Urban Outfitters

Urban Outfitters is a multinational lifestyle retail corporation headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It operates in the United States, Sweden, United Kingdom, Spain, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Belgium, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and the United Arab Emirates. The Urban Outfitters brand targets young adults with a merchandise mix of women's and men's fashion apparel, footwear, beauty and wellness products, accessories, activewear and gear, and housewares, as well as music, primarily vinyl records and cassettes. Much of the merchandise is designed and produced by the company's wholesale division on multiple private labels.

The company was founded as the retail store Free People by Richard Hayne, Judy Wicks and Scott Belair in 1970 as a project for an entrepreneurship class at University of Pennsylvania. It was renamed to Urban Outfitters and incorporated in 1976.

Urban Outfitters, Inc. (URBN) carries multiple stores within the URBN portfolio of brands, which also includes Anthropologie, Free People, Terrain, BHLDN and the Vetri Family restaurant group.

History

In the 1970's, Dick Hayne opened a store and called it Free People in West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As the store eventually grew from one to two storefronts, the name was changed from Free People to Urban Outfitters.

Urban Outfitters is a lifestyle related retailer which specializes in selling apparel, clothing accessories and apartment products. It primarily targets teens and young adults who are interested in hipster subculture and alternative fashion.

In 2007, Urban Outfitters received the National Preservation Honor Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation for the Urban Outfitters Corporate Office Campus located on the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.

In 2011, it agreed to sell limited editions of Polaroid ONE600 instant cameras and Type 779 instant film in partnership with the Austrian entrepreneur Florian Kaps, who acquired the rights to manufacture 700 copies of the defunct product. In January 2013, it hired the Abraham & Roetzel lobbying firm, led by former Republican Sen. Spencer Abraham, to advocate on its behalf in Washington, D.C., regarding retail industry policy.

In Q4 2015, the company announced plans to acquire the Vetri Family, a Philadelphia restaurant group. As the company is facing declining same store sales and foot traffic, the acquisition illustrates the retailer's shift in strategy. This includes restaurants Amis Trattoria, Bar Amis, and Pizzeria Vetri. There are two Pizzeria Vetri locations in Philadelphia, with other locations in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania and Washington DC.

In 2019, the company drew attention by announcing the sale of used VHS tapes for $40.

Urban Outfitters' products have also been the subject of multiple complaints and criticism, largely from religious, ethical, and ethnic pressure groups including a local chapter of the NAACP, Anti-Defamation League and Navajo Nation for some of their products.