American Eagle Outfitters, Inc (AEO, Inc) is a multi-brand apparel retailer. It was founded in 1977 and was part of the Silvermans Mens Wear, which focused on men’s apparel and accessories. The Silverman brothers decided to expand their business and thus opened American Eagle to sell apparel, footwear and accessories for men and women. American Eagle quickly established itself as a mall store, it also offered a successful mail-order catalog. At that time they were known to offer “rugged” apparel that appealed to both men and women. In 1980 the Silvermans ran into financial difficulties and sold 50% of the company to the Schottenstiein family, which also owned Value City, DSW Shoes, and Filene’s Basement. American Eagle continued to grow …show more content…
The Gap wished to buy AEO in 1989 but negotiations had fallen through. In the 1990’s the Schottenstein family bought the remaining 50% of AEO and named Jay L. Schottenstein as the CEO, who is still the CEO. American Eagle saw the height of their business peak in the 1990’s, and decided to become a publicly traded company in 1994, with the Schottenstein family maintaining 60% of the shares. They made $37million by becoming an IPO and invested that money back into the company by aggressively expanding and renovating. AEO success garnered the attention of one of its competitor’s, Abercrombie & Fitch which sued AEO three times. A&F accused AEO of intentionally copying their style and content. The cases were either dismissed or won by AEO. Presently AEO operates over 1,000 retail stores and online stores in the United States and …show more content…
AEO has been able to maintain their success and their sales have risen for the tenth straight quarter. This is in contrast to Abercrombie & Fitch who has had 18 straight quarters of sliding comps. This is also better than The Gap, which has had declining comps until recently. One of AEO’s strengths has been the Aerie brand which has seen double-digit expansion. This is far better than Victoria Secret which has seen their comps down by 14%. Another successful area has been their jeans, which they try to emphasis style and fit that appeals to their customers. Piper Jaffray has ranked AEO as the second most popular clothing brand among teens. They also ranked AEO as teens 3rd favorite shopping website after Nike and Amazon. American Eagle has successfully maintained a fresh following among teens and young adults, unlike much of their