Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie: Things you (maybe) didn't know about them

Last week I attended a conference organized by the CGM Villanueva University about fashion branding in which Bill Ryan (Operations Manager) from Urban Outfitters gave a really interesting talk about UO's evolution, spirit and ideals. Urban Outfitters has always been one of my favourite labels, when I visited their store in Oxford Street I spent there over an hour (almost as much as I did at Topshop). Their selection of curious objects and gadgets, along with their hip style clothing is the perfect definition of the "I have to buy this because it's awesome even though I will never use it" feeling. Their website is also a guilty pleasure.

Bill Ryan at the conference

Urban Outfitters was founded by Richard Haynes, who also owns Free People, Anthropologie and Terrain (house and garden). Richard Hayne opened Free People, their first label, with his former ex-wife Judy Wicks in 1969 and the business expanded to espectacular levels. Their most loyal customers are the hipster tribe and their mecca is the Coachella festival. Feather headbands, fringes, irony and postmodernism are their pillars.

This iconic american store is surrounded by controversy. While writing this post I found several articles on Hayne's support to Rick Santorum, the rip off an Etsy jewellery designer (which caused Miley Cyrus to tweet criticizing UO's attitude), the polemic navajo collection, and some other risky items that caused the critics of many people.

Nevertheless, I think Urban Outfitters is a good example of an original idea for a business, on how to create a brand, how to find a very particular (but broad) niche, and how to define a style and stick to it. Copyright infringement and relaying too much on controversy to be "hip" are the clouds that block the sun.

I decided to make a list of some interesting points Bill made and some facts that caught my attention when reading interviews and articles for this post on UO and Anthropologie.

Things you maybe didn't know about Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie

- It started as a college project in 1969.

- Richard Hayne and his former wife Judy opened a shop called Free People with only $4.000.

- In that store they sold affordable clothes to students, and there was a "free bin" for those who didn't have enough money. At that time Richard and Judy were bohemian hippies that protested against Vietnam's war.

- Urban Outfitters doesn't have a logo, and the packaging is always changing.

If you search "Urban Oufitters logo" on Google. 

- Every UO store is unique, they try to adapt it to the local culture.

- The Urban Oufitters target is a college age consumer.

- They have two rules: 'It's okay to fail' and 'Never look in the rearview mirror". (source)

Ad from 1992

- Urban Oufitters, Anthropologie, Free People and Terrain are on the URBN group. Each represent: Urban Outfitters 39% of sales), Anthropologie (36% of sales), Free People and Terrain (8% of sales) (source)- URBN 2012 sales: 2,47 billions (source)

- When they saw that the first Urban Outfitters clients were getting old, they decided to create a new store for them: Anthropologie.

- Richard Hayne and Judy Wicks (founders of UO) have a degree on Anthropology.

- Anthropologie is for women aged 30 to 45, mid-upper level.

- Anthropologie used to have clothes for man and woman, but they realized it had become a place where women go to shop alone to "escape" from their husbands, boyfriends or children, they didn't like to be accompanied by a man. In consequence, they decided to sell womenswear only.

- A woman spends 75 minutes on average at an Anthropologie store.

Anthropologie's Green Wall at their Regent Street (London) store.

- They don't like placing their logo on the clothes.

- Their headquarters are located in Philadelhpia, at an old Navy Yard. The 330-square foot corporate campus took 20 months to design and construct and carried a total price tag of $100 million (source)

Urban Oufitters headquarters

Sources: Clothes make the man, Urban Cowboy, santanarow.com, blogretailrefugges, ladyblitz,thesavyshopper. http://shreddder.tumblr.com/, imtheonlyoneonmystreet, kevinpollard,