Calling 2001! Oh my god. Oh no, in New York?!?! The towers?!?! BOTH?!?! Ok lets go to the time machine. Let’s find a better year, ok…. 2004 yeah, no crisis in 2004, just TRL, Panic at the Disco, and of course American Eagle Outfitters.
We all remember the brand as some weird fever dream where you’re in this endless mall and the only way out is through American Eagle and it smells like Hawaii somehow in the store but you’re in East Indiana. What the fuck is going on? Well wake up fucker. It’s real. American Eagle Outfitters, by some divine miracle is still around and get this. They are actually doing well (for their standards).
What should have died a long time ago with the likes of PAN AM, Sears, Blockbuster, and the McDonalds Pizza, is still breathing life today and sewing together shirts that no one really wants. American Eagle is still holding on, and the grip just got a bit better. The company everyone thought would die is actually pushing up revenue and making some sort of semblance of a good business strategy. American Eagle reported revenue of 1.14 BILLION dollars which is an insane sentence to even type. Operating income is around 100 million for the current quarter. AND they are looking to increase sales YoY by about 5%.
Even with all this data the question everyone is thinking is “Who in the fuck is buying this bullshit?” Well AEO said it’s….. drumroll please…… Women! Yes believe it or not, AEO has reported that an increase in sales from Tops, Jeans, Dresses, and Skirts. This newfound customer base is helping boost American Eagle back into the limelight. With this new found gender and some tweaks to strategy including limiting the overall number of SKU’s maybe just maybe American Eagle has a fighting chance.
With the advent of the internet being invented some 30ish years ago, I was most surprised that AEO didn’t comment on their push to online retail. Maybe the CEO like our sitting president forgot about that whole technology thing. But whatever, why kick a company while it’s down and has been down for years. American Eagle still has some runway left with their revamp of the business and who knows maybe this will morph into some weird retro-fashion line that everyone clammers over in the years to come. But for now they continue to move the ball inch-by-inch to whatever goal they came up with. And I’m sure it’s simple like “hey lets not declare bankruptcy” shoot for the fucking stars American Eagle.
So to truly know how this will pan out is to wait. 2024 will be a telling year for the company and show the direction that they will either grow in or die in. Either way the stores always smelled like what I think Hawaii smells like and I just will not get over that fact. Anyway, that’s my take on it, until next time. ---GS
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