American Eagle Outfitters : Aerie’s Journey to $1 Billion – Early History

Ross Park Mall Intimates Expansion

Named the Ross Park Intimates Expansion project, the team rolled up their sleeves and got to work planning to test the launch of a new intimates sub-brand targeted to women between the ages of 15-25 in early 2006. The Ross Park Mall store, in the AEO HQ city of Pittsburgh, PA, was the brand's first side-by-side location and after countless hours spent ideating on names, logos, and colors-the team landed on the name Aerie. Aerie means a large nest of birds of prey… like an eagle!

The brand was light, airy and free. The Aerie customer wanted to be comfortable but also trend right. She wanted to look great while feeling good about herself. There was white space in the market for comfy cotton undies for the real girl, who wanted to feel confident but not overly sexy. Aerie wanted to be that solution for her. 'There was a lot of optimism around the brand,' said Stacey McCormick, SVP Marketing - Aerie. '100% of our AE female customers wanted Aerie.' After a year's worth of product development, Aerie was ready to become a household name.

Check out the original brand spot below!

Aerie's Southern Roots

After the success of the Ross Park Intimates Expansion, Aerie opened its first standalone in the latter half of 2006 at the Haywood Mall in Greenville, South Carolina, followed by two more stores a few months later at River Chase Mall in Birmingham, Alabama and Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, Illinois. Aerie saw incredible success with stores growing nationwide, further creating the comfortable and casual style that American Eagle had established since 1977. Together, Aerie and American Eagle offered stylish, reliable and well-made products as well as the best retail experience for customers on the market. Aerie customers loved the casual dressing room space, and that there were clothes in store for them whether they wanted to sleep, workout or hangout. It was the perfect store everyone.