Five Things You Didn’t Know about Urban Outfitters

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Urban Outfitters is one of the most popular clothing companies around with a market cap of $4.64 billion. The company was founded in 1976 in Philadelphia and only has 1,100 employees, but brings in tons of revenue because of it’s wide selection of clothing, accessories, and fun products that have been a hit for the 18-30 age bracket. The company brings in around $110 million in sales and is still seeing consistent growth, even enough that they opened multiple subsidiary stores including Anthropologie, Free People, and Terrain, which have also found success in the clothing industry.

Here are five things you didn’t know about Urban Outfitters.

5. The founders used to give away clothes for free

The creators of Urban Outfitters, Richard and Judy Haynes (now divorced), started the original store Free People with the idea and goal of offering students and the younger generation clothes at an affordable price. In fact, they even had a free clothes bin in the store for anyone that didn’t have money. The two were known hippies and wanted everyone to have clothes.

4. They don’t have an official logo

Urban Outfitters doesn’t use a brand logo or symbol, but simply always writes out their full company name. They change this in every new store because they want it to reflect the culture of that specific location and reflect the community style to fit in rather than stick out as another corporate company. This keeps the Urban Outfitters brand unique in its own way and they even apply the concept to their packaging.

3. The company has really found their niche

As mentioned, Urban Outfitters also has three other subsidiary companies under them with Anthropologie, Free People, and Terrain, which are all doing fantastic. The company’s target market is aimed at the college student and young adult. In 2012 all of these companies combined (URBN) collected $2.47 billion in sales and now currently have a revenue of $3.12 billion.

2. Their headquarters is located in Philadelphia

The company started in Philadelphia and has stayed there. They opened up a 330 square foot corporate office in the old Navy yard of Philadelphia, an area that fits the store and company’s style. It took 20 months just to design the place and cost a total of $100 million, but the offices look fantastic and a desirable place to work.

1. They don’t like putting their name on their clothing

Urban Outfitters wants people to wear their clothing, but doesn’t give off a flashy vibe. The owners actually made the decision to not place their name on the clothing in their stores. Similarly to not having a instantly recognizable brand logo, they would rather have the brand be spread through word of mouth by the people who are wearing their clothes.

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Written by Blaise Hopkins

Feel free to contact Blaise on Twitter @Blaisehopkins or check out his blog Man and His Movies.