By: Jill Manoff | Link to article

The Glossy 50 honors the year’s biggest changemakers across fashion and beauty.

For Todd Snyder, who launched his namesake menswear brand in 2011, hosting a runway show at Pitti Uomo in January wasn’t just his 2024 highlight, but it was also the highlight of his whole career.

“I knew it was going to be an epic moment, so — after some self-doubt — I threw myself into the process,” he said. He recalled meeting with his brand’s Italian mills and weavers to “create things nobody’s done before” and subsequently “pushing the boundaries of what men can wear” with his 80-look fall 2024 collection.

“I had stopped doing shows and even lookbooks during the pandemic and had convinced myself I didn’t need them anymore because my business was skyrocketing,” he said. “But the experience rebuilt that muscle of building a [runway] collection and got me hooked again.”

He added, “There were a lot of moments this year that kind of just blew me away.”

Based on customer demand, Snyder made many of the runway pieces available in a new, limited-edition Collection line made in Italy and Portugal. It has been worn by celebrities including Jake Gyllenhaal, Sterling K. Brown and Matt Bomer.

“We want to maintain a ‘good, better, best’ strategy, making sure the ‘best’ is made up of pieces that can stand up to a luxury player,” Snyder said. Currently, Todd Snyder sells everything from $60 T-shirts to $6,000 shearling coats.

While the runway show increased brand awareness and prompted some product expansion, Snyder called the brand’s retail expansion its biggest growth vehicle this year. Before the pandemic, Todd Snyder operated just two brand stores, both in NYC. Today, it has 19, averaging five openings per year since 2020.

Snyder credited Jay Schottenstein, executive chairman and CEO of Todd Snyder parent company American Eagle Outfitters, Inc., with driving the store expansion. Snyder, meanwhile, has ensured each store is “special,” retaining the brand’s reputation for offering discovery. For example, in New York, the brand’s top sales market, the brand has a 5,000-square-foot Madison Avenue flagship housing a tailor and a coffee shop. It also has a Tribeca-based “Liquor Store” offering a hyper-curated product selection in an 800-square-foot space.

“We take a hub-and-spoke approach to our stores,” Snyder said. “We have a flagship and also smaller experiences [in the same city].”

In late 2023, as his company was reaching the $100 million revenue milestone and prepping for its first international runway show, Snyder realized he was “moving into the big leagues,” he said, and strategized accordingly. That included hiring a communications consultant and a new head of performance marketing. And this year, with the brand pacing to exceed $130 million in sales, it’s been “planting seeds” for international expansion. That has included trading a U.S.-focused PR company for KCD, which has four global offices.

Also necessitating a more global view is Snyder’s position as creative director of Woolrich’s new Black Label line, announced in November 2023. Woolrich, a nearly 200-year-old outdoor apparel brand, has dedicated fanbases in Asia and Europe. Prior to Snyder taking on an official role at the company, his brand had partnered with Woolrich on product collaborations, in keeping with its routine of putting fresh spins on iconic products. Todd Snyder’s other collaborators have included Champion, since 2012, and Timex.

Within five years, Snyder hopes to operate 40-50 stores and reach $500 million in annual sales.

“We definitely see white space, so we’re trying to grab market share,” Snyder said. “You’ve got your top-tier luxury players, which are crazy expensive right now. And then you’ve got this huge swath of brands on the lower end, like Buck Mason and J.Crew. And then it’s wide open.”

As such, Snyder said, “We’re just getting started.”

AEO Inc. Reports Third Quarter Growth Across Brands Reflecting Strong Execution on Powering Profitable Growth Plan

• Aerie achieved all-time high third quarter revenue with comps up 5%, following 12% reported comp growth last year
• American Eagle comps increased 3%, following 2% reported comp growth last year
• Operating Income was $106 million. Adjusted Operating Income of $124 million reflected an Adjusted Operating Margin of 9.6%
• Annual outlook updated; Remain on track to deliver mid-teen adjusted operating income growth, in line with long-term targets

December 4, 2024

PITTSBURGH — (BUSINESS WIRE) – American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE: AEO) today announced financial results for the third quarter fiscal 2024 ended November 2, 2024.

“Building on our positive performance in the first half of the year, third quarter results provide another proof point of the effectiveness of our Powering Profitable Growth Plan. Led by a strong back-to-school season, we achieved comparable sales growth across brands and channels, and delivered adjusted operating income at the high end of our guidance range,” commented Jay Schottenstein, AEO’s Executive Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer.

“We have entered the holiday season well positioned, with our leading brands offering high-quality merchandise, great gifts and an outstanding shopping experience across channels. Key selling periods have seen a positive customer response, yet we remain cognizant of potential choppiness during non-peak periods. The teams are focused on delivering the quarter and with our strong year-to-date performance, we remain confident in achieving our long-term strategic objectives,” he concluded.

Third Quarter 2024 Results:

• Third quarter 2024 results are presented for the 13 weeks ended November 2, 2024 compared to the 13 weeks ended October 28, 2023. Comparable sales metrics are presented for the 13 weeks ended November 2, 2024 compared to the 13 weeks ended November 4, 2023.
• Total comparable sales increased 3%, following 5% reported comp growth last year.
• Total net revenue of $1.3 billion declined 1%. This included approximately $45 million of adverse impact from the retail calendar shift.
• Aerie comparable sales increased 5% on a 12% increase last year. American Eagle comparable sales grew 3% following 2% growth last year.
• Gross profit of $527 million decreased 3%. Gross margin of 40.9% compared to 41.8% last year, reflecting increased markdowns and expense deleverage related to the retail calendar shift.
• Selling, general and administrative expense of $351 million decreased 3% and leveraged 50 basis points. The improvement was due to lower compensation, including incentive costs, as well as lower professional fees and services and maintenance costs, partially offset by higher advertising.
• Operating income was $106 million, reflecting an operating margin of 8.2%. This included an approximately $20 million adverse impact from the retail calendar shift. Adjusted operating income of $124 million excluded $18 million of impairment and restructuring costs. The adjusted operating margin of 9.6% was flat to last year.
• Diluted earnings per share was $0.41. Adjusted diluted earnings per share was $0.48. Average diluted shares outstanding were 196 million.

Inventory

Total ending inventory increased 5% to $804 million. Inventory is healthy and well positioned for the holiday season.

Shareholder Returns

In the third quarter, the company returned approximately $24 million in cash to shareholders through the quarterly cash dividend of $0.125 per share bringing year-to-date cash dividends to $73 million.

Additionally, during the first half of the year, the company repurchased 6 million shares for $131 million. The company continues to have 24 million shares remaining for repurchase under the current authorization.

Capital Expenditures

Capital expenditures totaled $61 million in the third quarter and $158 million year-to-date. For fiscal 2024, management expects capital expenditures in the range of $225 to $245 million.

Restructuring and Impairment Charges

In the third quarter, the company recorded an $18 million impairment and restructuring charge, of which $6 million was non-cash. As part of its ongoing profit improvement initiatives, the company took additional actions to streamline its corporate cost structure. The company also changed its Hong Kong retail operation from company-owned to a licensed model.

Outlook

Fourth quarter comparable sales are expected to be up approximately 1%, with total revenue down 4% including a roughly $85 million impact from the combination of the retail calendar shift and one less selling week, as previously discussed. Operating income is expected to be in the range of $125 to $130 million. This incorporates currency pressure from the recent strengthening in the U.S. dollar, in addition to a $20 million drag from the retail calendar shift. SG&A is expected to leverage reflecting the company’s continued focus on driving efficiencies across key focus areas.

For the year, this implies comparable sales growth of approximately 3%, with total revenue up 1%, including the impact of one less selling week. Adjusted operating income is expected to be in the range of $428 to $433 million compared to adjusted operating income of $375 million in 2023, representing growth in the mid-teens.

FY24 Quarterly Impact of Retail Calendar

	1Q	2Q	3Q	4Q	FY24
Revenue Impact	+$15M	+$55M	-$45M	-$85M	-$60M

Webcast and Supplemental Financial Information

Management will host a conference call and real time webcast today at 4:30 PM Eastern Time. To listen to the call, dial 1-877-407-0789 or internationally dial 1-201-689-8562 or go to www.aeo-inc.com to access the webcast and audio replay. Additionally, a financial results presentation is posted on the company’s website.

* * * *

About American Eagle Outfitters, Inc.

American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE: AEO) is a leading global specialty retailer with a portfolio of beloved apparel brands including American Eagle, Aerie, OFFL/NE by Aerie, Todd Snyder and Unsubscribed. Rooted in optimism, inclusivity and authenticity, AEO’s brands empower every customer to celebrate their unique personal style by offering casual, comfortable, timeless outfitting and high-quality products that are made to last.

AEO Inc. operates stores in the United States, Canada and Mexico, with merchandise available in more than 30 countries through a global network of license partners. Additionally, the company operates a robust e-commerce business across its brands. For more information, visit aeo-inc.com.

Non-GAAP Measures

This press release includes operating income and net income and net income per diluted share presented on an adjusted or non-GAAP basis, which are non-GAAP financial measures. These financial measures are not based on any standardized methodology prescribed by GAAP and are not necessarily comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. Non-GAAP information is provided as a supplement to, not as a substitute for, or as superior to, measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. We believe that this non-GAAP information is useful as an additional means for investors to evaluate our operating performance when reviewed in conjunction with our GAAP Consolidated Financial Statements and provides a higher degree of transparency. These amounts are not determined in accordance with GAAP and, therefore, should not be used exclusively in evaluating our business and operations. The tables included in this release reconcile the GAAP financial measures to the non-GAAP financial measures discussed above for the 13 weeks and 39 weeks ended November 2, 2024, Fiscal 2024 and Fiscal 2023 .

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 management’s expectations or beliefs concerning future events, including, without limitation, fourth fiscal quarter and annual fiscal 2024 results. Words such as “outlook,” “estimate,” “project,” “plan,” “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “may,” “potential,” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. All forward-looking statements made by the company are inherently uncertain because they are based on assumptions and expectations concerning future events and are subject to change based on many important factors, some of which may be beyond the company’s control. 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 February 3, 2024 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 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 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.

The use of the “company,” “AEO,” “we,” “us,” and “our” in this release refers to American Eagle Outfitters, Inc.

By: Dan Berthiaume | Link to article

American Eagle is expanding its efforts to target Gen Z shoppers on their favorite communication apps.

The specialty apparel retailer, which has been utilizing technology from Kargo to automate design personalization and create distinct Snapchat ads tailored for its core Gen Z consumer base, is now piloting an AI-generated, personalized gift-finding experience on WhatsApp this holiday season. 

In an exclusive email to Chain Store Age, a spokesperson for American Eagle said that since the beginning of November 2024 the retailer has been leveraging Meta ads (Meta is WhatsApp’s parent company) to drive users to its shopping experience on the app.

American Eagle is targeting two key demographic personas with this pilot: Gift givers (age 15-25) and gift receivers (25-55). Once users engage, they have a one-on-one conversation with an AI consultant, receiving personalized gift recommendations based on their answers to a series of questions such as ideal budget, type of product, and specific preferences of the gift recipient.

Customers can make a purchase from American Eagle directly within the app, creating a seamless conversion path.

“We’re not just selling clothes; we’re creating an entertainment-driven, personalized shopping experience that meets our consumers where they are,” Craig Brommers, American Eagle chief marketing officer, said in a statement emailed to Chain Store Age. “WhatsApp offers us a unique opportunity to connect with our shoppers through an innovative one-to-one conversational approach that feels humorous and authentic to our brand voice.”

According to American Eagle, it decided to partner with WhatsApp based on 50% of the Gen Z population currently being on the app and expectations it will exceed 100 million U.S. users. WhatsApp was listed as the fifth-most-popular social platform among U.S. teens in 2023 by Pew Research, with 21% usage and ranked behind YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram.

“By being the first fashion retailer in North America to partner with WhatsApp, an app that is rapidly growing its GenZ consumer audience, we’re continuing our tradition of taking calculated risks to drive meaningful connections with our target customer,” said Brommers.

American Eagle parent American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (AEO) operates stores in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Hong Kong and Japan, and ships to approximately 80 countries worldwide through its websites. American Eagle and Aerie merchandise also is available at more than 260 international locations operated by licensees in approximately 30 countries. 

By: Lisa Lockwood | Link to article

This is the sixth store in the chain.

Unsubscribed, the women’s consciously made, slow-fashion brand from American Eagle Outfitters, will open a new store in Santa Monica, Calif., Wednesday.

The brand has cultivated a loyal community on the East Coast, with stores in East Hampton, N.Y.; Greenwich and Westport, Conn.; New York, and Palm Beach, Fla. The 1,800-square foot Santa Monica location, on the corner of Montana Avenue and 16th Street, is Unsubscribed’s first West Coast store, meant to embody its coastal roots. It has 1,200 square feet of selling space.

Key design elements include reclaimed wood, vintage travertine, grasscloth and velvet. There is also a fitting room lounge for private styling sessions and shopping appointments.

While the full collection will be available in-store, the shop will also offer expanded assortments from third-party brands in fine jewelry and home goods to complement Santa Monica’s aesthetic.

Bestsellers are anticipated to be the essentials and classics, along with made in Los Angeles knits, cashmeres, silks and shirts. The company plans to explore new areas on the West Coast, but no new stores are planned at this time.

“Just like the exceptional detail that goes into every Unsubscribed product, our store locations and their timeless design have become an extension of the brand’s elevated aesthetic,” said Jennifer Foyle, president and executive creative director of American Eagle Outfitters. “The iconic corner of Montana Avenue is the perfect California locale for Unsubscribed’s first West Coast boutique. We are excited to offer consciously made, slow fashion and invite customers to shop irreplaceable pieces in a space inspired by the effortlessly chic Santa Monica lifestyle.”

By: Jean Palmieri | Link to article

The designer launched his eponymous business in 2011 and sales are now approaching $130 million.

From the outside looking in, it appears Todd Snyder has had it easy. The eponymous brand he launched in 2011 expects to post annual sales of more than $130 million this year, derived exclusively from his popular direct-to-consumer site and 19 retail stores around the U.S.

He pocketed $11 million when he sold his company to American Eagle Outfitters in 2015, and collaborates with some of the most venerable companies in the business including Champion, L.L. Bean and Red Wing. And he’s the creative director of Woolrich Black Label, a high-end subbrand that launched with great fanfare earlier this month.

But there were times when the designer, who will be receiving the WWD Honor for Menswear Designer of the Year on Tuesday night, almost called it quits.

“I was ready to go work at Nike,” Snyder said. “I was talking to them about going there as the head of product.”

But then he was thrown a lifeline by American Eagle Outfitters Inc., and his new parent company’s support helped him realize his dreams.

How It All Began

By now his life story is well known in fashion circles. Snyder was raised in the small town of Huxley, Iowa, population 2,000, the son of an engineer and his artist/art teacher wife. He played a variety of sports, detasseled corn to earn some spending money during the summer and — no surprise here — was voted the best dressed in his high school class.

Early on, Snyder thought he would follow in his father’s footsteps and become an engineer, but during his six-and-a-half years at Iowa State University, he decided to ditch that idea in favor of, first, architecture, then business and finally fashion.

He was mesmerized by Ralph Lauren’s story about how a boy from the Bronx, N.Y., could create one of the most recognizable brands in American fashion and dreamed of following in those famous footsteps.

“I liked clothes, but I never thought I could [make a living doing it],” Snyder said during a sit-down with Fern Mallis at the 92nd Street Y earlier this year. “But after reading Ralph’s book, where he touched on how he started, I thought I could. My dad gave me weird looks but I didn’t care. It was a dream of mine.”

That dream led him to Badowers, a haberdashery in Des Moines, Iowa, where he worked for two-and-a-half years and learned the art of tailoring.

After graduating from college, Snyder was eager to jump into fashion, so he cold-called all the big design houses in New York — Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Joseph Abboud and others — offering to work for free. “I got a lot more nos than yeses,” he said.

Eventually, he snagged an internship at Polo Ralph Lauren — his dream company — and he was on his way. Once his path was established, it led him to Gap, Old Navy and J.Crew, and it was at the latter that he broke out.

As head of men’s design at J.Crew, Snyder designed The Ludlow, an entirely new suit silhouette that would anchor the retailer’s first stand-alone men’s store in TriBeCa, known as The Liquor Store. The success of this model gave Snyder the confidence he needed to break out on his own.

But it wasn’t an easy decision, he recalled. He was making a good salary, flew business class around the world, stayed at the best hotels and dined at fancy restaurants on the company’s dime, so life was pretty good. But he had just turned 40 and realized it was now or never.

“There are so many barriers to entry,” he admits today. “But at J.Crew, I realized I had an opportunity and a platform for leverage. It was the time to strike.”

The Launch of the Brand

Early on he took the traditional route, selling his collection wholesale to high-end retailers such as Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus and Barneys New York. But three years later, he saw how big his direct-to-consumer business had become and made the decision to discontinue wholesaling and direct his energies to his own website.

“We were selling wholesale to some great stores but it was hard to scale,” he recalled. “We opened our website in 2012 and quickly had a half-million-dollar business online, which was more than we were selling to Bergdorf Goodman.” Plus, selling wholesale meant the collection had to be ready well in advance of what was being offered on the website, which was also a challenge. “For wholesale, you have to be ready to ship everything in June, but we shipped in September,” he said. “It got to the point where we had to pull out.”

While he was managing to gain a foothold, Snyder was also having a hard time making ends meet. “I had three jobs,” he said. He was working with Champion’s European division and collaborating with Target. And he started talking seriously to Nike about closing his company and working there.

Enter American Eagle. Luckily, Snyder had caught the eye of Roger Markfield, president of the retailer at the time, who was impressed with a long-term pop-up shop called City Gym that Snyder had opened with Champion in New York. Markfield brought his boss, Jay Schottenstein, chief executive officer of American Eagle and Schottenstein Stores Corp., one of the first families of U.S. retailing, to see the space and suggested AEO buy the Todd Snyder business.

That came to fruition not long after.

While Todd Snyder would offer American Eagle a halo brand, it was actually another side hustle Snyder operated that truly sealed the deal. In 1991, Snyder and his father launched Tailgate, a line of vintage sports-inspired apparel for college campuses. Because American Eagle was targeting the same demographic, adding Tailgate to its business was a no-brainer.

Today, Snyder is realistic about the sale: “Tailgate was a $20 million business and Todd Snyder was $2 million, so I say, I was a gift with purchase.”

But Schottenstein is an entrepreneur at heart and “loves building things,” Snyder said. They hit it off and Snyder, who also serves in a design capacity for American Eagle, was able to start building his brand.

Rolling Out Retail

In 2016 he opened a 5,000-square-foot flagship in the Madison Park neighborhood of Manhattan, and, in a full-circle moment, in 2019 was able to obtain the lease to The Liquor Store when J.Crew exited the site.

He’s up to 19 stores now with another four in the hopper by the first half of next year. His most recent openings include the Upper East Side of Manhattan — bringing his store total to five in New York City — the Marin Country Mart in Larkspur, Calif., as well as San Jose, Calif.

Snyder selects the store locations by analyzing the data from his online sales. New York remains his biggest market, followed by Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago. Leases have also been signed for Nashville and Boston.

While retail continues to represent the key growth strategy for the business, Snyder knows that someday he’ll start wholesaling again. In January he was one of the featured designers at the Pitti Uomo menswear show in Florence. He staged an elaborate runway show and started exploring reentering wholesale. But despite interest from a number of global retailers, he put the brakes on that idea — at least for now.

“I feel bad, a lot of people want to buy it, but we realized we’re just not set up to sell wholesale,” he said. “We don’t have the team or the systems. We would have to set up a whole new enterprise. But we do have the structure for a DTC format and that’s on fire.”

Since joining the American Eagle family, Snyder said he’s been able to expand the number of employees from four to 80. And he also leans into the parent company’s legal and real estate expertise.

Schottenstein has said publicly that he sees the Todd Snyder business growing to $500 million in sales and 50 stores in the not too distant future. Snyder jokes that when he first heard that projection, he was thrilled and honored, but now it scares him a little.

The goal for him is to open around five stores a year for the next several years, but because he’s so involved in the site selection and design of each unit, it takes a lot of work. “The weather patterns are different and we have to get the assortments correct for each one,” he said. “So we’ll be focusing on that.”

Overall, tailored clothing remains the brand’s most popular category, he said, although he’s also seen a lot of interest in his sneakers and other footwear. Eventually, he’d like to expand into other categories such as fragrance, grooming and home, but for now he’s going to concentrate on what he’s already producing and continue to work on getting his name out to consumers.

Return to the Runway

One way to do that is through fashion shows. In the beginning, he was a menswear anchor for New York Fashion Week, but he took a four-plus-year hiatus as he focused on building his own direct-to-consumer business.

But after showing at Pitti, he realized how much he missed the runway so he returned to the calendar in September with an intimate show at a restaurant in New York.

Snyder said that fashion shows today don’t serve the same purpose they did historically, which is to showcase a collection to retailers and press. “There’s so much heat that’s driven by a show,” he said. Because they’re livestreamed, consumers can tune in, and including influencers in the audience is also helpful to raise a designer’s profile.

“In a good year, I’ll get 1 billion impressions,” Snyder said. “But I had about 1.2 billion impressions in the U.S. for my show in September, and 3.2 billion after Pitti. It’s not just for the wholesale model anymore.”

Another way to get his name out is through collaborations. Snyder has done so many during his career that he’s referred to as the King of Collaborations, a moniker he’s OK with.

He said he first got the idea for collaborations during his frequent trips to Japan. He would browse vintage shops there and saw Champion, Red Wing, Alden and other American brands on display. “The Japanese really covet Americana,” he said.

So does Snyder, who embraced the opportunity to work with these brands as well as others.

“I enjoy doing them and I love working with brands that have a rich history,” he said. Snyder pointed out that he was the first designer to work with L.L. Bean on a collaboration and he relished the chance to pore through the brand’s archives for inspiration.

With L.L. Bean or Timex or Champion, he endeavors to “think of things in a different way” and not just create products that are a “regurgitation” of what’s already been done.

Extending the Reach

That was the strategy he took with Woolrich. That company traces its history to 1830 in Plum Run, Pa., where founder John Rich opened a woolen mill. The brand expanded into outdoor garments, many of which sported the company’s Buffalo Check.

The founding family continued to run the company for eight generations but in 2016, the Italian company W.P. Lavori, which had previously held the license for the European market, acquired a majority stake. Two years later, the last plant closed in Woolrich, Pa., and the business was sold to the Luxembourg-based investment firm L-Gam and the Japanese company Goldwin.

The new owners approached Snyder about coming on board as creative director of a new, more premium line, Woolrich Black Label, that would blend the company’s heritage with a more modern aesthetic.

Snyder teased the product during his show at Pitti Uomo and the collection debuted for fall.

“It’s the biggest collaboration I’ve done,” Snyder said. “The brand is almost 200 years old, it’s very American and very traditional. They gave me the keys to the brand and told me to reimagine what it could be.”

The initial collection encompasses two newly created collections: Heritage, which consists of sophisticated updates of iconic Woolrich designs such as the classic Buffalo Check shirt in cashmere, as well as the Arctic parka, a style once worn by Admiral Richard E. Byrd, the leader of the first American scientific missions to the Antarctic.

The second component is called Technical and features sartorial pieces in high-performance materials intended to meet the demands of the outdoors while still being chic enough to be worn in the city.

Snyder believes there’s a big, untapped opportunity for Woolrich Black Label to become a giant brand. “There’s so much history there and I’m injecting a lot of luxury into it,” he said.

The collection is being sold primarily at Woolrich stores globally as well as at a number of Snyder’s stores in the U.S.

With so many irons in the fire, Snyder is well on his way to reaching the $500 million projection set out by Jay Schottenstein. But what does he believe to be the secret sauce that has allowed him to prosper when so many other talented designers have crashed and burned?

“I’ve had more experience than most other designers,” he said, adding that the relationships he developed over his years in the industry have also proven invaluable.

“Then, you have to convince the factories, the creditors and the banks to believe in your dream.”

AEO associates share our commitment to doing better, being better and building a better world. We’re proud to spotlight our people who are making a real and lasting impact in their communities.

Meet Morgan, Assistant Designer – AE Women’s Tops & Accessories and volunteer with Meals on Wheels. Morgan’s appreciation for volunteering dates back to her childhood, where she would join her grandparents to deliver food in their community. As an adult, she keeps the tradition alive and looks forward to watching her neighbors light up when they see her at the door.

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Tell us about your volunteer service with Meals on Wheels!
I started doing Meals on Wheels in Walkertown, North Carolina when I was in middle school with my grandparents. They were devoted volunteers in our community and made a point to include my brother and I throughout our childhood. I enjoy volunteering with Meals on Wheels to help homebound individuals in our community who may not have access to obtain or ability to make nutritious meals for themselves.

Why is volunteering at Meals on Wheels important to you?
Meals on Wheels is important to me because it allowed me to spend more time with my grandparents and built a strong foundation for the importance of volunteering and giving back. It also means a lot to me as I get to engage with people who also may not get to talk to anyone all day– seeing their eyes light up when I walk to the door with the meals does my heart good knowing that I can bring some happiness to their day!

One memory I will always cherish was from last December: I was delivering meals and a lady who lives alone had been making ornaments all week for all of the meals on wheels drivers who came by her house. She gave me one that day and expressed how appreciative she was for bringing her a hot meal and talking with her as it was among the only interactions she gets. Every year during the holiday season, I hang it up on my tree and think of her.

Giving back to the individuals of our community means a lot to me as they are the people who helped build our town to what it is today. I also value Meals on Wheels as my grandparents set a wonderful example of being dedicated and showing up every week to deliver these meals. Without them, people in our community would go hungry and I am so honored to be a part of their team. My grandmother recently passed away but I love to still volunteer with my grandfather and assist him when I can.

How many years have you been volunteering?
I have been volunteering for eight years between school and work! I have also volunteered at my church with Operation Christmas Child for 10+ years, the local food bank, and the local Backpack Program that packs bags full of food for children at local schools who may not have lunches or meals when they go home for the weekends. I also volunteer at our church, Morris Chapel UMC during events such as our annual Bazaar in October to raise money for the youth to go on mission trips to help repair and build decks and ramps, repair roofing, and any construction jobs in our state that may need assistance.

How do you think being an active participant in your community helps to Build a Better World?
I think being active in volunteering helps to improve the community and the well-being of individuals lives. It also extends a friendly helping hand to those in need who may be going through more than we all see from the outside looking in and sets a great example for youth to do good in the world and continue to pour into their community–not only in their hometowns but wherever they may be. Being a new resident of New York, I am eager to get more involved in the outreach of Meals on Wheels and help raise awareness for our elderly who need a little help!

What are some of the benefits you have found in volunteering? What have you learned?
I have found so many benefits through volunteer opportunities, such as making a difference in local communities, making new connections and building relationships with other outreach communities, and seeing and feeling the goodness that it brings to your soul and to others.