Aéropostale, Inc

For my third blog I decided to do one of the most popular names brands in society today. Aéropostale, Inc is a apparel and accessories store with 14 – 17 year old women and men in mind through its Aéropostale store. It targets 4 – 12 year old children in its P.S from Aéropostale stores. This company carries a variety of high-quality, fashionable clothing that they design, create, market and sell all on their own. Similar to many other brands, these products can be purchased either in the store or online at www.Aéropostale.com. or www.ps4u.com. Aéropostale was first conceived by R.H. Macy & Co. Inc. in the early 1980s with the targeted audience being people aged around 20. The first store was opened in 1987 in the New York area, hens that year and NYC being printed on all of the clothing. In 1995, the company was sold to Bear Stearns Merchant Banking and is still owned by them today and is also chaired by Julian Geiger. Many people may wonder where they found the name Aéropostale from. Well, Compagnie Generale Aéropostale was an airmail company and was the first to fly between France, South Africa and South America. The first Aéropostale stores embraced this with the design of the first stores and and leather bomber jackets that they sold. There are currently 914 Aéro stores in the United States and Puerto Rico, 75 stores in Canada and various stores in the Middle East, Asia and Europe.

In 2009 Aéropostale launched their children line called P.S from Aéropostale. This branch of Aéro now has 97 locations in 22 states, and is still expanding. There was also another branch of Aéropostale, that embraced skate and surf wear but unfortunately was not as successful as P.S and had to close down in 2009 due to only having 5 stores opened and not being able to open any more. 

I personally love this brand because it is very affordable and my style. All of their clothing is of great quality and the staff in all the locations is always very friendly. I really wish they would have had the childrens line when I was younger because it seems to be a very cute clothing line. I also find it very interesting hat the company has stores in the Middle East, Asia and Europe. Definitely one of my favourite stores to shop in! 

http://www.aeropostale.com/corp/
http://www.shopathome.com/online-shopping-report/index.php/history-of-aeropostale
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=131103&p=irol-faq

Hollister Co.

 Hollister was created by John M. Hollister. He graduated from Yale University at the age of 21 and the traveled to the Dutch East Indies in 1917. He then fell in love and with his new lover he purchased a boat and they traveled across the South Pacific Ocean and visited different places learning about different cultures. When they arrived in Los Angeles in 1919 they got married and had a child named John M. Hollister Jr. in 1920. Because his son loved the ocean as much as him he decided to create Hollister Co. in 1922 in Laguana Beach. When John Jr. took over this company in 1957 he started to bring in surf apparel and equipment. 

This story you just read is actually not true. It was created by Mike Jeffries to create more of a surfer, beach like atmosphere for the shopper. The first Hollister store was opened in July 2000 in Columbus, Ohio at the Easton Town Centre. The product is designed to attract shoppers aged between 14 and 18. Hollister products can be purchased in the store and online. The stores also have the look based on a life guard house to give the feeling of being in a surf shop. In mid January of 2006 the first Canadian Hollister store opened in 2006 along with an Abercrombie and Fitch. Shortly after this in the summer of 2007, several TVs were installed in Hollister stores that played a live feed from the Surf City Huntington Beach to increase the feeling of the surf hut atmosphere. On October 25, 2008 Hollister opened its first international store in London, England. In December of that same year they opened their second store in the UK, and shortly afterward, a third. Hollister continues to expand and attract more and more customers. I personally love this brand. Their clothing is very comfortable and reasonably priced considering the quality of the product. I would love it if there was a store closer to Windsor considering the closest store in Canada is in Toronto.  

I don't know why the company decided to create this fictional story but I must admit it is quite interesting to read and ponder upon. It also makes a lot of sense considering the theme of all Hollister stores in a surf theme. A lot of people complain about how dark the stores are and how strong the aroma is but I personally like the atmosphere in Hollister stores. I find the dim lighting is relaxing and what girl doesn't love the smell of Hollister cologne? 

http://hcohounds.tumblr.com/post/276422881
http://thehollisterco1922.piczo.com/post/66103/
http://business.transworld.net/8642/features/how-hollister-co-stole-surf-eight-years-after-abercrombie-fitch-invaded-the-surf-market-what-can-be-done-to-defend-against-them/

Why did I choose this topic?

I chose this topic to answer many questions that many people including myself ask ourselves about name brand clothing. Some people wonder is the year that is printed on the clothing is in fact the year that the brand was established, meanwhile for some name brands it is and some brands it is not. Some brands that were created in very early years such as Abercrombie and Fitch, created in 1892, haven't always sold clothing. Some brands sold sporting equipment before selling clothing. Obviously the clothing that was created in the 1920's by certain name brands like Hollister, is nothing like what these companies make today, fashion is one the largest areas in which the world has evolved. It is also interesting that a specific name on a piece of clothing can define how you are judged. These names have changed throughout the years, 4 years ago when I was finishing up grade school, Aeropostale and Hollister were the name brands everyone had to have to be considered «cool.» Now-a-days its PINK by Victoria Secret, and Lululemon that are the more popular ones. There is also a lot of confusion when it comes to how companies chose the name for their product, some chose the name or last name of the person who first created it, or sometimes it is just random, in this blog I will talk about how the companies chose their names and why they did things the way they did. People always do reserch and go into detail on how fashion itself has evolved and how different styles have gone out and came back, but no one has ever looked into how the companies that create the clothing have changed, and without these companies, we wouldn’t have all these styles. That is why I decided to talk about this in my blog, I wanted to touch on a topic that not many people think about when they think of the evolution of clothing.