By Jean E. Palmieri | Link to article

The unit in Williamsburg will be the designer’s sixth location.

Todd Snyder is continuing his retail rollout.

The men’s wear designer will open his next store in April in Williamsburg, Brooklyn — a 3,000-square-foot location in the historic Mill Building at 85 North Third Street.

This will mark Snyder’s sixth permanent location following a 3,500-square-foot store in Rockefeller Center as well as a unit in Greenwich, Conn., which both opened in November.

As a brand founded and based in New York City, Snyder said he has been eyeing the outer borough for some time and wanted to ensure the store has the ability to serve as a one-stop destination for locals and travelers. “As we started to expand in the New York area, Williamsburg was an obvious choice,” he said. “I love finding buildings with history and gravitas, so this location was perfect for us. It’s surrounded by some great neighbors, too, and I can’t wait to see how it all comes together.”

The Brooklyn store will mix signature Todd Snyder utility design details with midcentury-inspired lighting and custom woodwork, alongside the original soaring ceilings, exposed beams and oversize windows of the former factory space. The store will feature an in-house tailor and a vinyl record bar while also offering same-day delivery in New York City, private shopping appointments and the company’s made- to-measure program.

In addition to the designer’s wardrobe essentials such as the selvedge oxfords, jeans and knitwear, the store will also offer suits, suede jackets and other high-end pieces as well as his long-standing collaboration product with Champion and a selection of his favorite brands including Moscot, Foundwell vintage watches, DS & Durga, Rototo, Alden Shoes, Birkenstocks and a large assortment of sneakers.

Snyder, who celebrated his 10th anniversary last year, has been de-emphasizing wholesale in favor of his own direct-to-consumer. He plans to open stores in the Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Dallas, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and Miami markets. He said several additional stores are slated to open this year.

He said sales at his eponymous stores have been strong, including Rock Center, which is closed now for renovation after “an amazing holiday season.” The store will reopen in the spring.

“Our stores have continued to surprise us, especially during the pandemic,” he said. “We’ve chosen locations where we already have a strong customer base, so I’m really excited to finally be able to have physical outposts in these cities. I also look at stores

as a moment for discovery — both for our existing customers who can see what products they may not have known about and for new customers who may choose to pop in to check out a brand they’re unfamiliar with.

The Todd Snyder brand was purchased by American Eagle Outfitters in 2015 for $11 million and Snyder opened his first store under the new ownership, in 2016 in Madison Park. That store, which is his flagship, was followed by the Liquor Store location in TriBeCa in 2019, and a permanent shop in East Hampton.

We’re thrilled to welcome Charles Griffith to the AEO family! In his role as Chief Technology Officer for Quiet Logistics and AirTerra, Charles will lead efforts to develop a robust, comprehensive technology roadmap and strategy while building out a world-class technology team.

Charles joins AEO as a veteran leader with 35 years’ experience building engineering and product teams for companies such as Amazon, IBM, First Data and venture-backed companies. At Amazon, Charles led the technology transformation from retailer to carrier, delivering a global platform for last mile delivery, sortation and linehaul management; enabling the launch of Amazon Logistics (AMZL).

In his most recent role as Founder and CTO for Capstone Logistics’ Last Mile, Charles managed last mile delivery and fulfillment for Staples and Harvey Norman among other large retailers. Throughout his career, Charles has delivered a variety of solutions for retail payments, ecommerce, encryption, CAD, and gaming. He has authored more than a dozen commercial products and has four patents.

We’re excited to have some of the best and brightest talent join the AEO family as we transform our supply chain to create greater agility, speed and diversification for our customers. Keep an eye on LinkedIn and our Corporate Careers page in the coming months as we announce some exciting opportunities to join our growing supply chain technology team!

By Liz Warren | Link to article

American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) announced this week it is raising its 2023 financial targets following a successful holiday season.

The company, which owns teen retailer American Eagle and intimate apparel label Aerie, stated it’s on track to earn $600 million in operating income in 2021, surpassing its 2023 goal of $550 million two years ahead of schedule. The new goals for 2023 include an operating income of $800 million and revenue of $5.8 billion, up from $5.5 billion. Operating margin goals will raise from 10 percent to 13.5 percent.

The new targets are a direct reflection of a holiday season that surpassed pre-pandemic levels for many in the retail industry. According to a recent holiday spending report from Mastercard, holiday retail sales in the U.S. increased about 11 percent compared to the 2019 holiday season.

To read the full article, click here.

By Kellie Ell | Link to article

The retailer expects to reach operating income targets two years ahead of schedule.

American Eagle Outfitters is on a roll.

While competitors throughout the fashion world have begun to express concerns over Omicron’s effects on sales and profits, American Eagle Outfitters — which includes the American Eagle, Aerie, Offline by Aerie, Unsubscribed, AE77 and Todd Snyder brands — did an about-face on the retail industry Tuesday morning, ahead of its presentation at the ICR 2022 virtual retail conference, raising its two-year operating income and revenue targets.

“We’re going to hit record revenues [this quarter],” Michael Mathias, American Eagle Outfitters’ chief financial officer, told WWD in an exclusive interview. “Every quarter this year will be a record-revenue quarter, including the fourth quarter. We’ve had record income quarters all year, every quarter through the second and third quarter. Q4 wouldn’t have quite been a record, but it would have been the highest since 2007, if not for the excess freight costs. Otherwise, we’re pleased with the performance of both brands, the demand level and the bottom line.”

Mathias is referring to the additional $80 million in air and ocean freight costs incurred during the fourth quarter — which the company forecast during November’s conference call — thanks to supply chain disruptions, such as factory closures in Vietnam.

“We spent a lot more than we typically would have on that part of the business, the transportation costs to get the product here,” Mathias said. “But in both brands we’ve seen customer growth through the back half of the year. We’re still trending into a 25 [percent] to 30 percent growth rate in Aerie and that just shows no sign of slowing down. And [the growth drivers] are really [our] strength across all categories and continued new customers are driving growth.

“Not to say that there weren’t some possible disruptions from that supply chain impact. We spent an extra $80 million [on delivery],” he continued. “But I think we rolled over pretty well based on the demand numbers we’re communicating. We were focused and said we were going to spend what we need to spend on freight and transportation costs to get our product here, to mitigate the supply chain disruption back of the business. We didn’t want the customer to feel it during the holiday.”

The formula seems to be paying off. American Eagle Outfitters, which said a year ago that it would reach $550 million in operating income by 2023, and then later said it would hit $600 million by the end of 2021’s fiscal year, is now anticipating it will reach $800 million in operating income by 2023, while also generating $5.8 billion in annual revenues within the same timeframe, up from previous targets of $5.5 billion by 2023. Meanwhile, Aerie’s annual revenues are also expected to surpass $2 billion by 2023, while the company anticipates American Eagle’s annual revenues up slightly from 2019 levels at about $3.6 billion by 2023.

For 2021’s fourth quarter, the retailer is expecting revenue growth in the mid-to-high teens range, compared with 2020’s fourth-quarter results, and up in the mid-teens compared with 2019’s fourth quarter, helping surpass $5 billion in revenues for the year.

“I am extremely proud of the team’s outstanding execution throughout the past year, which has instilled real structural improvements within our company,” said Jay Schottenstein, executive chairman and chief executive officer of the firm. “Inventory and real-estate optimization combined with strong demand fueled by product improvements have reignited profitability at the American Eagle brand. Aerie cemented another year of industry-leading growth and achieved a substantial inflection in profitability as its powerful brand platform continued to scale. Operational excellence drove solid results amidst external disruptions. We closed out a milestone year for our supply chain, anchored by two key acquisitions, which secured cost efficiencies, locked in key strategic advantages and created a new platform for future growth. As I look forward, I see tremendous growth potential and opportunities across the organization. I am excited to see us build on our successes as we strive to reach greater heights and create lasting value for our shareholders.”

Still, headwinds abound throughout the retail industry, such as the recent surge in the Omicron variant. Mathias acknowledged that American Eagle Outfitters too has encountered some challenges, such as staffing shortages in distribution centers and stores, but added, “nothing that’s a significant impact to our business right now. January is the smallest month of the quarter, so the total impact of the quarter, we don’t see as being that significant with Omicron. I think everyone expects the peak [of Omicron] here in January. And we have no reason to believe that won’t be the case. We believe and we hope we won’t see a significant impact in the first quarter into the spring season. And we’ll see how that plays out. Nothing we can control, but we’ll just kind of keep tabs on what we’re seeing in our own business.

“We don’t see any reason to believe that we’ll have serious disruption to our store hours or have significant store closings because of the spike,” he added. “We’re just navigating it week to week.”

In fact, Mathias said the retailer will continue to open more Aerie and Offline locations in the near term, while optimizing the American Eagle real estate fleet. An ideal store count, he said, would be between 600 and 700 American Eagle stores in North America and a combined 500 Aerie stores, adding that leases for some AE locations, many of which were previously slated to close, are being renegotiated thanks to a return to stores in 2021.

“Right now that flexibility is key for us and we’re seeing great results out of our stores, so there’s no reason for us to be more aggressive than we already are around closing,” Mathias said.

“As we head into fiscal year 2022, these [logistics] businesses that we’re acquiring, we believe they could be somewhat significantly additive to both revenue and income for the company,” he added. “These targets [that the company is setting today] for 2023 don’t compensate for that yet. The income benefits we’ve seen, in terms of how we’re managing inventory and delivery costs and supply chain costs, this node network that we partnered with Quiet [Logistics] on over the last year, year and a half, we’ve seen benefits to our expenses, from inventory costs, our markdown costs, merchandise margin benefit from this network, along with controlling delivery and supply chain costs. We continue to leverage and seek continued improvement going forward. The initial reason for the acquisition was to lock down those benefits for our business. But then we also see upside and opportunity in terms of just revenue and income from these logistics businesses that will be additive to our consolidated results go forward.”

Shares of American Eagle Outfitters, which closed down 1.84 percent Monday to $23.51, are up about 2.6 percent, year-over-year.

January 11, 2022

• AEO on track to achieve $600 million in operating income in 2021, surpassing 2023 operating income and margin goals two years ahead of schedule
• New targets reflect $5.8 billion in revenue; 13.5% operating margin; and $800 million in operating income — a 26% CAGR from 2019-2023
• Aerie’s powerful brand platform targeted to reach $2 billion+ in 2023
• American Eagle to leverage structural profit improvements, leading brand position and expanding customer base

PITTSBURGH–(BUSINESS WIRE) – After strong holiday sales, American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE: AEO) is on track to achieve $600 million in operating income for fiscal 2021.

With a year of strong execution across the “Real Power. Real Growth.” value creation plan, the company is on track to surpass its fiscal 2023 operating income and margin goals two years ahead of schedule. Building on this momentum, AEO is raising its 2023 financial targets. The plan will continue to focus on pursuing growth opportunities for Aerie’s powerful brand platform through innovation, expanding deeper into key markets and growing its customer base. Having successfully driven significant and structural improvement in profitability at American Eagle, the brand will now pursue a dual agenda of modest growth and maintaining healthy profit flow-through.

AEO will continue to leverage its leading customer-focused and operational capabilities and maintain its ROI discipline, while building on the power of its people, culture and purpose.

“I am extremely proud of the team’s outstanding execution throughout the past year, which has instilled real structural improvements within our company. Inventory and real-estate optimization combined with strong demand fueled by product improvements have reignited profitability at the American Eagle brand. Aerie cemented another year of industry-leading growth and achieved a substantial inflection in profitability as its powerful brand platform continued to scale. Operational excellence drove solid results amidst external disruptions. We closed out a milestone year for our supply chain, anchored by two key acquisitions, which secured cost efficiencies, locked in key strategic advantages and created a new platform for future growth,” commented Jay Schottenstein, AEO’s Executive Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer. “As I look forward, I see tremendous growth potential and opportunities across the organization. I am excited to see us build on our successes as we strive to reach greater heights and create lasting value for our shareholders.”

Fourth Quarter Outlook

Fueled by strong demand and positive pricing, AEO expects record fourth quarter revenue with growth in the mid-to-high teens compared to fourth quarter 2020, and up in the mid-teens from the fourth quarter of 2019. Operating income is expected to be in the range of $90 to $100 million including approximately $80 million in higher freight costs, due to supply chain disruptions as discussed in November. The fourth quarter profit outlook reflects significant progress and meaningful growth compared to the fourth quarter of 2019.

2023 Financial Outlook

AEO targets revenue of approximately $5.8 billion and operating income of $800 million in fiscal 2023, with the operating margin expanding to 13.5%. These targets exclude potential asset impairment and restructuring charges.

AEO Inc	Previous 2023 Targets	New 2023 Targets
Revenue	$5.5 billion	$5.8 billion
Operating Income	$550 million	$800 million
Operating Margin	10.0%	13.5%

Aerie revenue is expected to reflect a high-20%’s compound annual growth rate to fiscal 2019, reaching approximately $2.2 billion and providing significant profit flow through. American Eagle revenue is expected to be up slightly to fiscal 2019, at approximately $3.6 billion, with improved profitability.

AEO’s executive leadership team will discuss its new targets in detail in a fireside chat at the ICR Conference today at 1pm Eastern Time. The event can be accessed in the Investor Relations section on AEO’s website, http://www.aeo-inc.com. A replay of the event will be archived and made available online on the company’s website.

* * * *

About American Eagle Outfitters, Inc.

American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE: AEO) is a leading global specialty retailer offering high-quality, on-trend clothing, accessories and personal care products at affordable prices under its American Eagle® and Aerie® brands. Our purpose is to show the world that there’s REAL power in the optimism of youth. The company operates stores in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Hong Kong, and ships to 81 countries worldwide through its websites. American Eagle and Aerie merchandise also is available at more than 200 international locations operated by licensees in 24 countries. For more information, please visit www.aeo-inc.com.

SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995

This release and related statements by management contain forward-looking statements (as such term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995), which represent our expectations or beliefs concerning future events, including fourth quarter and annual fiscal 2021 results. All forward-looking statements made by the company involve material risks and uncertainties and are subject to change based on many important factors, some of which may be beyond the company’s control. Words such as “estimate,” “project,” “plan,” “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “potential,” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements. Except as may be required by applicable law, we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise and even if experience or future changes make it clear that any projected results expressed or implied therein will not be realized. The following factors, in addition to the risks disclosed in Item 1A., Risk Factors, of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 30, 2021 and in any other filings that we may make with the Securities and Exchange Commission in some cases have affected, and in the future could affect, the company’s financial performance and could cause actual results for the fourth quarter and fiscal 2021 and beyond to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any of the forward-looking statements included in this release or otherwise made by management: the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and related operational disruptions; the risk that the company’s operating, financial and capital plans may not be achieved; our inability to anticipate customer demand and changing fashion trends and to manage our inventory commensurately; seasonality of our business; our inability to achieve planned store financial performance; our inability to react to raw material cost, labor and energy cost increases; our inability to gain market share in the face of declining shopping center traffic; our inability to respond to changes in e-commerce and leverage omni-channel demands; our inability to expand internationally; difficulty with our international merchandise sourcing strategies; challenges with information technology systems, including safeguarding against security breaches; and global economic, public health, social, political and financial conditions, and the resulting impact on consumer confidence and consumer spending, as well as other changes in consumer discretionary spending habits, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and liquidity.

CONTACT:         

Olivia Messina

412-432-3300

LineMedia@ae.com

By Isabella Simonetti | Link to article

If you got some Aerie in your stocking this season, it wasn’t just a cute pattern that put it there.

If you try on a pair of jeans in Aerie’s dressing room, you’ll be confronted by a slew of post-its with handwritten messages in marker: “Be confident,” “You do you girl,” “We were born to be real. Not perfect.” You can even write your own “body-positive” message for other women to see.

“The fitting room is not supposed to be a room of shame,” President and Executive Creative Director of American Eagle and Aerie Jennifer Foyle said. “It’s supposed to be a room to celebrate who you are. That’s a big part of our store experience and brand experience.”

Since 2014 the American Eagle subsidiary has rebuilt its brand around self-acceptance through its Aerie REAL campaign. It began with a commitment to stop airbrushing photos of models and has evolved into an elaborate digital marketing effort including the recruitment of a diverse set of ambassadors and models like Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman and body-positive influencer and model Remi Bader. Aerie has gained recognition for slowly outpacing lingerie giant Victoria’s Secret, whose supermodel Angels began to seem like cultural relics. Victoria’s Secret — which closed hundreds of stores as its parent company, L Brands, was rocked by charges of sexual harassment and the revelation of close ties between its founder, Leslie H. Wexner, and Jeffrey Epstein — has attempted to rebrand by doing away with the Angels and enlisting the help of new brand representatives like Megan Rapinoe. 

American Eagle Outfitters’ stock price is up 29.99% year to date at $25.83 per share. Victoria’s Secret, which split from L Brands and began trading in August under its own ticker, VSCO, on the New York stock exchange. VSCO is up 4.83% since August at $57.13 per share, though down more than 25% from L Brands’ 2015 peak of $75.92 per share.

Ten years ago, you might’ve bought a bra because you saw it on an ultra-thin model in a store window or on a woman in a luxurious-looking television ad. Deficit marketing — encouraging people to buy products based on qualities, ideals, or a lifestyle that they don’t have — allows brands to capitalize on longing and insecurity. But increased awareness around issues like women’s body image and the impact of social media on mental health is changing business decisions. Aerie — which has sparked 28 consecutive quarters of double-digit growth for the company —  has shown consumers are also inclined to buy products based on values they want to align with as opposed to the people they want to become. 

“There’s been a shift from that towards this other type of marketing that is trying to say: Our product incarnates these values. You as a person have these also good values and therefore by buying our product you are enacting those values,” Rachel Rodgers, associate professor in the Department of Applied Psychology at Northeastern University said.

Rodgers researched body-positive marketing campaigns, focusing on Aerie’s, in 2019. Participants in the study, undergraduates aged 18 to 23, said that they viewed the brand in a more positive light because of its promise not to airbrush photos. 

“We paved the way, Aerie did,” Foyle said. “I think we took a very bold move in fashion, we were the first to do so and we set out to not airbrush our models and have that become part of the Aerie brand which now you would know as Aerie REAL.”

Other brands have rolled out similar marketing campaigns focused on empowerment and body positivity, dating back to the early 2000s. Unilever, the owner of Dove, started the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty in 2004, to promote confidence among young women. The National Eating Disorders Association, which Aerie has a partnership with, has highlighted other body-positive campaigns including Dressbarn’s More Than a Name, Always’ #LikeAGirl, and Glossier’s Body Hero campaign. 

Aerie’s focus on more realistic, inclusive models has been accompanied by substantial business successes for the brand, according to associate partner at Clarkston Consulting Sean Burke.

“Inclusive marketing is a big trend across the board and they’re one of the ones who seems to have embraced it the best,” he said. 

Burke also noted that there has been intense “disruption” in the retail space over the past few years, which makes Aerie’s sustained success all the more impressive. The company has also managed to leverage the rise of TikTok to its advantage by using influencer marketing to boost sales. 

“Why spend tons of money to put a generic commercial up and not know if you’re going to have a captive audience at that point in time when you can pay an influencer who has potentially millions of followers, and many of them very loyal, and some of which have cultured a community to where people want to follow exactly what this person’s doing or feel like you’re part of a group in doing so?” Burke said. 

It’s not just big names like Raisman and Bader who are generating revenue for Aerie, though. According to Burke, the brand has also effectively used micro-influencers to push their content to smaller audiences. 

“There are big influencers out there that can generate a lot of the more viral nature of marketer influencing, but these micro-influencers have these really tight communities that can be positive,” he said.

While Aerie has successfully rebranded around “body positivity,” there’s a conflict of interest that occurs when a brand is using values-based marketing to encourage a customer to buy something. Still, as Rodgers’ research indicates, Aerie’s marketing efforts appear to serve young women in making them feel less insecure about themselves while buying things. 

“There is an inherent tension between selling something — I mean it’s more obvious if the product is something like cellulite cream — and saying at the same time ‘but you should love your body!’ Rodgers said. “At the same time, if it leads brands to change their imagery, is that not yet still a good thing?”

Featured Image: Aerie REAL’s 2020 Role Models Aly Raisman, Dre Thomas, Manuela Baron, Tiff McFierce, Beanie Feldstein, Keiana Cave, Hari Nef, Jenna Kutcher, Ali Stroker, and Iskra Lawrence at the brand’s Evening Of Change event on January 23, 2020. (Photo by Gonzalo Marroquin/Getty Images for Aerie) (Photo by Gonzalo Marroquin/Getty Images for Aerie)

Purchase solidifies operational efficiencies for AEO and creates a supply chain platform with significant long-term growth potential

December 29, 2021

PITTSBURGH — (BUSINESS WIRE) – American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE: AEO) today announced it has completed the acquisition of Quiet Logistics and strategic investments for approximately $360 million in cash (including adjustments for closing cash and working capital). Quiet Logistics is a leading logistics company that operates a network of in-market fulfillment centers in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, St. Louis and Jacksonville, locating products closer to need, creating inventory efficiencies, cost benefits and affordable same-day and next-day delivery options to customers and stores.

“I am thrilled to officially welcome Quiet Logistics into the AEO Inc. portfolio, cementing a collaborative partnership that has meaningfully contributed to our financial results over the past 18 months,” said Jay Schottenstein, AEO’s Executive Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer. “AEO’s unique ability to reduce delivery costs amid rising inflation is a direct reflection of the efficiencies provided by their innovative fulfillment model. Quiet Logistics has a highly experienced supply chain leadership team and I look forward to their partnership as we continue to drive operational excellence and grow the platform into a meaningful business.”

Quiet Logistics will be a wholly-owned AEO subsidiary and will continue to run its business independently. The network will support AEO’s continued growth, while also driving economies of scale as it expands its customer base to other brands and retailers seeking advanced logistics capabilities.

* * * *

About Quiet Logistics

Founded in 2009, Quiet Logistics is a rapidly growing operator of state-of-the-art in-market fulfillment centers, and serves over 50 leading DTC and Omnichannel brands. Quiet’s unique strategy enables product to be positioned close to customers and stores, and brings speed and freight cost savings to its customers relative to traditional third-party fulfillment networks. Quiet has a history of innovation and thought leadership and a focus on urbanization, automation, and access to labor pools outside of traditional DC hubs, to benefit its customers.

About American Eagle Outfitters, Inc.

American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE: AEO) is a leading global specialty retailer offering high-quality, on-trend clothing, accessories and personal care products at affordable prices under its American Eagle® and Aerie® brands. Our purpose is to show the world that there’s REAL power in the optimism of youth. The company operates stores in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Hong Kong, and ships to 81 countries worldwide through its websites. American Eagle and Aerie merchandise also is available at more than 200 international locations operated by licensees in 33 countries. For more information, please visit http://www.aeo-inc.com.

CONTACTS:
Olivia Messina
412-432-3300
LineMedia@ae.com

Kelly Whitten
Kekst CNC
212-521-4825
kelly.whitten@kekstcnc.com

By Danny Parisi | Link to article

Currently, the biggest challenge among most everyone in fashion is the supply chain. Shutdowns at factories, congestion in the ports and delays in shipping have all contributed to headaches across brands’ operations. 

Michael Rempell, chief operating officer at American Eagle Outfitters Inc., was in the thick of it this year, overseeing operations for the $3.7 billion-dollar company. AEO took a novel approach to overcoming shipping delays, heavily investing in supply chain infrastructure solutions. In August, the company acquired air logistics company AirTerra for an undisclosed sum. And Rempell said it plans to acquire Quiet Logistics, a supply chain company specializing in order fulfillment and return management, at the beginning of 2022. AEO has worked with the company for years. AirTerra reaches 61% of the country.

The acquisitions were an unusual move for the brand, which has only acquired two companies, both of which were clothing companies, in the last two decades. 

Rempell said the acquisitions have already had a tangible impact on the company’s business. In the quarter ending on May 1, 2021, AEO delivered products an average of 1.5 days faster than it did in 2019.

“Having an agile, sophisticated, technology-led supply chain is increasingly critical to the success of any business today,” Rempell said. “We have lowered delivery costs, delivered faster to our customers and increased overall inventory efficiencies. I’m really proud of how AEO is leading the way for the supply chain of the future.”

Rempell said his focus of making American Eagle a shipping and logistics company with its own internal infrastructure will continue into 2022. The company has made several other investments in the space.

“I am incredibly excited about the major growth opportunities ahead for our supply chain organization,” Rempell said. “We have recently invested in Ghost Retail, a live video shopping app to further elevate our customer experience, and in Radar, a software solution powered by RFID and computer vision to improve efficiencies. Both of these businesses demonstrate meaningful growth opportunities.”

By India Roby | Link to article

The Outer Banks star spoke with NYLON about working with American Eagle, holiday traditions, and more.

On Friday, Dec. 3, American Eagle kicked off the early morning with an interactive holiday shopping event at its SoHo location in New York, with guest appearances from the brand’s muses Addison Rae, Madison Bailey, and Chase Stokes. At the flagship store, invited guests were greeted with baked goods and coffee, a fun TikTok video booth, and, of course, a curated selection of the American Eagle’s new winter collection spotlighted by the famous trio.

This holiday season, American Eagle has introduced a range of pieces that not only make great gifts for your loved ones but will also have you wanting to treat yourself, too. Some of the standout items from the brand’s winter line offer everything you’d ever want to cozy up to and lounge around in, like comfy flannel hoodies, must-have jeans, chunky sweaters, oversized band tees, and so much more.

During the celebration, Stokes, who plays the brunette heartthrob John B in Netflix’s coming-of-age mystery series Outer Banks, was seen sporting the ultimate cabincore look, as he wore a red flannel hoodie over a gray tee, military-green cargo pants, and Sorel hiker boots, all by American Eagle.

Ahead, Chase Stokes spoke with NYLON about his favorite holiday styles and traditions, his partnership with American Eagle, and more.

You’ve worked with American Eagle for quite some time now. How has it been starring in the brand’s campaigns, especially with your co-star Madison Bailey?

It’s been great! I think doing our show and having that sort of platform that we’ve created to work with a brand that also hits our audience, in particular, has been fun. [American Eagle] has been so willing to allow our creative input with both of the campaigns that we’ve done, so it’s been really cool to have our own creative touch on everything that we’ve done over the past year and some change now. Working with Mads is just awesome, and she’s one of my best friends so we always have fun whenever we’re doing anything.

It seems like you’re diving more into the fashion world lately. How has that been for you?

I’m always about pushing boundaries and creatively expressing myself in different ways. So, you know, obviously, I have my work on camera, but being able to dive into the fashion space has been a lot of fun and a different kind of contrasting world. It’s another way to express myself, so I love it and I’m just going to continue to do my own little thing.

I also have a wonderful stylist that I work with, Avo Yermagyan, and he always knows what I like and what I’m into. He’s been with me since before Outer Banks started so we have an incredible friendship that is also a work relationship. We have a lot of fun doing stuff that whenever I’m wearing something, it’s always his mastermind genius behind it, as well.

What have been some of your favorite memories with AE so far?

Finding out that we were going to do the first campaign, and then me and Madison getting to shoot that in Charleston was so incredibly special because Charleston has become a home to all of us on Outer Banks. We shot that in our backyard and to have the creative input to do it there was just really cool. It was our first major campaign and we got to work with a company like American Eagle that has such good core values and cares about their consumers and the people that actually wear the clothes.

Do you have a favorite cozy winter trend that you’ve been loving so far?

Oversized sweaters, especially since I have a dog. Sometimes at like six o’clock in the morning when he wakes up and wants to go outside, the comfiest, warmest thing that I have available is usually a giant sweater of some sort. Also, I’ve been loving joggers, especially from American Eagle, and they’ve been my go-to over the last couple of weeks as it’s gotten colder. I’m shooting a movie in Atlanta right now and it’s actually colder in Atlanta now than it was getting here in NYC. It’s just the easy way to slap something on and go to work and when I’m walking my dog or whatever happens.

I know you must be so busy these days. How do you manage such a jam-packed schedule?

I’ve got a great team who keeps up with my schedule and I’m very grounded by my family. I’m very close with my mother and all of my siblings, so with them in my life, they’re the first people I text in the morning and the last people I text at night. Without them, I don’t know where I would be, so my saving grace is for sure my family.

What are the holiday traditions that you absolutely cannot skip out on, whether that’s with your family, friends, or yourself?

My mom is a big arts-and-crafts person during the holiday so we always have ornaments. Also, there’s one thing that we do before we open presents, which is to say one thing that we’re thankful for to each person in the room. I have a bunch of siblings and so we go around the room and say why we’re thankful for every person. My mom is big on bringing everything and grounding it before you dive into gifts and all of the things that Christmas has, so I always love doing that because it’s always a tear in somebody’s eye. By the end of it, you’re super grateful for it, and it’s the season of giving instead of taking, so we’re always giving positive affirmations to those that you love.

What’s your biggest New Year’s resolution for 2022?

Don’t sweat the small things. In the last two years, really, everything has been so crazy and then the world opened up and you have all of these distractions around you. I’ve thankfully been working a lot this year, so it’s easy to get distracted because the world is so insane. Whether it’s a new variant of the virus or situations that are happening, family emergencies, I’ve actually had a lot of people who have passed in the last few years. So for me, it’s staying grounded in the things that matter and not worrying about the little minor things that nobody really cares about. Having humility and an ego check to say, “I’m just another human being walking down the street.”

What’s a great piece from AE that people must gift their loved ones or themselves this season?

I think these flannel hoodies are great because they go both ways. You can wear them down or take the hoodie off and then it can just be a nice little flannel. You can dress them up or just put on a nice pair of jeans and some boots to go out in. The last thing I would say is boxers. I think everybody loves a good pair of boxers to lounge around whether you’re a guy or girl, like it’s such a great piece to have. So especially with the holiday seasons where everything’s slowing down, you’re like, “Man, I just want to lay down and turn on some Netflix in boxers.” Oh, and there are also these really nice moccasins that are super cozy, too.

Season 2 of Outer Banks aired not that long ago, but are you currently working on anything at the moment that you can share?

Right now, I’m doing a film with an incredible cast called Uglies and it’s based on the book series by Scott Westerfield. We actually finish filming in about two weeks and we’ve been doing that for the last three months in Atlanta with Joey King, Keith Powers, Brianne Tju, Laverne Cox who were just announced in it, as well. We’ve all been working together for the last couple of months and it’s an incredible story that is incredibly relevant with today’s day and age, with this whole social media craze and the perception of beauty being so skewed and flawed. I’m incredibly excited to tell this story and it’s been a labor of love, and we’ve enjoyed it and this cast as well, like we’ve become incredibly close.

Also, fingers crossed for season three of Outer Banks, you know, we’re all sitting around like, “Please, can we do another one?” Netflix likes to keep everything very tight-lipped, so I’m sure you guys will find out as we find out.