Aéropostale (clothing)

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This article is about a clothing company. For the defunct French airmail company after which it was named, see Aéropostale (aviation).

Aéropostale Inc.

Type	Public NYSE: ARO
Founded	1987
Headquarters	New York City, United States
No. of locations	770
Area served	United States Canada
Key people	Julian R. Geiger (Chairman & CEO)
Industry	Retail
Products	Apparel and accessories
Revenue	▲ $1.2 billion (2006)
Employees	Over 10,500 (February 2007)^[1]
Website	aeropostale.com

Aéropostale (pronounced /ˌɛɹoʊˈpoʊstɑl/), also under the name Aéro, is an American clothing retailer that sells athletically-styled casual clothing in over 800 stores. Their stores tend to be located in shopping malls and large marketing areas. Aéropostale sells teen fashion apparel including shirts, jeans, outer and innerwear, accessories and bathing suits for people 10-16 years of age. Their clothing is typically sold at prices under $50. Aéropostale also has a surf clothing brand called Jimmy'Z, which has 14 store locations in the United States. The company's logo is a small butterfly usually in the left-hand corner on women's clothing, and a small, standing bulldog or a small A87 logo on men's polos and dress shirts.

1 History
2 Competition
3 References
4 External links

[edit] History

The first Aéropostale store was opened in 1987 in New York City.^[1] The Aéropostale name originated from the 1920s French/Latin-American airmail firm, Compagnie Générale Aéropostale.^[1]

In the summer of 2006, it was announced that Aéropostale would enter the Canadian market. On August 3, 2007, the first Canadian Aéropostale store opened in White Oaks Mall in London, Ontario.

In 2007, the company began doing promotions with successful figures to increase brand awareness. The first promotion was selling the Fall Out Boy album, Infinity on High, with a store-exclusive T-shirt. Other offers include a free beach towel with every fifty dollar purchase, and a free holiday bear with a purchase of over one hundred dollars, each promotion in its respective season. These holiday bears are also donated by Aéropostale stores to local charities in their respective communities. Another promotion Aéro started was Teens for Jeans. Stores would collect lightly used jeans and donate them to local charities. In return, shoppers received 20% off a new pair of Aéropostale jeans. Also they promoted the show Greek Season 1 DVD with a free T-shirt with a 50 dollar purchase.

In May 2008, Aéropostale opened its first store in Puerto Rico. The company plans to open 12 to 14 more stores in the country by 2010.^[2]

[edit] Competition

Aéropostale's main competitors are American Eagle Outfitters and Abercrombie & Fitch, both of which generate more in net sales than Aéropostale. In 2007, Aéropostale generated $1.59 billion in net sales, while its larger competitors, American Eagle and Abercrombie & Fitch, reported sales of $3.7 billion and $3 billion, respectively. This is mainly because Aéropostale sells "value" products at lower prices than its competitors.