifestyle retail company that sells women’s clothing, accessories, shoes, intimates, and swimwear. It also has a beauty and wellness category, which includes products such as cosmetics, skin, and oral care, oral supplements, crystals, and books. Their headquarters is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Free People is a part of Urban Outfitters, Inc., along with Anthropologie, BHLDN, Terrain, and the Vetri family restaurant group.
Streetwear is a style of casual clothing which became global in the 1990s. It grew from New York hip hop fashion and Californian surf culture to encompass elements of sportswear, punk, skateboarding, 1980s nostalgia, and Japanese street fashion. Later, haute couture became an influence, and was in turn influenced by streetwear. Streetwear centers on comfortable clothing and accessories such as jeans, T-shirts, baseball caps, and sneakers. Brands may create exclusivity through artificial scarcity; enthusiasts follow particular brands and try to obtain limited edition releases, including via proxy purchases.
VF Corporation is an American global apparel and footwear company founded in 1899 by John Barbey and headquartered in Denver, Colorado. The company's 13 brands are organized into three categories: Outdoor, Active and Work. In 2015, the company controlled 55% of the U.S. backpack market with the JanSport, Eastpak, Timberland, and The North Face brands.
Mitchell & Ness Nostalgia Co. is an American sports-related clothing company located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The company was established in 1904 as a sports equipment manufacturer, remaining as the oldest sporting company in Philadelphia. After several years of making baseball and American football uniforms, the company switched direction in 1983, when it decided to recreate vintage jerseys.
Richard Hayne is the president and CEO of Urban Outfitters, an American chain of clothing retailers. Hayne has served as chairman and president since 1976. In 2012, he became CEO following the retirement of Glen Senk. According to the Forbes, Hayne dropped off the Forbes 400 list in 2015. As of March 2019, Hayne ranked #1818 on Forbe's Billionaires 2019 list.
Anthropologie is an American retailer operating in the U.S., Canada, France, Germany and the UK that sells clothing, jewelry, home furniture, decorations, beauty products, and gifts.
The Giant Company is an American regional supermarket chain that operates in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia under the Giant and Martin's brands. It is a subsidiary of Ahold Delhaize, and headquartered in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. As of September 2020, the company operated 190 stores, 133 pharmacies, and 105 fuel stations. The chain also provides online shopping and delivery to New Jersey through Giant Direct.
Gordmans was a retailer founded in Omaha, Nebraska. The chain is owned by BrandX as of May 2022. In 2019, Stage Stores began converting other retail chains it owned into Gordmans stores, with the goal of having 700 Gordmans stores in 42 states by the end of 2020. In May 2020, Stage Stores filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and began liquidating its stores. Although a buyer for Stage could have prevented liquidation, Stage later announced that they would proceed with going out of business sales at all locations. There is one store in the town of Algonquin, Illinois.
Sophie Mechaly, previously known as Sophie Albou, is a Paris-born designer best known as the founder of the Paul & Joe clothing line. The daughter of Yvan and Nicole Haggiag, a clothing company executive and designer respectively, Mechaly worked for the clothing company Azzedine Alaia in 1983, and was later educated at the Sorbonne and the Institut Français de la Mode.
Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (A&F) is an American lifestyle retailer that focuses on contemporary clothing. Its headquarters are in New Albany, Ohio. The company operates three offshoot brands: Abercrombie Kids, Hollister Co., and Gilly Hicks. As of February 2020, the company operated 854 stores across all its brands.
Norm Thompson Outfitters was a privately owned catalog and internet retailer based in Middleton, Massachusetts that was previously based in Hillsboro, Oregon, United States until September 2016. The Norm Thompson offices were closed and consolidated due to Bluestem's acquisition of their parent company, Orchard Brands, in July 2015. Founded in 1949 by Norman A. (Norm) Thompson as a mail order business, it grew to annual sales of $200 million before it was sold to Golden Gate Capital Partners in 2006. The company sells clothing, gadgets, furniture, kitchen items, and gift items from its namesake catalog as well as from its Solutions and Sahalie brands. John Difrancesco serves as president and chief executive of the 500 employee company.
Ralph Lauren Corporation, the legal name of the Ralph Lauren brand, is an American publicly traded luxury fashion company that was founded in 1967 by American fashion designer Ralph Lauren. Headquartered in New York City, the company produces luxury products. Ralph Lauren is known for marketing and distributing products in four categories: apparel, home, accessories, and fragrances. Known mostly for its flagship brand Polo Ralph Lauren, the company's brands include mid-range, sub-premium, and premium labels up to its highest priced luxury Ralph Lauren Purple Label apparel.
BHLDN is an American women's clothing retailer that specializes in wedding dresses, bridesmaid dresses, bridal accessories, and wedding décor. Headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, BHLDN is owned by Urban Outfitters, and is a sister brand to Anthropologie.