About the brand
American Eagle Outfitters, also known as American Eagle, it is an American lifestyle clothing and accessories retailer founded in 1977 by Jerry & Mark Silverman. The brand mainly targets male and female university students but young adult and teenagers are also love this brand.
The research in the store
When & where:
I went on May 25 2019, a Saturday afternoon at Vaughan Mills Mall with my friend.
Something SPECIAL about the store?
American Eagle take stands against cruelty to animals. The company state they will not use any fur, angora, down or exotic animal hair or skins, and for the wools they only use the wool from non-mulesed sheep. They also made public commitment to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by the end of 2017. (But no proves yet)
How are the mannequins assembled in the store?
The mannequins in the store are mostly in pairs (female and male placed beside each other) and position in the show window or at front doorways. This shows the store sales both men and women clothes, let the consumer easily see the store’s target market.
The ADVERTISEMENT of the store
In store the clothes are very in season – summer vacation vibe, also have buy one get one 50% off sales promotion on shorts and jeans. The theme of American Eagle 2019 is AE x ME (American Eagle x Me), the #AExME is a twitter event, show American Eagle how you doing summer your way, the real travel, real friends, real people and the real story. People can photoed their style and their life and posted on twitter #AExME and American Eagle will pick few put in their advertisements.
The pace of the store
The pace in store it’s really laid back, the vibe in store is relaxing, the shop adviser won’t bother you while shopping unless you wants any help which I really likes. The day I went was not too crazy in the store, there’s only around 10+ people , maybe because they don’t have major sales in store, since last time I went on Victoria’s day, it’s much more busy.
The smell in store
No special smell I can identify, just sometimes there’s a light mixed perfume smell in some corner of the shop.
Colours and texture
The colours I’ve seen most in store are: blue, light yellow, white, light pink and black. All the colours are really summerly, and wearable in daily life. The texture are soft, and all cloth in summer collection are plant-based fabrics and man-made materials such as cotton, poylster etc…
MUSIC in store
The background music was Sugar by Diskopunk the day I went. As I know, American Eagle have their own playlist on Spotify, people can checkout the music online. The volume it’s not too loud in store, just lourd enough let people know what song it was.
The predominant material in store
All American Eagle store have the classic wooden doorway, sometime it’s dark brown sometimes it’s black, and on each side there has two big showcase glasses. The floor is yellow and made of wood/ concrete. The items are placed on wooden shelving, tables or cloth rack. All the hangers in store are made from wood as well. I think it’s because the brand want protrude the image of organic and vegan clothing, since most the cloth in store are made of plant-based fabrics.
Review of the brand’s online presence
Currently American Eagle official website have BOGO 50% off all AE jeans & shorts, and $40 off $1550+/ $25 off $100+/ $1- off $50 which is online only. For this review I brought two similar high waist denim shorts, one is from American Eagle and other one from their direct competitor Garage. The price from American eagle is $59.95 CAD, one from Garage is $42.95 CAD. (To be fair both the shorts are on BOGO 50% off sale) In my opinion, the price is okay for a product in this quality, but without any sales it will be a little expensive, especially for students.
Label of one clothing item
The crop top I bought is made in Vietnam. And from the information I learned from Good On You; the brand have a overall rate of not good enough. It’s environmental rating is “not good enough”, it does not have adequate policies and initiatives for resource management and disposal. It’s labour rating is “not good enough”, it covers most workers’ rights principles in its Code of Conduct and it applies across the entire supply chain. It sources from countries with high or extreme risk of labor abuse but attempts to address those risks through participation in Bangladesh Building and Fire Safety accord.
The photos of the store
Mannequins
Clothing
Citation:
fashion & social change 
American Eagle was one of my favourites brands and I visit there every time I go to the mall. Yet, there is one thing that I am not satisfied with them is the pricing is slightly too high and I do not think it matches with its products. After reading your blog, the brand does not have a very good rating. As you mentioned that It has extreme high labour risk. Now, I kinda dislike American Eagle and I don’t think I will go there anymore. Thanks for sharing the information which was one of my favourite brands.
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